The 12th Ryder Cup Matches were held 4–5 October 1957 at

Lindrick Golf Club Lindrick Golf Club is a golf course in South Yorkshire and is also a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). The SSSI covers and was designated for its biological interest. The site was notified in 1987. The course is situated on the ...

near Worksop,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The Great Britain team, led by captain Dai Rees, beat the United States team by a score of 7 to 4 points, and won the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

for the first time since

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

. On the first day of competition was the Americans dominated the foursomes, winning three of the four matches.

Dick Mayer Alvin Richard Mayer (August 28, 1924 – June 2, 1989) was an American professional golfer. Mayer was born in Stamford, Connecticut. He apprenticed with renowned player and teacher Claude Harmon at the Winged Foot Golf Club in suburban New York ...

and

Tommy Bolt Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

's 7 & 5 win over Britain's Christy O'Connor and Eric Brown was the largest margin of victory on day one. The British rallied on the second day of competition, starting with the first two singles matches. Brown recorded a 4 & 3 victory over Bolt, and Peter Mills defeated U.S. captain

Jack Burke Jr. John Joseph Burke Jr. (born January 29, 1923) is an American retired professional golfer who was most prominent in the 1950s. The son of a professional golfer, Jack Burke Sr., he won two major titles, both in 1956, the Masters and PGA Champio ...

to draw Britain level at 3 to 3. The Americans responded when

Fred Hawkins Fred Hawkins (September 3, 1923 – December 6, 2014) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. Hawkins was born in Antioch, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois and the Tex ...

won his match against Peter Alliss, however Britain won the next four matches. Great Britain won the Ryder Cup when O'Connor defeated Dow Finsterwald, giving the British team 7 points. Harry Bradshaw and Mayer halved the final singles match to bring the final score to 7 to 4, with Britain gaining 6 points in the eight singles matches. Dai Rees therefore became only the third - and final - captain of the Great Britain side to lift the Ryder Cup as winning captain. Great Britain would never win the Ryder Cup again, and the Great Britain & Ireland team that competed in 1973, 1975 and 1977 never won the cup. It would not be until 1985 that a non-American (

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 captain ...

, as captain of the Europe team) would lift the trophy.

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. From

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 * ...

through

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, the format consisted of 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches on the first day and 8 singles matches on the second day, for a total of 12 points. Therefore, 6 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 36 holes.

Sir Stuart Goodwin

The event was financially supported by Sir

Stuart Goodwin Sir Stuart Coldwell Goodwin (19 April 1886 – 6 June 1969) was a Sheffield steel industrialist and philanthropist who gave away over £500,000 to charities, particularly in south Yorkshire and north Nottinghamshire. He was head of the Neepsend St ...

, a Yorkshire steel industrialist. He had sponsored a foursomes tournament, the

Goodwin (Sheffield) Foursomes Tournament The Goodwin (Sheffield) Foursomes Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in the Sheffield area of England. The event was held from 1952 to 1954 and had total prize money of £3,000. The winning finalists shared £500 with £300 to t ...

, in 1952, 1953 and 1954 with prize money of £3,000 and another in 1956, the Stuart C. Goodwin Tournament, with prize money of £5,250. The £5,250 was the largest ever for a British golf event surpassing the £3,750 at the 1956 Open. All the tournaments were held in the Sheffield area, the 1953 event being held at Lindrick. He offered the P.G.A. £10,000 to host the match at Lindrick, the gate money going to the P.G.A. who were responsible for all payments in connection with the match. With gate receipts of £16,127 the £10,000 donation enabled the P.G.A. to make a record profit of about £11,000 out of the event. He later made a gift of £5,000 to the R&A to help promote the Walker Cup and games with Commonwealth countries. In 1959 Goodwin sponsored the

Sherwood Forest Foursomes Tournament The Sherwood Forest Foursomes Tournament was a professional golf tournament played at Sherwood Forest Golf Club near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in England. The event was held just once, on 28 and 29 August 1959, and had total prize money of £2, ...

, which had prize money of £2,100. Goodwin was President of

from 1958 to 1960. In 1960 Lindrick hosted the Curtis Cup. Goodwin gave the

Ladies' Golf Union The Ladies' Golf Union (LGU) was the governing body for women's and girls' amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded in 1893 and was based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland until merging with The R&A at the start of 2017. Issette ...

a gift of £2,000 to help stage the event and also guaranteed the LGU and Lindrick Golf Club against financial loss. Goodwin was a vice-president of the LGU.

Teams

Source: A new system of selection was used for the Great Britain team. A points system based on performances over a two-year period ending after the

1957 Open Championship The 1957 Open Championship was the 86th Open Championship, played 3–5 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Bobby Locke, age 39, won his fourth and final Open title, three strokes ahead of runner-up Peter Thomson, who had won the th ...

was used. Winners of the 1957 Open Championship and the 1957 News of the World Match Play were guaranteed places provided they were British. The remaining places to complete the team of 10 were selected from the points list. Following the 1957 Open, nine places were finalised, the leading nine in the point list: Brown, Weetman, Bradshaw, Bousfield, Alliss, Rees, Faulkner, O'Connor and Hunt. Mills was 10th in the list. Rees was again chosen as the captain. With O'Connor winning the News of the World Match Play, Mills became the last member of the team. The 1957

Amateurs–Professionals Match The Amateurs–Professionals Match was an annual men's team golf competition between teams of golfers from Great Britain and Ireland representing amateurs and professionals. It was played from 1956 to 1960. The Professionals won four of the five c ...

was played at Lindrick in early August. It was intended that the match would be between the Ryder Cup and Walker Cup teams, to give both teams some competitive experience and for the Ryder Cup team to gain experience of the Lindrick course. In the event, two of the Ryder Cup team,

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 t ...

and Harry Weetman were ill and replaced by

Eric Lester Eric George Lester (14 September 1917 – 18 May 1996) was an English professional golfer. He won some important tournaments in Britain, including the 1956 Swallow-Penfold Tournament, and had a number of good finishes in the Open Championship, f ...

and local professional, 49-year-old Jack Jacobs. *Notables absent from the U.S. team included

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

, Jimmy Demaret, and Cary Middlecoff;

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

last played in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

Friday's foursome matches

18 hole scores: Ford/Finsterwald: 1 up, Bousfield/Rees v Wall/Hawkins: all square, Kroll/Burke: 1 up, Mayer/Bolt: 3 up.

Saturday's singles matches

18 hole scores: Brown: 4 up, Mills: 5 up, Hawkins: 1 up, Bousfield: 5 up, Rees: 4 up, Hunt: 1 up, O'Connor/Finsterwald: all square, Mayer: 1 up.

Weetman suspension

At a meeting on 21 October, Harry Weetman was suspended by the executive committee of the P.G.A. for twelve months. This was following his actions after being left out of the second day singles matches. Weetman had declared that he would never play in any Ryder Cup again if Rees were the captain. Weetman was unable to play in P.G.A. events. The decision was upheld at the annual meeting of the P.G.A. in November. Following an appeal from Rees the P.G.A. lifted the suspension on 17 April 1958.

Individual player records

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

Great Britain

United States

References

* *

External links

PGA of America: 1957 Ryder Cup
{{coord, 53.336, -1.173, type:event, display=title Ryder Cup Golf tournaments in England Sport in South Yorkshire