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Wikipedia / 1985 Ryder Cup

The 26th Ryder Cup Matches were held 13–15 September 1985 at the Brabazon Course of The Belfry in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England. Team Europe won the competition for the first time by a score of 16 to 11 points. This marked the first U.S. loss since 1957, previously the sole U.S. loss in fifty years.

A key turning point in the matches came Saturday morning, when Craig Stadler missed a two-foot putt on the 18th hole, which would have earned a win for him and Curtis Strange over Europe's Bernhard Langer and Sandy Lyle. The match was halved, so instead of the U.S. being in the lead through three stages, the overall score was tied at 6-6. Europe went on to win three of the four Saturday afternoon matches. "In the past, it was always us who missed those putts," said European captain Tony Jacklin. "That has to crush them."

Europe took that two-point lead into the Sunday singles and increased their lead throughout Sunday. It fell to Sam Torrance to secure the winning margin when he holed a putt on the 18th hole to defeat Andy North 1up and go up 14 to 8, a six-point margin with five matches on the course.

This was the last Ryder Cup played in Europe that was not shown on live television in the United States. The USA Network first televised it in 1989 on cable with video provided by the BBC. NBC Sports took over live weekend coverage in 1991 in South Carolina, and 1993 marked the first time a major U.S. network televised it live from Europe.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format in 1985 was as follows:

  • 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, 14 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

Nine of the European team were chosen from the 1985 European Tour money list at the conclusion of the Benson & Hedges International Open on 18 August with the remaining three team members being chosen immediately after the final event by the team captain, Tony Jacklin. Prior to the final event Christy O'Connor Jnr was in the 9th qualifying position. However he missed the cut in the Benson & Hedges International Open and was overtaken by José María Cañizares, O'Connor finishing just £115.89 behind Cañizares. Jacklin's choices of Nick Faldo and Ken Brown were widely expected but his choice of José Rivero was a surprise.

Team Europe

Name

Age

Pointsrank

PreviousRyder Cups

Matches

W–L–H

Winningpercentage

Tony Jacklin

41

Non-playing captain

Sandy Lyle

27

1

3

11

3–7–1

31.82

Sam Torrance

32

2

2

9

1–5–3

27.78

Ian Woosnam

27

3

1

3

0–2–1

16.67

Bernhard Langer

28

4

2

9

5–3–1

61.11

Paul Way

22

5

1

5

3–1–1

70.00

Howard Clark

31

6

2

3

1–1–1

50.00

Seve Ballesteros

28

7

2

10

3–5–2

40.00

Manuel Piñero

33

8

1

4

2–2–0

50.00

José María Cañizares

38

9

2

6

2–3–1

41.67

José Rivero

29

0

Rookie

Ken Brown

28

3

8

3–5–0

37.50

Nick Faldo

28

4

15

11–4–0

73.33

Captains picks are shown in yellow.

Team USA

Name

Age

Pointsrank

PreviousRyder Cups

Matches

W–L–H

Winningpercentage

Lee Trevino

45

Non-playing captain

Andy North

35

–

0

Rookie

Hubert Green

38

–

2

4

3–1–0

75.00

Curtis Strange

30

1

1

3

1–2–0

33.33

Lanny Wadkins

35

2

3

12

9–2–1

79.17

Raymond Floyd

43

3

5

19

5–11–3

34.21

Calvin Peete

42

4

1

4

2–1–1

62.50

Mark O'Meara

28

5

0

Rookie

Craig Stadler

32

6

1

3

2–1–0

66.67

Hal Sutton

27

7

0

Rookie

Peter Jacobsen

31

8

0

Rookie

Tom Kite

35

9

3

11

7–2–2

72.73

Fuzzy Zoeller

33

10

2

7

1–5–1

21.43

North qualified by virtue of winning the 1985 U.S. Open, while Green qualified by winning the 1985 PGA Championship.

Friday's matches

Morning foursomes

Results

Ballesteros/Piñero

2 & 1

Strange/O'Meara

Langer/Faldo

3 & 2

Peete/Kite

Lyle/Brown

4 & 3

Wadkins/Floyd

Clark/Torrance

3 & 2

Stadler/Sutton

1

Session

3

1

Overall

3

Afternoon four-ball

Results

Way/Woosnam

1 up

Zoeller/Green

Ballesteros/Piñero

2 & 1

North/Jacobsen

Langer/Cañizares

halved

Stadler/Sutton

Torrance/Clark

1 up

Floyd/Wadkins

2

Session

1

3

Overall

4

Saturday's matches

Morning four-ball

Results

Torrance/Clark

2 & 1

Kite/North

Way/Woosnam

4 & 3

Green/Zoeller

Ballesteros/Piñero

3 & 2

O'Meara/Wadkins

Langer/Lyle

halved

Stadler/Strange

2

Session

1

6

Overall

6

Afternoon foursomes

Results

Cañizares/Rivero

7 & 5

Kite/Peete

Ballesteros/Piñero

5 & 4

Stadler/Sutton

Way/Woosnam

4 & 2

Strange/Jacobsen

Langer/Brown

3 & 2

Floyd/Wadkins

3

Session

1

9

Overall

7

Sunday's singles matches

Results

Manuel Piñero

3 & 1

Lanny Wadkins

Ian Woosnam

2 & 1

Craig Stadler

Paul Way

2 up

Raymond Floyd

Seve Ballesteros

halved

Tom Kite

Sandy Lyle

3 & 2

Peter Jacobsen

Bernhard Langer

5 & 4

Hal Sutton

Sam Torrance

1 up

Andy North

Howard Clark

1 up

Mark O'Meara

José Rivero

1 up

Calvin Peete

Nick Faldo

3 & 1

Hubert Green

José María Cañizares

2 up

Fuzzy Zoeller

Ken Brown

4 & 2

Curtis Strange

7

Session

4

16

Overall

11

Individual player records

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

Source:

Europe

Player

Points

Overall

Singles

Foursomes

Fourballs

Seve Ballesteros

3.5

3–1–1

0–0–1

2–0–0

1–1–0

Ken Brown

1

1–2–0

0–1–0

1–1–0

0–0–0

José María Cañizares

2.5

2–0–1

1–0–0

1–0–0

0–0–1

Howard Clark

2

2–2–0

1–0–0

0–1–0

1–1–0

Nick Faldo

0

0–2–0

0–1–0

0–1–0

0–0–0

Bernhard Langer

3

2–1–2

1–0–0

1–1–0

0–0–2

Sandy Lyle

1.5

1–1–1

1–0–0

0–1–0

0–0–1

Manuel Piñero

4

4–1–0

1–0–0

2–0–0

1–1–0

José Rivero

1

1–1–0

0–1–0

1–0–0

0–0–0

Sam Torrance

2

2–2–0

1–0–0

0–1–0

1–1–0

Paul Way

3

3–1–0

1–0–0

0–1–0

2–0–0

Ian Woosnam

2

2–2–0

0–1–0

0–1–0

2–0–0

United States

Player

Points

Overall

Singles

Foursomes

Fourballs

Raymond Floyd

2

2–2–0

0–1–0

1–1–0

1–0–0

Hubert Green

1

1–2–0

1–0–0

0–0–0

0–2–0

Peter Jacobsen

1

1–2–0

0–1–0

1–0–0

0–1–0

Tom Kite

1.5

1–2–1

0–0–1

1–1–0

0–1–0

Andy North

0

0–3–0

0–1–0

0–0–0

0–2–0

Mark O'Meara

1

1–2–0

0–1–0

0–1–0

1–0–0

Calvin Peete

2

2–1–0

1–0–0

1–1–0

0–0–0

Craig Stadler

3

2–1–2

1–0–0

1–1–0

0–0–2

Curtis Strange

2.5

2–1–1

1–0–0

1–1–0

0–0–1

Hal Sutton

1.5

1–2–1

0–1–0

1–1–0

0–0–1

Lanny Wadkins

3

3–2–0

0–1–0

1–1–0

2–0–0

Fuzzy Zoeller

0

0–3–0

0–1–0

0–0–0

0–2–0

References