1979 Ryder Cup

23rd Ryder Cup Matches
Dates		September 14–16
Venue		The Greenbrier, The Greenbrier Course
Location		White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Captains		Billy Casper (USA) John Jacobs (Europe)
17   11
United States retains the Ryder Cup
«1977		1981»

The 23rd Ryder Cup Matches were held 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, Spanish golfers Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido), to form Team Europe which replaced Team Great Britain and Ireland as the official opposition to the United States. It was hoped that the historic change would help 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.

Format

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

Teams

Friday's matches

Morning four-ball

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

Afternoon foursomes

	Results
Brown/Smyth	7 & 6	Irwin/Kite
Ballesteros/Garrido	3 & 2	Zoeller/Green
Lyle/Jacklin	halved	Trevino/Morgan
Gallacher/Barnes	4 & 3	Wadkins/Nelson
1½	Session	2½
2½	Overall	5½

Saturday's matches

Morning foursomes

	Results
Jacklin/Lyle	5 & 4	Elder/Mahaffey
Faldo/Oosterhuis	6 & 5	Bean/Kite
Gallacher/Barnes	2 & 1	Zoeller/Hayes
Ballesteros/Garrido	3 & 2	Wadkins/Nelson
3	Session	1
5½	Overall	6½

Afternoon four-ball

	Results
Ballesteros/Garrido	5 & 4	Wadkins/Nelson
Jacklin/Lyle	1 hole	Irwin/Kite
Gallacher/Barnes	3 & 2	Trevino/Zoeller
Faldo/Oosterhuis	1 hole	Elder/Hayes
2	Session	2
7½	Overall	8½

Sunday's matches

Morning singles

	Results
Bernard Gallacher	3 & 2	Lanny Wadkins
Seve Ballesteros	3 & 2	Larry Nelson
Tony Jacklin	1 hole	Tom Kite
Antonio Garrido	1 hole	Mark Hayes
Michael King	4 & 3	Andy Bean
Brian Barnes	1 hole	John Mahaffey
1	Session	5
8½	Overall	13½

Afternoon singles

	Results
Nick Faldo	3 & 2	Lee Elder
Des Smyth	5 & 3	Hale Irwin
Peter Oosterhuis	2 holes	Hubert Green
Ken Brown	1 hole	Fuzzy Zoeller
Sandy Lyle	2 & 1	Lee Trevino
Mark James	halved [1]	Gil Morgan
2½	Session	3½
11	Overall	17

1. ^ Mark James withdrew because of injury. Gil Morgan was also injured, so this match was not actually played.[1]

Controversy and fallout

On their return to the United Kingdom, Mark James and Ken Brown received the highest fines in professional golf up to this point. James received a £1500 fine for "unprofessional conduct" and Brown was fined £1000 and banned from international duty for 12 months.[2]

References