Ryder Cup
Year1981
Dates18–20 September 1981
VenueWalton Heath Golf Club
LocationSurrey, England
HomeEurope
AwayUSA
HomecaptainJohn Jacobs
AwaycaptainDave Marr
Homescore9
Awayscore18
ResultUnited States wins

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 18 to 9 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.

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

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

Teams

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
NameAgePoints
rank		Previous
Ryder Cups		MatchesW–L–HWinning
percentage
John Jacobs56Non-playing captain
Bernhard Langer2410Rookie
Nick Faldo242276–1–085.71
Sandy Lyle233141–2–137.50
José María Cañizares3440Rookie
Sam Torrance2850Rookie
Manuel Piñero2960Rookie
Eamonn Darcy297270–5–214.29
Des Smyth288120–2–00.00
Howard Clark279110–1–00.00
Bernard Gallacher321062512–9–456.00
Mark James2711250–4–110.00
Peter Oosterhuis33–52514–8–362.00

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
NameAgePoints
rank		Previous
Ryder Cups		MatchesW–L–HWinning
percentage
Dave Marr47Non-playing captain
Tom Watson321132–1–066.67
Raymond Floyd3923102–5–335.00
Bruce Lietzke3030Rookie
Tom Kite314143–1–075.00
Hale Irwin3653129–2–179.17
Lee Trevino41652613–7–661.54
Jerry Pate2870Rookie
Ben Crenshaw2980Rookie
Johnny Miller349142–1–162.50
Bill Rogers30100Rookie
Jack Nicklaus411152413–8–360.42
Larry Nelson3417155–0–0100.00

Nelson qualified by virtue of winning the 1981 PGA Championship.

Friday's matches

18 September 1981

Morning foursomes

Results
Langer/Piñero1 upTrevino/Nelson
Lyle/James2 & 1Rogers/Lietzke
Gallacher/Smyth3 & 2Irwin/Floyd
Oosterhuis/Faldo4 & 3Watson/Nicklaus
2Session2
2Overall2

Afternoon four-ball

Results
Torrance/ClarkhalvedKite/Miller
Lyle/James3 & 2Crenshaw/Pate
Smyth/Cañizares6 & 5Rogers/Lietzke
Gallacher/Darcy2 & 1Irwin/Floyd
2Session1
4Overall3

Saturday's matches

19 September 1981

Morning four-ball

Results
Faldo/Torrance7 & 5Trevino/Pate
Lyle/James1 upNelson/Kite
Langer/Piñero2 & 1Floyd/Irwin
Cañizares/Smyth3 & 2Nicklaus/Watson
1Session3
5Overall6

Afternoon foursomes

Results
Oosterhuis/Torrance2 & 1Trevino/Pate
Langer/Piñero3 & 2Nicklaus/Watson
Lyle/James3 & 2Rogers/Floyd
Smyth/Gallacher3 & 2Kite/Nelson
0Session4
5Overall10

Sunday's singles matches

20 September 1981

Results
Sam Torrance5 & 3Lee Trevino
Sandy Lyle3 & 2Tom Kite
Bernard GallacherhalvedBill Rogers
Mark James2 upLarry Nelson
Des Smyth6 & 4Ben Crenshaw
Bernhard LangerhalvedBruce Lietzke
Manuel Piñero4 & 2Jerry Pate
José María Cañizares1 upHale Irwin
Nick Faldo2 & 1Johnny Miller
Howard Clark4 & 3Tom Watson
Peter Oosterhuis1 upRaymond Floyd
Eamonn Darcy5 & 3Jack Nicklaus
4Session8
9Overall18

Individual player records

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

Source: [11]

Europe

PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
José María Cañizares11–2–00–1–00–0–01–1–0
Howard Clark1.51–0–11–0–00–0–00–0–1
Eamonn Darcy00–2–00–1–00–0–00–1–0
Nick Faldo11–2–01–0–00–1–00–1–0
Bernard Gallacher1.51–2–10–0–11–1–00–1–0
Mark James22–3–00–1–01–1–01–1–0
Bernhard Langer1.51–2–10–0–10–2–01–0–0
Sandy Lyle22–3–00–1–01–1–01–1–0
Peter Oosterhuis00–3–00–1–00–2–00–0–0
Manuel Piñero22–2–01–0–00–2–01–0–0
Des Smyth22–3–00–1–01–1–01–1–0
Sam Torrance0.50–3–10–1–00–1–00–1–1

United States

PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Ben Crenshaw11–1–01–0–00–0–00–1–0
Raymond Floyd33–2–01–0–01–1–01–1–0
Hale Irwin22–2–01–0–00–1–01–1–0
Tom Kite3.53–0–11–0–01–0–01–0–1
Bruce Lietzke0.50–2–10–0–10–1–00–1–0
Johnny Miller0.50–1–10–1–00–0–00–0–1
Larry Nelson44–0–01–0–02–0–01–0–0
Jack Nicklaus44–0–01–0–02–0–01–0–0
Jerry Pate22–2–00–1–01–0–01–1–0
Bill Rogers1.51–2–10–0–11–1–00–1–0
Lee Trevino44–0–01–0–02–0–01–0–0
Tom Watson33–1–00–1–02–0–01–0–0

Video

References

  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. 13 Oct 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. 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 October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.