The 24th Ryder Cup Matches were held 18–20 September 1981 at the Walton Heath Golf Club in Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, England, southwest of London. The United States team won the competition by a score of 1812 to 912 points.[1] It was the largest margin of defeat for a European team (since 1979) at the Ryder Cup until 2021. It is also the largest margin of defeat for the host team on European soil.

24th Ryder Cup Matches
Dates18–20 September 1981
VenueWalton Heath Golf Club
LocationSurrey, England
Captains
Europe 912 1812 United States
United States wins the Ryder Cup
← 1979
1983 →
Walton Heath Golf Club is located in England
Walton Heath Golf Club
Walton Heath Golf Club

Seve Ballesteros was not selected for the European team after an ongoing dispute with the European Tour concerning appearance money.[2] Tony Jacklin was also left off the team.[3][4]

It was the sixth and final Ryder Cup for Jack Nicklaus as a competitor and he won all four of his matches. He had failed to make the team for the first time in 1979. Bernhard Langer made his Ryder Cup debut in 1981 and was 1–2 in pairs and halved his singles match.

Format

edit

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was adjusted slightly from the 1979 event, with the order of play swapped on the first two days and the third day singles matches held in a single session:

  • 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 — 12 singles matches

With a total of 28 points, 1412 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

edit

Ten of the European team were selected using a points list based on money earned in European Tour Events. The final event was the Benson & Hedges International Open which finished on 24 August. Eamonn Darcy finished in a tie for second place in this tournament, lifting him from 12th to 7th in the list and relegating Mark James to 11th place.[5][6] The two remaining places were chosen immediately after the Benson & Hedges International by a selection committee consisting of John Jacobs (the captain), Neil Coles and Bernhard Langer. They chose Mark James and Peter Oosterhuis, who was playing on the PGA Tour and had recently won the Canadian Open.[7]

  Team Europe
Name Age Points
rank
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
  John Jacobs 56 Non-playing captain
  Bernhard Langer 24 1 0 Rookie
  Nick Faldo 24 2 2 7 6–1–0 85.71
  Sandy Lyle 23 3 1 4 1–2–1 37.50
  José María Cañizares 34 4 0 Rookie
  Sam Torrance 28 5 0 Rookie
  Manuel Piñero 29 6 0 Rookie
  Eamonn Darcy 29 7 2 7 0–5–2 14.29
  Des Smyth 28 8 1 2 0–2–0 0.00
  Howard Clark 27 9 1 1 0–1–0 0.00
  Bernard Gallacher 32 10 6 25 12–9–4 56.00
  Mark James 27 11 2 5 0–4–1 10.00
  Peter Oosterhuis 33 5 25 14–8–3 62.00

Players chosen by the selection committee are shown in yellow.

11 of the American team were selected from a points list. Qualification based on the points list finished after the Western Open on July 5. Bill Rogers earned his place by finishing 5th in this final event, while Jack Nicklaus only assured his place in the team after a final round 69 and a tie for 7th place.[8] The final place in the team was allocated to the winner of the 1981 PGA Championship (which finished on August 9), provided he was not in the top 11, in which case the 12th player in the points list would qualify (Howard Twitty). With his victory in the PGA Championship, Larry Nelson gained the last slot. Nelson had finished 17th in the points list.[9] The team is considered to be one of the strongest ever seen in the Ryder Cup - the players had won a total of 36 major championships.[10]

  Team USA
Name Age Points
rank
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Dave Marr 47 Non-playing captain
Tom Watson 32 1 1 3 2–1–0 66.67
Raymond Floyd 39 2 3 10 2–5–3 35.00
Bruce Lietzke 30 3 0 Rookie
Tom Kite 31 4 1 4 3–1–0 75.00
Hale Irwin 36 5 3 12 9–2–1 79.17
Lee Trevino 41 6 5 26 13–7–6 61.54
Jerry Pate 28 7 0 Rookie
Ben Crenshaw 29 8 0 Rookie
Johnny Miller 34 9 1 4 2–1–1 62.50
Bill Rogers 30 10 0 Rookie
Jack Nicklaus 41 11 5 24 13–8–3 60.42
Larry Nelson 34 17 1 5 5–0–0 100.00

Nelson qualified by virtue of winning the 1981 PGA Championship.

Friday's matches

edit

18 September 1981

Morning foursomes

edit
  Results  
Langer/Piñero   1 up Trevino/Nelson
Lyle/James   2 & 1 Rogers/Lietzke
Gallacher/Smyth   3 & 2 Irwin/Floyd
Oosterhuis/Faldo   4 & 3 Watson/Nicklaus
2 Session 2
2 Overall 2

Afternoon four-ball

edit
  Results  
Torrance/Clark halved Kite/Miller
Lyle/James   3 & 2 Crenshaw/Pate
Smyth/Cañizares   6 & 5 Rogers/Lietzke
Gallacher/Darcy   2 & 1 Irwin/Floyd
212 Session 112
412 Overall 312

Saturday's matches

edit

19 September 1981

Morning four-ball

edit
  Results  
Faldo/Torrance   7 & 5 Trevino/Pate
Lyle/James   1 up Nelson/Kite
Langer/Piñero   2 & 1 Floyd/Irwin
Cañizares/Smyth   3 & 2 Nicklaus/Watson
1 Session 3
512 Overall 612

Afternoon foursomes

edit
  Results  
Oosterhuis/Torrance   2 & 1 Trevino/Pate
Langer/Piñero   3 & 2 Nicklaus/Watson
Lyle/James   3 & 2 Rogers/Floyd
Smyth/Gallacher   3 & 2 Kite/Nelson
0 Session 4
512 Overall 1012

Sunday's singles matches

edit

20 September 1981

  Results  
Sam Torrance   5 & 3 Lee Trevino
Sandy Lyle   3 & 2 Tom Kite
Bernard Gallacher halved Bill Rogers
Mark James   2 up Larry Nelson
Des Smyth   6 & 4 Ben Crenshaw
Bernhard Langer halved Bruce Lietzke
Manuel Piñero   4 & 2 Jerry Pate
José María Cañizares   1 up Hale Irwin
Nick Faldo   2 & 1 Johnny Miller
Howard Clark   4 & 3 Tom Watson
Peter Oosterhuis   1 up Raymond Floyd
Eamonn Darcy   5 & 3 Jack Nicklaus
4 Session 8
912 Overall 1812

Individual player records

edit

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

Source: [11]

Europe

edit
Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes Fourballs
José María Cañizares 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 1–1–0
Howard Clark 1.5 1–0–1 1–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–1
Eamonn Darcy 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–1–0
Nick Faldo 1 1–2–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 0–1–0
Bernard Gallacher 1.5 1–2–1 0–0–1 1–1–0 0–1–0
Mark James 2 2–3–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 1–1–0
Bernhard Langer 1.5 1–2–1 0–0–1 0–2–0 1–0–0
Sandy Lyle 2 2–3–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 1–1–0
Peter Oosterhuis 0 0–3–0 0–1–0 0–2–0 0–0–0
Manuel Piñero 2 2–2–0 1–0–0 0–2–0 1–0–0
Des Smyth 2 2–3–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 1–1–0
Sam Torrance 0.5 0–3–1 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–1–1

United States

edit
Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes Fourballs
Ben Crenshaw 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–0–0 0–1–0
Raymond Floyd 3 3–2–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 1–1–0
Hale Irwin 2 2–2–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 1–1–0
Tom Kite 3.5 3–0–1 1–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–1
Bruce Lietzke 0.5 0–2–1 0–0–1 0–1–0 0–1–0
Johnny Miller 0.5 0–1–1 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–0–1
Larry Nelson 4 4–0–0 1–0–0 2–0–0 1–0–0
Jack Nicklaus 4 4–0–0 1–0–0 2–0–0 1–0–0
Jerry Pate 2 2–2–0 0–1–0 1–0–0 1–1–0
Bill Rogers 1.5 1–2–1 0–0–1 1–1–0 0–1–0
Lee Trevino 4 4–0–0 1–0–0 2–0–0 1–0–0
Tom Watson 3 3–1–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 1–0–0

Video

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Nelson, U.S. clinch Ryder Cup victory". Palm Beach Post. wire services. 21 September 1981. p. D7.
  2. ^ "Win puts Seve back in the big time". The Age. Melbourne. 13 October 1981. p. 46.
  3. ^ "Captain defends Ryder Cup team". Palm Beach Post. 25 August 1981. p. D4.
  4. ^ "Jacklin and Seve Axed". New Straits Times. Malaysia. 25 August 1981. p. 34.
  5. ^ "Golf - Ryder Cup Standing". The Times, Tuesday, August 18 1981; pg. 9; Issue 61009.
  6. ^ "Early birdies give Weiskopf a rewarding performance". The Times, Monday, August 24 1981; pg. 12; Issue 61014.
  7. ^ "Ryder Cup place for matchwinner James". The Times, Monday, August 24 1981; pg. 12; Issue 61014.
  8. ^ "Rogers falls back but still earns cup place". The Times, Tuesday, July 7, 1981; pg. 8; Issue 60973.
  9. ^ "The Nelson touch earns place in Ryder Cup team". The Times, Monday, August 10, 1981; pg. 12; Issue 61012.
  10. ^ "Ryder Cup history: 1981". BBC Sport. 13 September 2004. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  11. ^ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
edit

51°16′41″N 0°14′38″W / 51.278°N 0.244°W / 51.278; -0.244