1973 Ryder Cup
Golf tournament in Scotland
title: "1973 Ryder Cup" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ryder-cup", "golf-tournaments-in-scotland", "sport-in-east-lothian", "1973-in-golf", "1973-in-scottish-sport", "september-1973-sports-events-in-the-united-kingdom"] description: "Golf tournament in Scotland" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Ryder_Cup" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Golf tournament in Scotland ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox team golf tournament"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Ryder Cup |
| year | 1973 |
| dates | 20–22 September 1973 |
| venue | Muirfield |
| location | East Lothian, Scotland |
| home | GB&I |
| away | USA |
| homecaptain | Bernard Hunt |
| awaycaptain | Jack Burke Jr. |
| homescore | 13 |
| awayscore | 19 |
| result | United States wins |
| :: |
| name = Ryder Cup | year = 1973 | logo = | dates = 20–22 September 1973 | venue = Muirfield | location = East Lothian, Scotland | home = GB&I | away = USA | homecaptain = Bernard Hunt | awaycaptain = Jack Burke Jr. | homescore = 13 | awayscore = 19 | result = United States wins |UK Scotland |relief = 1 |label = Muirfield |lat = 56.043 |long = -2.823 |caption = Location in Scotland |float = |background= |width = 255 The 20th Ryder Cup Matches were held at Muirfield in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. The United States team won the competition by a score of 19 to 13 points. For the first time, what had previously been the "Great Britain" team was called "Great Britain and Ireland", although golfers from the Republic of Ireland had played since 1953, and from Northern Ireland since 1947.
Muirfield had hosted the Open Championship the previous year, won by American Lee Trevino.
Format
The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was adjusted slightly in 1973 from the format used from 1963 through 1971:
- Day 1 — 4 foursomes (alternate shot) matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball (better ball) 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 — 16 singles matches, 8 each in morning and afternoon sessions With a total of 32 points, 16 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.
Teams
Source:
Selection for the Great Britain and Ireland team was based on a points list with points being earned between the 1972 Benson & Hedges Festival of Golf and the same event in 1973. Total points determined the order, with 30 points to the winner, 24 for the runner-up, down to 1 point for the player in 25th place. The leading 8 in the points list were guaranteed places, with the remaining 4 selected by a committee. The top 8 were: Oosterhuis, Coles, Jacklin, Bembridge, Barnes, Butler, O'Connor and Gallacher. The selection committee chose the players lying 9th to 12th in the list: Garner, Polland, Clark and Huggett. ::data[format=table] | Name | Age | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | ENG Bernard Hunt | 43 | Non-playing captain | | | | | SCO Brian Barnes | 28 | 2 | 6 | 2–4–0 | 33.33 | | ENG Maurice Bembridge | 28 | 2 | 7 | 3–3–1 | 50.00 | | ENG Peter Butler | 41 | 3 | 11 | 3–6–2 | 36.36 | | ENG Clive Clark | 28 | 0 | Rookie | | | | ENG Neil Coles | 38 | 6 | 32 | 11–15–6 | 43.75 | | SCO Bernard Gallacher | 24 | 2 | 9 | 5–3–1 | 61.11 | | ENG John Garner | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0–1–0 | 0.00 | | WAL Brian Huggett | 36 | 4 | 19 | 5–9–5 | 39.47 | | ENG Tony Jacklin | 29 | 3 | 17 | 7–6–4 | 52.94 | | IRL Christy O'Connor Snr | 48 | 9 | 31 | 10–18–3 | 37.10 | | ENG Peter Oosterhuis | 25 | 1 | 6 | 3–3–0 | 50.00 | | NIR Eddie Polland | 26 | 0 | Rookie | | | ::
Due to the rules of the PGA of America in place at the time, players with less than five years as a professional were not eligible for the U.S. team, which included reigning U.S. Open champion Johnny Miller and Lanny Wadkins. (These rules also kept Jack Nicklaus on the sidelines until 1969.) Miller made his Ryder Cup debut in 1975 and Wadkins in 1977.
::data[format=table] | Name | Age | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Jack Burke Jr. | 50 | Non-playing captain | | | | | Tommy Aaron | 36 | 1 | 4 | 1–2–1 | 37.50 | | Homero Blancas | 35 | 0 | Rookie | | | | Gay Brewer | 41 | 1 | 5 | 3–2–0 | 60.00 | | Billy Casper | 42 | 6 | 27 | 14–7–6 | 62.96 | | Lou Graham | 35 | 0 | Rookie | | | | Dave Hill | 36 | 1 | 6 | 4–2–0 | 66.67 | | Jack Nicklaus | 33 | 2 | 10 | 6–3–1 | 65.00 | | Arnold Palmer | 44 | 5 | 27 | 20–5–2 | 77.78 | | Chi-Chi Rodríguez | 37 | 0 | Rookie | | | | J. C. Snead | 32 | 1 | 4 | 4–0–0 | 100.00 | | Lee Trevino | 33 | 2 | 11 | 6–3–2 | 63.64 | | Tom Weiskopf | 30 | 0 | Rookie | | | ::
Thursday's matches
Morning foursomes
::data[format=table]
| GBR IRL | Results | USA | 2 | Overall | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes/Gallacher | GBRIRL 1 up | Trevino/Casper | |||
| O'Connor/Coles | GBRIRL 3 & 2 | Weiskopf/Snead | |||
| Jacklin/Oosterhuis | halved | Rodríguez/Graham | |||
| Bembridge/Polland | USA 6 & 5 | Nicklaus/Palmer | |||
| 2 | Session | 1 | |||
| :: |
Afternoon four-ball
::data[format=table]
| GBR IRL | Results | USA | 5 | Overall | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes/Gallacher | GBRIRL 5 & 4 | Aaron/Brewer | |||
| Bembridge/Huggett | GBRIRL 3 & 1 | Nicklaus/Palmer | |||
| Jacklin/Oosterhuis | GBRIRL 3 & 1 | Weiskopf/Casper | |||
| Coles/O'Connor | USA 2 & 1 | Trevino/Blancas | |||
| 3 | Session | 1 | |||
| :: |
Friday's matches
Morning foursomes
::data[format=table]
| GBR IRL | Results | USA | 7 | Overall | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes/Butler | USA 1 up | Nicklaus/Weiskopf | |||
| Oosterhuis/Jacklin | GBRIRL 2 up | Palmer/Hill | |||
| Bembridge/Huggett | GBRIRL 5 & 4 | Rodríguez/Graham | |||
| Coles/O'Connor | USA 2 & 1 | Trevino/Casper | |||
| 2 | Session | 2 | |||
| :: |
Afternoon four-ball
::data[format=table]
| GBR IRL | Results | USA | 8 | Overall | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes/Butler | USA 2 up | Snead/Palmer | |||
| Jacklin/Oosterhuis | USA 3 & 2 | Brewer/Casper | |||
| Clark/Polland | USA 3 & 2 | Nicklaus/Weiskopf | |||
| Bembridge/Huggett | halved | Trevino/Blancas | |||
| Session | 3 | ||||
| :: |
Saturday's matches
Morning singles
::data[format=table]
| GBR IRL | Results | USA | 10 | Overall | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Barnes | USA 2 & 1 | Billy Casper | |||
| Bernard Gallacher | USA 3 & 1 | Tom Weiskopf | |||
| Peter Butler | USA 5 & 4 | Homero Blancas | |||
| Tony Jacklin | GBRIRL 3 & 1 | Tommy Aaron | |||
| Neil Coles | halved | Gay Brewer | |||
| Christy O'Connor | USA 1 up | J. C. Snead | |||
| Maurice Bembridge | halved | Jack Nicklaus | |||
| Peter Oosterhuis | halved | Lee Trevino | |||
| 2 | Session | 5 | |||
| :: |
Afternoon singles
::data[format=table]
| GBR IRL | Results | USA | 13 | Overall | 19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Huggett | GBRIRL 4 & 2 | Homero Blancas | |||
| Brian Barnes | USA 3 & 1 | J. C. Snead | |||
| Bernard Gallacher | USA 6 & 5 | Gay Brewer | |||
| Tony Jacklin | USA 2 & 1 | Billy Casper | |||
| Neil Coles | USA 6 & 5 | Lee Trevino | |||
| Christy O'Connor | halved | Tom Weiskopf | |||
| Maurice Bembridge | USA 2 up | Jack Nicklaus | |||
| Peter Oosterhuis | GBRIRL 4 & 2 | Arnold Palmer | |||
| 2 | Session | 5 | |||
| :: |
Individual player records
Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.
Source:
Great Britain and Ireland
::data[format=table]
| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Barnes | 2 | 2–4–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Maurice Bembridge | 3 | 2–2–2 | 0–1–1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Peter Butler | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Clive Clark | 0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Neil Coles | 1.5 | 1–3–1 | 0–1–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 2 | 2–2–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Brian Huggett | 3.5 | 3–0–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Tony Jacklin | 3.5 | 3–2–1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 |
| Christy O'Connor | 1.5 | 1–3–1 | 0–1–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 4 | 3–1–2 | 1–0–1 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 |
| Eddie Polland | 0 | 0–2–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| :: |
John Garner did not play in any matches.
United States
::data[format=table] | Player | Points || Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs | |---|---|---|---|---| | Tommy Aaron | 0 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | | Homero Blancas | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | | Gay Brewer | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 1–0–1 | 0–0–0 | | Billy Casper | 4 | 4–2–0 | 2–0–0 | 1–1–0 | | Lou Graham | 0.5 | 0–1–1 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–1 | | Dave Hill | 0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 | | Jack Nicklaus | 4.5 | 4–1–1 | 1–0–1 | 2–0–0 | | Arnold Palmer | 2 | 2–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | | Chi-Chi Rodríguez | 0.5 | 0–1–1 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–1 | | J. C. Snead | 3 | 3–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–1–0 | | Lee Trevino | 4 | 3–1–2 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 | | Tom Weiskopf | 3.5 | 3–2–1 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 | ::
References
References
- (23 September 1973). "U.S. prevails in Ryder Cup". Eugene Register-Guard.
- "2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide".
- (3 February 1972). "Change to Ryder Cup team selection". The Glasgow Herald.
- (20 August 1973). "Garner may miss Ryder Cup". The Glasgow Herald.
- (21 August 1973). "Selectors stick to Ryder Cup table". The Glasgow Herald.
- Green, Bob. (22 June 1973). "Johnny Miller ineligible for Ryder Cup team". Lewiston Evening Journal.
- (20 September 1973). "Ryder cup captains choose predictable partnerships". Glasgow Herald.
- (21 September 1973). "Scottish pair show the way to British lead". Glasgow Herald.
- (21 September 1973). "Americans now hold the balance of power". Glasgow Herald.
- (24 September 1973). "US victory confirms hopeless imbalance of Ryder cup". Glasgow Herald.
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