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1979 Ryder Cup

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23rd Ryder Cup Matches
DatesSeptember 14–16, 1979
VenueThe Greenbrier,
The Greenbrier Course
LocationWhite Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Captains
United States 17 11 Europe
United States wins the Ryder Cup
Location map
1979 Ryder Cup is located in West Virginia
1979 Ryder Cup
Location within West Virginia
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The 23rd Ryder Cup Matches were held September 14–16, 1979, in the United States, at the Greenbrier Course of The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

It was the beginning of a new era for the Ryder Cup. For the first time, players from continental Europe took part in the Ryder Cup (specifically, Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido of Spain).[1][2] The new Team Europe replaced Great Britain and Ireland as the official opposition to the United States. It was hoped that the change would help raise the profile of the competition and bring about the end of near total domination by the United States that had existed since the end of the Second World War. However the change made no real impact at the first attempt as the United States won the competition easily by a score of 17 to 11 points and led after every session.[3] Ballesteros and Garrido played together in all four team sessions and were 1–3; both lost their singles matches on Sunday. All four of Ballesteros' losses came against Larry Nelson.[4][5]

Jack Nicklaus, age 39, failed to make the team for the first time since missing his first chance at making the team in 1967. Tom Watson left the day before the competition for the birth of his first child and was replaced on the team by first alternate Mark Hayes.[6]

Format

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The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was similar to the formats used from 1963 through 1975, but with fewer singles matches:

  • Day 1 — 4 four-ball (better ball) matches in a morning session and 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in an afternoon session
  • Day 2 — 4 foursome matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball matches in an afternoon session
  • Day 3 — 12 singles matches, 6 each in morning and afternoon sessions

With a total of 28 points, 141⁄2 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

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United States Team USA
Name Age Points
rank		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Billy Casper 48Non-playing captain
Gil Morgan 320Rookie
Hubert Green 32122–0–0100.00
Larry Nelson 320Rookie
John Mahaffey 310Rookie
Tom Kite 290Rookie
Lee Trevino 3942211–6–561.36
Hale Irwin 34286–1–181.25
Lanny Wadkins 29133–0–0100.00
Andy Bean 260Rookie
Fuzzy Zoeller 270Rookie
Lee Elder 450Rookie
Mark Hayes 300Rookie

Mark Hayes replaced Tom Watson.[6]

Europe Team Europe
Name Age Points
rank		 Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
England John Jacobs 54Non-playing captain
Spain Seve Ballesteros 2210Rookie
England Mark James 252130–3–00.00
Scotland Brian Barnes 3435207–12–137.50
Scotland Bernard Gallacher 3045208–8–450.00
Scotland Sandy Lyle 2150Rookie
Scotland Ken Brown 226110–1–00.00
Spain Antonio Garrido 3570Rookie
England Tony Jacklin 35863112–12–750.00
England Michael King 2990Rookie
England Nick Faldo 2210133–0–0100.00
Republic of Ireland Des Smyth 26120Rookie
England Peter Oosterhuis 31–42112–6–364.29

The wild card selections are shown in yellow.

Friday's matches

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September 14, 1979

Morning four-ball

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Europe Results United States
Garrido/Ballesteros United States 2 & 1 Wadkins/Nelson
Brown/James United States 3 & 2 Trevino/Zoeller
Oosterhuis/Faldo United States 2 & 1 Bean/Elder
Gallacher/Barnes Europe 2 & 1 Irwin/Mahaffey
1 Session 3
1 Overall 3

Afternoon foursomes

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Europe Results United States
Brown/Smyth United States 7 & 6 Irwin/Kite
Ballesteros/Garrido Europe 3 & 2 Zoeller/Green
Lyle/Jacklin halved Trevino/Morgan
Gallacher/Barnes United States 4 & 3 Wadkins/Nelson
11⁄2 Session 21⁄2
21⁄2 Overall 51⁄2

Saturday's matches

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September 15, 1979

Morning foursomes

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Europe Results United States
Jacklin/Lyle Europe 5 & 4 Elder/Mahaffey
Faldo/Oosterhuis Europe 6 & 5 Bean/Kite
Gallacher/Barnes Europe 2 & 1 Zoeller/Hayes
Ballesteros/Garrido United States 3 & 2 Wadkins/Nelson
3 Session 1
51⁄2 Overall 61⁄2

Afternoon four-ball

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Europe Results United States
Ballesteros/Garrido United States 5 & 4 Wadkins/Nelson
Jacklin/Lyle United States 1 up Irwin/Kite
Gallacher/Barnes Europe 3 & 2 Trevino/Zoeller
Faldo/Oosterhuis Europe 1 up Elder/Hayes
2 Session 2
71⁄2 Overall 81⁄2

Sunday's matches

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September 16, 1979

Morning singles

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Europe Results United States
Bernard Gallacher Europe 3 & 2 Lanny Wadkins
Seve Ballesteros United States 3 & 2 Larry Nelson
Tony Jacklin United States 1 up Tom Kite
Antonio Garrido United States 1 up Mark Hayes
Michael King United States 4 & 3 Andy Bean
Brian Barnes United States 1 up John Mahaffey
1 Session 5
81⁄2 Overall 131⁄2

Afternoon singles

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Europe Results United States
Nick Faldo Europe 3 & 2 Lee Elder
Des Smyth United States 5 & 3 Hale Irwin
Peter Oosterhuis United States 2 up Hubert Green
Ken Brown Europe 1 up Fuzzy Zoeller
Sandy Lyle United States 2 & 1 Lee Trevino
Mark James halved[7] Gil Morgan
21⁄2 Session 31⁄2
11 Overall 17

Individual player records

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

Source: [8]

United States

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PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Andy Bean22–1–01–0–00–1–01–0–0
Lee Elder11–3–00–1–00–1–01–1–0
Hubert Green11–1–01–0–00–1–00–0–0
Mark Hayes11–2–01–0–00–1–00–1–0
Hale Irwin33–1–01–0–01–0–01–1–0
Tom Kite33–1–01–0–01–1–01–0–0
John Mahaffey11–2–01–0–00–1–00–1–0
Gil Morgan10–0–20–0–10–0–10–0–0
Larry Nelson55–0–01–0–02–0–02–0–0
Lee Trevino2.52–1–11–0–00–0–11–1–0
Lanny Wadkins44–1–00–1–02–0–02–0–0
Fuzzy Zoeller11–4–00–1–00–2–01–1–0

Europe

[edit]
PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Seve Ballesteros11–4–00–1–01–1–00–2–0
Brian Barnes33–2–00–1–01–1–02–0–0
Ken Brown11–2–01–0–00–1–00–1–0
Nick Faldo33–1–01–0–01–0–01–1–0
Bernard Gallacher44–1–01–0–01–1–02–0–0
Antonio Garrido11–4–00–1–01–1–00–2–0
Tony Jacklin1.51–2–10–1–01–0–10–1–0
Mark James0.50–1–10–0–10–0–00–1–0
Michael King00–1–00–1–00–0–00–0–0
Sandy Lyle1.51–2–10–1–01–0–10–1–0
Peter Oosterhuis22–2–00–1–01–0–01–1–0
Des Smyth00–2–00–1–00–1–00–0–0

Controversy and fallout

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Due to their behaviour both on and off the course, the PGA levied Mark James and Ken Brown with the highest fines in professional golf up to that point. Both forfeited their match fee of £1000, with James receiving an additional £500 fine and Brown a suspension from international duty for 12 months. It was reported that James had failed to wear team uniform when requested, missed meetings and misbehaved during social functions. In addition to missing meetings and behaving improperly at social functions, Brown was also cited for his attitude towards playing partner Des Smyth and their opponents during the opening afternoon foursomes matches.[9][10]

Video

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References

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  1. ↑ "Ryder Cup goes Continental". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. May 31, 1978. p. 26.
  2. ↑ "British receive help in Ryder Cup change". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Washington. Associated Press. May 30, 1978. p. 19.
  3. ↑ Jenkins, Dan (September 24, 1979). "The U.S. rookies were rough Ryders". Sports Illustrated. p. 26.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ↑ "Not-so-good loser". Miami News. September 17, 1979. p. 1C.
  5. ↑ "Nelson-led Yanks retain Ryder Cup". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. September 17, 1979. p. 19.
  6. 1 2 "U.S. minus Watson as Ryder Cup starts". St. Petersburg Times. wire services. September 14, 1979. p. 6C.
  7. ↑ Mark James withdrew because of injury. Gil Morgan was also injured, so this match was not actually played.
  8. ↑ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Brown and James pay heavy penalty". The Times. November 29, 1979. p. 20. Retrieved September 25, 2025 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Dobereiner, Peter (November 29, 1979). "Expensive way of growing up". The Guardian. p. 28. Retrieved September 25, 2025 – via newspapers.com.
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