1975 Ryder Cup

21st Ryder Cup Matches
Dates	September 19–21, 1975
Venue	Laurel Valley Golf Club
Location	Ligonier, Pennsylvania
Captains	Arnold Palmer (USA); Bernard Hunt (GB&I);
	United States wins the Ryder Cup
	← 1973 1977 →

Laurel Valley
Golf Club

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Location in the United States

Laurel Valley Golf Club

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Location in Pennsylvania

The 21st Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19–21 at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. The United States team won the competition by a score of 21 to 11 points.^[1]^[2] After the competition, questions started to be asked about the future of the event, as Britain and Ireland had once again failed to seriously challenge the United States team.^[3] The next time the competition was held in the U.S. in 1979, the visiting team included players from continental Europe.

Laurel Valley was co-founded by U.S. captain Arnold Palmer and had hosted the PGA Championship a decade earlier, in 1965.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was adjusted slightly from the 1973 Ryder Cup, with the second day sessions being swapped:

Day 1 — 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball (better ball) matches in an afternoon session
Day 2 — 4 four-ball matches in a morning session and 4 foursome matches in an afternoon session
Day 3 — 16 singles matches, 8 each in morning and afternoon sessions

With a total of 32 points, 161⁄2 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

Source:^[4]

Name	Age	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Team USA
Arnold Palmer	46	Non-playing captain
Billy Casper	44	7	33	18–9–6	63.64
Raymond Floyd	33	1	4	0–2–2	25.00
Al Geiberger	38	1	5	3–1–1	70.00
Lou Graham	37	1	2	0–1–1	25.00
Hale Irwin	30	0	Rookie
Gene Littler	45	6	24	11–5–8	62.50
Johnny Miller	28	0	Rookie
Bob Murphy	32	0	Rookie
Jack Nicklaus	35	3	16	10–4–2	68.75
J. C. Snead	34	2	8	7–1–0	87.50
Lee Trevino	35	3	17	9–4–4	64.71
Tom Weiskopf	32	1	6	3–2–1	58.33

Eight members of the Great Britain and Ireland team were chosen from the money leaders in 1975 European Tour events after the Benson & Hedges Festival on 16 August, with the remaining four members of the 12-man team selected by a committee. The eight automatic selections were: Eamonn Darcy, Maurice Bembridge, Brian Barnes, Bernard Gallacher, Norman Wood, John O'Leary, Guy Hunt and Brian Huggett.^[5] The committee chose two US-based players, Tony Jacklin and Peter Oosterhuis, together with Christy O'Connor Jnr and Tommy Horton. Horton was selected despite finishing 15th in the points list, making his debut at the age of 34.^[6]^[7]

Neil Coles withdrew from consideration because of his fear of flying and because it was impractical to travel by sea.^[8]

Name	Age	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Team Great Britain and Ireland
Bernard Hunt	45	Non-playing captain
Brian Barnes	30	3	12	4–8–0	33.33
Maurice Bembridge	30	3	13	5–5–3	50.00
Eamonn Darcy	23	0	Rookie
Bernard Gallacher	26	3	13	7–5–1	57.69
Tommy Horton	34	0	Rookie
Brian Huggett	38	5	23	8–9–6	47.83
Guy Hunt	28	0	Rookie
Tony Jacklin	31	4	23	10–8–5	54.35
Christy O'Connor Jnr	27	0	Rookie
John O'Leary	26	0	Rookie
Peter Oosterhuis	27	2	12	6–4–2	58.33
Norman Wood	28	0	Rookie

Friday's matches

Morning foursomes

	Results
Barnes/Gallacher	5 & 4	Nicklaus/Weiskopf
Wood/Bembridge	4 & 3	Littler/Irwin
Jacklin/Oosterhuis	3 & 1	Geiberger/Miller
Horton/O'Leary	2 & 1	Trevino/Snead
0	Session	4
0	Overall	4

Afternoon four-ball

	Results
Oosterhuis/Jacklin	2 & 1	Casper/Floyd
Darcy/O'Connor	3 & 2	Weiskopf/Graham
Barnes/Gallacher	halved	Nicklaus/Murphy
Horton/O'Leary	2 & 1	Trevino/Irwin
11⁄2	Session	21⁄2
11⁄2	Overall	61⁄2

Saturday's matches

Morning four-ball

	Results
Oosterhuis/Jacklin	halved	Casper/Miller
Horton/Wood	4 & 2	Nicklaus/Snead
Barnes/Gallacher	5 & 3	Littler/Graham
Darcy/Hunt	halved	Geiberger/Floyd
1	Session	3
21⁄2	Overall	91⁄2

Afternoon foursomes

	Results
Jacklin/Huggett	3 & 2	Trevino/Murphy
O'Connor/O'Leary	5 & 3	Weiskopf/Miller
Oosterhuis/Bembridge	3 & 2	Irwin/Casper
Darcy/Hunt	3 & 2	Geiberger/Graham
1	Session	3
31⁄2	Overall	121⁄2

Sunday's matches

Morning singles

	Results
Tony Jacklin	2 & 1	Bob Murphy
Peter Oosterhuis	2 up	Johnny Miller
Bernard Gallacher	halved	Lee Trevino
Tommy Horton	halved	Hale Irwin
Brian Huggett	4 & 2	Gene Littler
Eamonn Darcy	3 & 2	Billy Casper
Guy Hunt	5 & 3	Tom Weiskopf
Brian Barnes	4 & 2	Jack Nicklaus
3	Session	5
61⁄2	Overall	171⁄2

Afternoon singles

	Results
Tony Jacklin	1 up	Raymond Floyd
Peter Oosterhuis	3 & 2	J. C. Snead
Bernard Gallacher	halved	Al Geiberger
Tommy Horton	2 & 1	Lou Graham
John O'Leary	2 & 1	Hale Irwin
Maurice Bembridge	2 & 1	Bob Murphy
Norman Wood	2 & 1	Lee Trevino
Brian Barnes	2 & 1	Jack Nicklaus
41⁄2	Session	31⁄2
11	Overall	21

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.

Source:^[9]

United States

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes	Fourballs
Billy Casper	2.5	2–1–1	1–0–0	1–0–0	0–1–1
Raymond Floyd	1.5	1–1–1	1–0–0	0–0–0	0–1–1
Al Geiberger	3	2–0–2	0–0–1	2–0–0	0–0–1
Lou Graham	3	3–1–0	0–1–0	1–0–0	2–0–0
Hale Irwin	4.5	4–0–1	1–0–1	2–0–0	1–0–0
Gene Littler	3	3–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0
Johnny Miller	2.5	2–1–1	0–1–0	2–0–0	0–0–1
Bob Murphy	2.5	2–1–1	2–0–0	0–1–0	0–0–1
Jack Nicklaus	2.5	2–2–1	0–2–0	1–0–0	1–0–1
J. C. Snead	2	2–1–0	0–1–0	1–0–0	1–0–0
Lee Trevino	2.5	2–2–1	0–1–1	1–1–0	1–0–0
Tom Weiskopf	4	4–0–0	1–0–0	2–0–0	1–0–0

Great Britain and Ireland

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes	Fourballs
Brian Barnes	2.5	2–2–1	2–0–0	0–1–0	0–1–1
Maurice Bembridge	0	0–3–0	0–1–0	0–2–0	0–0–0
Eamonn Darcy	0.5	0–3–1	0–1–0	0–1–0	0–1–1
Bernard Gallacher	1.5	0–2–3	0–0–2	0–1–0	0–1–1
Tommy Horton	1.5	1–3–1	1–0–1	0–1–0	0–2–0
Brian Huggett	1	1–1–0	0–1–0	1–0–0	0–0–0
Guy Hunt	0.5	0–2–1	0–1–0	0–1–0	0–0–1
Tony Jacklin	2.5	2–3–1	0–2–0	1–1–0	1–0–1
Christy O'Connor	0	0–2–0	0–0–0	0–1–0	0–1–0
John O'Leary	0	0–4–0	0–1–0	0–2–0	0–1–0
Peter Oosterhuis	3.5	3–2–1	2–0–0	0–2–0	1–0–1
Norman Wood	1	1–2–0	1–0–0	0–1–0	0–1–0

References

^ Parascenzo, Marino (September 22, 1975). "British retreat from Ligonier as Ryder Cup remains in U.S." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
^ Jenkins, Dan (September 29, 1975). "As much play as match". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
^ "US golfers rout British". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. September 22, 1975. p. 11-part 2.
^ "2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
^ "Norman Wood gains Ryder Cup place". The Glasgow Herald. August 18, 1975. p. 15.
^ "Horton chosen for Ryder Cup but is centre of controversy again". The Times. August 19, 1975. p. 6.
^ "British Ryder Cup team completed". Glasgow Herald. August 19, 1975. p. 21.
^ "Coles drop out of Ryder Cup". The Guardian. August 6, 1975. p. 18.
^ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.

"Ryder Cup 2006 » History » 1975 Results". The PGA of America. Archived from the original on October 22, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
"Ryder Cup history: 1975". BBC Sport. September 13, 2004. Retrieved March 14, 2007.

External links

PGA of America: 1975 Ryder Cup^{[permanent dead link]}
About.com: 1975 Ryder Cup Archived January 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine

40°13′44″N 79°14′10″W / 40.229°N 79.236°W / 40.229; -79.236

[brflg-1] Parascenzo, Marino (September 22, 1975). "British retreat from Ligonier as Ryder Cup remains in U.S." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.

[ampam-2] Jenkins, Dan (September 29, 1975). "As much play as match". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.

[usgrb-3] "US golfers rout British". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. September 22, 1975. p. 11-part 2.

[rcmg2016-4] "2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.

[5] "Norman Wood gains Ryder Cup place". The Glasgow Herald. August 18, 1975. p. 15.

[times19aug1975-6] "Horton chosen for Ryder Cup but is centre of controversy again". The Times. August 19, 1975. p. 6.

[7] "British Ryder Cup team completed". Glasgow Herald. August 19, 1975. p. 21.

[8] "Coles drop out of Ryder Cup". The Guardian. August 6, 1975. p. 18.

[9] "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.

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