1973 Ryder Cup

20th Ryder Cup Matches
Dates	20–22 September 1973
Venue	Muirfield
Location	East Lothian, Scotland
Captains	Bernard Hunt (GB&I); Jack Burke Jr. (USA);
	United States wins the Ryder Cup
	← 1971 1975 →

Muirfield

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Location in Scotland

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.^[1] 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, 161⁄2 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

Source: ^[2]

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.^[3] 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.^[4] The selection committee chose the players lying 9th to 12th in the list: Garner, Polland, Clark and Huggett.^[5]

Name	Age	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Team Great Britain and Ireland
Bernard Hunt	43	Non-playing captain
Brian Barnes	28	2	6	2–4–0	33.33
Maurice Bembridge	28	2	7	3–3–1	50.00
Peter Butler	41	3	11	3–6–2	36.36
Clive Clark	28	0	Rookie
Neil Coles	38	6	32	11–15–6	43.75
Bernard Gallacher	24	2	9	5–3–1	61.11
John Garner	26	1	1	0–1–0	0.00
Brian Huggett	36	4	19	5–9–5	39.47
Tony Jacklin	29	3	17	7–6–4	52.94
Christy O'Connor Snr	48	9	31	10–18–3	37.10
Peter Oosterhuis	25	1	6	3–3–0	50.00
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.^[6] (These rules also kept Jack Nicklaus on the sidelines until 1969.) Miller made his Ryder Cup debut in 1975 and Wadkins in 1977.

Name	Age	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Team USA
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

^[7] ^[8]

	Results
Barnes/Gallacher	1 up	Trevino/Casper
O'Connor/Coles	3 & 2	Weiskopf/Snead
Jacklin/Oosterhuis	halved	Rodríguez/Graham
Bembridge/Polland	6 & 5	Nicklaus/Palmer
21⁄2	Session	11⁄2
21⁄2	Overall	11⁄2

Afternoon four-ball

	Results
Barnes/Gallacher	5 & 4	Aaron/Brewer
Bembridge/Huggett	3 & 1	Nicklaus/Palmer
Jacklin/Oosterhuis	3 & 1	Weiskopf/Casper
Coles/O'Connor	2 & 1	Trevino/Blancas
3	Session	1
51⁄2	Overall	21⁄2

Friday's matches

^[9]

Morning foursomes

	Results
Barnes/Butler	1 up	Nicklaus/Weiskopf
Oosterhuis/Jacklin	2 up	Palmer/Hill
Bembridge/Huggett	5 & 4	Rodríguez/Graham
Coles/O'Connor	2 & 1	Trevino/Casper
2	Session	2
71⁄2	Overall	41⁄2

Afternoon four-ball

	Results
Barnes/Butler	2 up	Snead/Palmer
Jacklin/Oosterhuis	3 & 2	Brewer/Casper
Clark/Polland	3 & 2	Nicklaus/Weiskopf
Bembridge/Huggett	halved	Trevino/Blancas
1⁄2	Session	31⁄2
8	Overall	8

Saturday's matches

^[10]

Morning singles

	Results
Brian Barnes	2 & 1	Billy Casper
Bernard Gallacher	3 & 1	Tom Weiskopf
Peter Butler	5 & 4	Homero Blancas
Tony Jacklin	3 & 1	Tommy Aaron
Neil Coles	halved	Gay Brewer
Christy O'Connor	1 up	J. C. Snead
Maurice Bembridge	halved	Jack Nicklaus
Peter Oosterhuis	halved	Lee Trevino
21⁄2	Session	51⁄2
101⁄2	Overall	131⁄2

Afternoon singles

	Results
Brian Huggett	4 & 2	Homero Blancas
Brian Barnes	3 & 1	J. C. Snead
Bernard Gallacher	6 & 5	Gay Brewer
Tony Jacklin	2 & 1	Billy Casper
Neil Coles	6 & 5	Lee Trevino
Christy O'Connor	halved	Tom Weiskopf
Maurice Bembridge	2 up	Jack Nicklaus
Peter Oosterhuis	4 & 2	Arnold Palmer
21⁄2	Session	51⁄2
13	Overall	19

Individual player records

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

Source: ^[2]

Great Britain and Ireland

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

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes	Fourballs
Tommy Aaron	0	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–0–0	0–1–0
Homero Blancas	2.5	2–1–1	1–1–0	0–0–0	1–0–1
Gay Brewer	2.5	2–1–1	1–0–1	0–0–0	1–1–0
Billy Casper	4	4–2–0	2–0–0	1–1–0	1–1–0
Lou Graham	0.5	0–1–1	0–0–0	0–1–1	0–0–0
Dave Hill	0	0–1–0	0–0–0	0–1–0	0–0–0
Jack Nicklaus	4.5	4–1–1	1–0–1	2–0–0	1–1–0
Arnold Palmer	2	2–3–0	0–1–0	1–1–0	1–1–0
Chi-Chi Rodríguez	0.5	0–1–1	0–0–0	0–1–1	0–0–0
J. C. Snead	3	3–1–0	2–0–0	0–1–0	1–0–0
Lee Trevino	4	3–1–2	1–0–1	1–1–0	1–0–1
Tom Weiskopf	3.5	3–2–1	1–0–1	1–1–0	1–1–0

References

^ "U.S. prevails in Ryder Cup". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. 23 September 1973. p. 5D.
^ ^a ^b "2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
^ "Change to Ryder Cup team selection". The Glasgow Herald. 3 February 1972. p. 4.
^ "Garner may miss Ryder Cup". The Glasgow Herald. 20 August 1973. p. 5.
^ "Selectors stick to Ryder Cup table". The Glasgow Herald. 21 August 1973. p. 4.
^ Green, Bob (22 June 1973). "Johnny Miller ineligible for Ryder Cup team". Lewiston Evening Journal. Lewiston, Maine. Associated Press. p. 18.
^ "Ryder cup captains choose predictable partnerships". Glasgow Herald. 20 September 1973. p. 5.
^ "Scottish pair show the way to British lead". Glasgow Herald. 21 September 1973. p. 4.
^ "Americans now hold the balance of power". Glasgow Herald. 21 September 1973. p. 2.
^ "US victory confirms hopeless imbalance of Ryder cup". Glasgow Herald. 24 September 1973. p. 5.

"Ryder Cup 2006 » History » 1973 Results". The PGA of America, Ryder Cup Limited, and Turner Sports Interactive. Archived from the original on 22 October 2006. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
"Ryder Cup history: 1973". BBC Sport. 13 September 2004. Retrieved 15 March 2007.

External links

PGA of America: 1973 Ryder Cup Archived 23 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
About.com: 1973 Ryder Cup Archived 8 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine

56°02′35″N 2°49′23″W / 56.043°N 2.823°W / 56.043; -2.823

[uspirc-1] "U.S. prevails in Ryder Cup". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. 23 September 1973. p. 5D.

[rcmg2016-2] "2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.

[3] "Change to Ryder Cup team selection". The Glasgow Herald. 3 February 1972. p. 4.

[4] "Garner may miss Ryder Cup". The Glasgow Herald. 20 August 1973. p. 5.

[5] "Selectors stick to Ryder Cup table". The Glasgow Herald. 21 August 1973. p. 4.

[jmifrct-6] Green, Bob (22 June 1973). "Johnny Miller ineligible for Ryder Cup team". Lewiston Evening Journal. Lewiston, Maine. Associated Press. p. 18.

[7] "Ryder cup captains choose predictable partnerships". Glasgow Herald. 20 September 1973. p. 5.

[8] "Scottish pair show the way to British lead". Glasgow Herald. 21 September 1973. p. 4.

[9] "Americans now hold the balance of power". Glasgow Herald. 21 September 1973. p. 2.

[10] "US victory confirms hopeless imbalance of Ryder cup". Glasgow Herald. 24 September 1973. p. 5.

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