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1961 Ryder Cup

Golf tournament held in England

Field	Value
name	Ryder Cup
year	1961
dates	13–14 October 1961
venue	Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
location	Lytham St Annes, England
home	Great Britain
away	USA
homecaptain	Dai Rees
awaycaptain	Jerry Barber
homescore	9
awayscore	14
result	United States wins

|UK England & St Annes The 14th Ryder Cup Matches were held 13–14 October 1961 at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England. The United States team won the competition by a score of 14 to 9 points.

At the 1959 Ryder Cup there had been informal discussions between the US and British PGAs about changing the format of the contest. In April 1960 the British PGA made a formal proposal. The suggestion was that, for 1961, matches would be reduced to 18 holes and that there would be two sets of matches each day; two sets of foursomes on the first day and two sets of singles on the second. The pairings for the foursomes and the order of play in the foursomes and singles could be changed for the second set of matches. They also proposed that, for 1963, the match should be extended to three days with two set of four-ball matches on the extra day. By August 1960 the US PGA had agreed to the proposal as it related to the 1961 event, the change being formalised later that year.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The format used in 1961 was the first change from that used since the inaugural event in 1927. Instead of 12 matches of 36 holes, there were 24 matches of 18 holes. The schedule of play in 1961 was as follows:

Day 1 (Friday) — 8 foursomes (alternate shot) matches, 4 each in morning and afternoon sessions
Day 2 (Saturday) — 16 singles matches, 8 each in morning and afternoon sessions With a total of 24 points, 12 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

Source:

The British team was determined using the 1961 Order of Merit with the 1961 Open Championship and News of the World Match Play winners receiving automatic places. The first qualifying event was the Schweppes PGA Close Championship in early April with the Carling-Caledonian Tournament in early August being the final one. With Arnold Palmer winning the Open, nine players qualified after the Carling-Caledonian Tournament: O'Connor, Hunt, Alliss, Bousfield, Coles, Rees, Panton, Moffitt and Haliburton. Weetman was in tenth place. Weetman gained his place when three of the four semi-finalists in the News of the World Match Play were already in the team and the fourth (Peter Thomson, an Australian) was ineligible. Rees was chosen as the captain.

Name	Age	Previous
Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning
percentage
WAL Dai Rees – captain	48	8	14	4–9–1	32.14
ENG Peter Alliss	30	3	6	1–4–1	25.00
ENG Ken Bousfield	42	5	6	3–3–0	50.00
ENG Neil Coles	27	0	Rookie
SCO Tom Haliburton	46	0	Rookie
ENG Bernard Hunt	31	3	5	1–3–1	30.00
ENG Ralph Moffitt	29	0	Rookie
IRL Christy O'Connor Snr	36	3	5	2–3–0	40.00
SCO John Panton	45	2	3	0–3–0	0.00
ENG Harry Weetman	40	5	8	1–6–1	18.75

Arnold Palmer, age 32, competed in his first Ryder Cup. He recorded two wins in pairs and a win and a half in singles.

Name	Age	Previous
Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning
percentage
Jerry Barber – captain	45	1	2	0–2–0	0.00
Billy Casper	30	0	Rookie
Bill Collins	33	0	Rookie
Dow Finsterwald	32	2	4	3–1–0	75.00
Doug Ford	39	3	6	3–2–1	58.33
Jay Hebert	38	1	1	0–0–1	50.00
Gene Littler	31	0	Rookie
Arnold Palmer	32	0	Rookie
Mike Souchak	34	1	2	2–0–0	100.00
Art Wall Jr.	37	2	3	1–2–0	33.33

Friday's matches

Morning foursomes

GBR	Results	USA
O'Connor/Alliss	GBR 4 & 3	Ford/Littler
Panton/Hunt	USA 4 & 3	Wall/Hebert
Rees/Bousfield	USA 2 & 1	Casper/Palmer
Haliburton/Coles	USA 1 up	Collins/Souchak
1	Session	3

Afternoon foursomes

GBR	Results	USA
O'Connor/Alliss	USA 1 up	Wall/Hebert
Panton/Hunt	USA 5 & 4	Casper/Palmer
Rees/Bousfield	GBR 4 & 2	Collins/Souchak
Haliburton/Coles	USA 1 up	Barber/Finsterwald
1	Session	3

Saturday's matches

Morning singles

GBR	Results	USA
Harry Weetman	USA 1 up	Doug Ford
Ralph Moffitt	USA 5 & 4	Mike Souchak
Peter Alliss	halved	Arnold Palmer
Ken Bousfield	USA 5 & 3	Billy Casper
Dai Rees	GBR 2 & 1	Jay Hebert
Neil Coles	halved	Gene Littler
Bernard Hunt	GBR 5 & 4	Jerry Barber
Christy O'Connor	USA 2 & 1	Dow Finsterwald
3	Session	5

Afternoon singles

GBR	Results	USA
Harry Weetman	USA 1 up	Art Wall Jr.
Peter Alliss	GBR 3 & 2	Bill Collins
Bernard Hunt	USA 2 & 1	Mike Souchak
Tom Haliburton	USA 2 & 1	Arnold Palmer
Dai Rees	GBR 4 & 3	Doug Ford
Ken Bousfield	GBR 1 up	Jerry Barber
Neil Coles	GBR 1 up	Dow Finsterwald
Christy O'Connor	halved	Gene Littler
4	Session	3

Individual player records

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

Source:

Great Britain

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes
Peter Alliss	2.5	2–1–1	1–0–1	1–1–0
Ken Bousfield	2	2–2–0	1–1–0	1–1–0
Neil Coles	1.5	1–2–1	1–0–1	0–2–0
Tom Haliburton	0	0–3–0	0–1–0	0–2–0
Bernard Hunt	1	1–3–0	1–1–0	0–2–0
Ralph Moffitt	0	0–1–0	0–1–0	0–0–0
Christy O'Connor	1.5	1–2–1	0–1–1	1–1–0
John Panton	0	0–2–0	0–0–0	0–2–0
Dai Rees	3	3–1–0	2–0–0	1–1–0
Harry Weetman	0	0–2–0	0–2–0	0–0–0

United States

Player	Points		Overall
Jerry Barber	1	1–2–0	0–2–0
Billy Casper	3	3–0–0	1–0–0
Bill Collins	1	1–2–0	0–1–0
Dow Finsterwald	2	2–1–0	1–1–0
Doug Ford	1	1–2–0	1–1–0
Jay Hebert	2	2–1–0	0–1–0
Gene Littler	1	0–1–2	0–0–2
Arnold Palmer	3.5	3–0–1	1–0–1
Mike Souchak	3	3–1–0	2–0–0
Art Wall Jr.	3	3–0–0	1–0–0

References

Longhurst, Henry. (October 23, 1961). "Ryder: A Cup we brought home".
(October 15, 1961). "U.S. defeats Britain in Ryder Cup golf play". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
(12 April 1960). "Changes in the Ryder Cup – P.G.A. suggestions to U.S. – Matches of 18 holes". The Times.
(16 August 1960). "Professionals on golf committee". The Times.
(19 November 1960). "Ryder Cup over 18 holes – New plan approved by U.S.". The Times.
"2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide".
(26 November 1959). "P.G.A. alter Ryder Cup selection – Order of Merit to be used". The Times.
(5 August 1961). "Ryder Cup places earned at Longniddry". The Times.
(15 August 1961). "Rees again captains Ryder Cup team". The Times.
(9 September 1961). "Weetman fills last Ryder Cup place". The Times.

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