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1985 Ryder Cup

26th edition; golf tournament in England


26th edition; golf tournament in England

FieldValue
nameRyder Cup
year1985
dates13–15 September 1985
venueThe Belfry, Brabazon Course
locationWishaw, Warwickshire, England
homeEurope
awayUSA
homecaptainTony Jacklin
awaycaptainLee Trevino
homescore16
awayscore11
resultEurope wins

|UK England 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 22 ft putt on the 18th hole to defeat Andy North 1 up 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.

NameAgePoints
rankPrevious
Ryder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinning
percentage
ENG Tony Jacklin41Non-playing captain
SCO Sandy Lyle2713113–7–131.82
SCO Sam Torrance322291–5–327.78
WAL Ian Woosnam273130–2–116.67
FRG Bernhard Langer284295–3–161.11
ENG Paul Way225153–1–170.00
ENG Howard Clark316231–1–150.00
ESP Seve Ballesteros2872103–5–240.00
ESP Manuel Piñero338142–2–050.00
ESP José María Cañizares389262–3–141.67
ESP José Rivero290Rookie
SCO Ken Brown28383–5–037.50
ENG Nick Faldo2841511–4–073.33

Captains picks are shown in yellow.

NameAgePoints
rankPrevious
Ryder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinning
percentage
Lee Trevino45Non-playing captain
Andy North350Rookie
Hubert Green38243–1–075.00
Curtis Strange301131–2–033.33
Lanny Wadkins3523129–2–179.17
Raymond Floyd4335195–11–334.21
Calvin Peete424142–1–162.50
Mark O'Meara2850Rookie
Craig Stadler326132–1–066.67
Hal Sutton2770Rookie
Peter Jacobsen3180Rookie
Tom Kite3593117–2–272.73
Fuzzy Zoeller3310271–5–121.43

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

EuropeResultsUSA1Overall3
**Ballesteros/Piñero**Europe 2 & 1Strange/O'Meara
Langer/FaldoUSA 3 & 2**Peete/Kite**
Lyle/BrownUSA 4 & 3**Wadkins/Floyd**
Clark/TorranceUSA 3 & 2**Stadler/Sutton**
1Session3

Afternoon four-ball

EuropeResultsUSA3Overall4
**Way/Woosnam**Europe 1 upZoeller/Green
**Ballesteros/Piñero**Europe 2 & 1North/Jacobsen
Langer/CañizareshalvedStadler/Sutton
Torrance/ClarkUSA 1 up**Floyd/Wadkins**
2Session1

Saturday's matches

Morning four-ball

EuropeResultsUSA6Overall6
**Torrance/Clark**Europe 2 & 1Kite/North
**Way/Woosnam**Europe 4 & 3Green/Zoeller
Ballesteros/PiñeroUSA 3 & 2**O'Meara/Wadkins**
Langer/LylehalvedStadler/Strange
2Session1

Afternoon foursomes

EuropeResultsUSA9Overall7
**Cañizares/Rivero**Europe 7 & 5Kite/Peete
**Ballesteros/Piñero**Europe 5 & 4Stadler/Sutton
Way/WoosnamUSA 4 & 2**Strange/Jacobsen**
**Langer/Brown**Europe 3 & 2Floyd/Wadkins
3Session1

Sunday's singles matches

EuropeResultsUSA16Overall11
**Manuel Piñero**Europe 3 & 1Lanny Wadkins
Ian WoosnamUSA 2 & 1**Craig Stadler**
**Paul Way**Europe 2 upRaymond Floyd
Seve BallesteroshalvedTom Kite
**Sandy Lyle**Europe 3 & 2Peter Jacobsen
**Bernhard Langer**Europe 5 & 4Hal Sutton
**Sam Torrance**Europe 1 upAndy North
**Howard Clark**Europe 1 upMark O'Meara
José RiveroUSA 1 up**Calvin Peete**
Nick FaldoUSA 3 & 1**Hubert Green**
**José María Cañizares**Europe 2 upFuzzy Zoeller
Ken BrownUSA 4 & 2**Curtis Strange**
7Session4

Individual player records

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

Source:

Europe

PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Seve Ballesteros3.53–1–10–0–12–0–01–1–0
Ken Brown11–2–00–1–01–1–00–0–0
José María Cañizares2.52–0–11–0–01–0–00–0–1
Howard Clark22–2–01–0–00–1–01–1–0
Nick Faldo00–2–00–1–00–1–00–0–0
Bernhard Langer32–1–21–0–01–1–00–0–2
Sandy Lyle1.51–1–11–0–00–1–00–0–1
Manuel Piñero44–1–01–0–02–0–01–1–0
José Rivero11–1–00–1–01–0–00–0–0
Sam Torrance22–2–01–0–00–1–01–1–0
Paul Way33–1–01–0–00–1–02–0–0
Ian Woosnam22–2–00–1–00–1–02–0–0

United States

PlayerPointsOverallSinglesFoursomesFourballs
Raymond Floyd22–2–00–1–01–1–0
Hubert Green11–2–01–0–00–0–0
Peter Jacobsen11–2–00–1–01–0–0
Tom Kite1.51–2–10–0–11–1–0
Andy North00–3–00–1–00–0–0
Mark O'Meara11–2–00–1–00–1–0
Calvin Peete22–1–01–0–01–1–0
Craig Stadler32–1–21–0–01–1–0
Curtis Strange2.52–1–11–0–01–1–0
Hal Sutton1.51–2–10–1–01–1–0
Lanny Wadkins33–2–00–1–01–1–0
Fuzzy Zoeller00–3–00–1–00–0–0

References

References

  1. McDermott, Barry. (23 September 1985). "The Empire Strikes Back".
  2. (16 September 1985). "North falls as US loses Ryder Cup". Milwaukee Sentinel.
  3. (3 October 1985). "Ryder Cup matches scheduled for TV". Palm Beach Daily News.
  4. (31 January 1989). "Ryder Cup will be televised". Milwaukee Sentinel.
  5. Modoono, Bill. (21 September 1989). "Ryder Cup play creates fuzzy picture". Pittsburgh Press.
  6. Sandomir, Richard. (26 September 1991). "U.S. losses put Ryder Cup golf back on network". Eugene Register-Guard.
  7. "Jacklin's surprise choice". ''The Times'', 19 August 1985; p. 19; Issue 62220.
  8. Kelley, Brent. "Ryder Cup captain's picks and how they've fared". About.com.
  9. "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide".
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