The 19th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 16–18, 1971, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

at the Old Warson Country Club in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. The U.S. team won the competition by a score of 18 to 13 points.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

event, with each match worth one point. From

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

through 1971 the competition format was as follows: *Day 1 — 8 foursomes (alternate shot) matches, 4 each in morning and afternoon sessions *Day 2 — 8 four-ball (better ball) matches, 4 each in morning and afternoon sessions *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: Six members of the Great Britain team were selected from a points list based on a player's best 10 performances in 15 events during the 1971 season, ending with the Benson & Hedges Festival of Golf on 21 August. The remaining six were chosen by a committee and announced on 23 August. The leading six in the points table were:

Neil Coles Neil Chapman Coles, MBE (born 26 September 1934) is an English professional golfer. Coles had a successful career in European golf, winning 29 important tournaments between 1956 and 1982. After reaching 50, he won a further 14 important Seniors ...

Peter Oosterhuis Peter Arthur Oosterhuis (born 3 May 1948) is an English professional golfer and golf broadcaster. Oosterhuis played on the European circuit from 1969 to 1974, winning 10 tournaments and taking the Harry Vardon Trophy for heading the Order of Mer ...

, Brian Barnes, Harry Bannerman, Peter Butler and

Maurice Bembridge Maurice Bembridge (born 21 February 1945) is an English golfer. He won the 1969 News of the World Match Play, the 1971 Dunlop Masters and won six times on the European Tour from its formation in 1972. He also won tournaments around the world, ...

. The committee chose

Brian Huggett Brian George Charles Huggett, (born 18 November 1936) is a Welsh professional golfer. He won sixteen events on the European circuit, including two after the formal start of the European Tour in 1972. In 1968 he won the Harry Vardon Trophy for ...

, Peter Townsend and

Bernard Gallacher Bernard Gallacher, OBE (born 9 February 1949) is a Scottish professional golfer. Early life and amateur career Gallacher was born in Bathgate, Scotland. He took up golf at the age of eleven. In 1965 he won the Lothians Golf Association Boys C ...

who had finished 7th, 8th and 9th in the list, together with

Tony Jacklin Anthony Jacklin CBE (born 7 July 1944) is a retired English golfer. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also Ryder Cup captai ...

Christy O'Connor Snr Patrick Christopher "Christy" O'Connor (21 December 1924 – 14 May 2016) was an Irish professional golfer. He was one of the leading golfers on the British and Irish circuit from the mid-1950s. O'Connor won over 20 important British and Irish ...

and John Garner. Jacklin had played most of his golf in America, while O'Connor had missed much of the season with a wrist injury. Garner was chosen over

Tommy Horton Thomas Alfred Horton, (16 June 1941 – 7 December 2017) was an English professional golfer. He finished in the top ten of the Open Championship four times, won a number of important tournaments both before and after the founding of the Europ ...

who had had a good season in 1970 but had been less consistent than Garner in 1971.

Thursday's matches

Morning foursomes

Afternoon foursomes

Friday's matches

Morning four-ball

Afternoon four-ball

Saturday's matches

Morning singles

Afternoon singles

Individual player records

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

United States

Great Britain

References

External links

PGA of America: 1971 Ryder Cup

Old Warson Country Club
{{coord, 38.617, -90.387, type:event, display=title Ryder Cup Golf in Missouri Ryder Cup Ryder Cup Ryder Cup Ryder Cup