Muirfield Village Golf Club (Dublin, Ohio)

The 27th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 25–27, 1987 at

Muirfield Village Golf Club Muirfield Village is an “upscale” golf-oriented community in the central United States, located in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. Origins Founded by Jack Nicklaus, it is named after Muirfield, Scotland, where he won the first of ...

Dublin, Ohio Dublin is a city in Franklin, Delaware and Union counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 49,328 in the 2020 census with a census estimate of 49,037 in 2019. Dublin is a suburb of Columbus. The city of Dublin hosts the yearly ...

, a suburb north of Columbus. The European team won their second consecutive competition by a score of 15 to 13 points in probably the most historic Ryder Cup. After an unbeaten record of 13–0 spanning sixty years, the U.S. team lost for the first time on home soil. Europe took a lead of 5 points into the Sunday singles matches, but the U.S. fought back strongly to narrow the deficit.

Eamonn Darcy Eamonn Christopher Darcy (born 7 August 1952) is an Irish professional golfer. He won four times on the European Tour and played in the Ryder Cup four times. Professional career Darcy, with a handicap of 12, turned professional at the age of ...

, who previously had a very poor Ryder Cup record, defeated

Ben Crenshaw Ben Daniel Crenshaw (born January 11, 1952) is a retired American professional golfer who has won 19 events on the PGA Tour, including two major championships: the Masters Tournament in 1984 and 1995. He is nicknamed '' Gentle Ben''. Profession ...

at the last hole to get Europe to 13 points. Crenshaw had broken his

putter A putter is a club used in the sport of golf to make relatively short and low-speed strokes with the intention of rolling the ball into the hole from a short distance away. It is differentiated from the other clubs (typically, irons and woods ...

in a moment of frustration after the sixth hole and putted with his 1 iron for the last dozen holes.

Bernhard Langer Bernhard Langer (; born 27 August 1957) is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1986, he became the sport's first official number one ran ...

then halved his match with

Larry Nelson Larry Gene Nelson (born September 10, 1947) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level. Nelson was born in Fort Payne, Alabama and grew up in Acworth, Georgia, northwest of ...

and when Seve Ballesteros defeated

Curtis Strange Curtis Northrup Strange (born January 30, 1955) is an American professional golfer and TV color commentator. He is the winner of consecutive U.S. Open titles and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He spent ...

2 & 1 to total 14 points, the European victory was secured. This was the last Ryder Cup in which the U.S. team did not employ captain's selections. Europe used captain's picks in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, and this year. Muirfield Village, founded and designed by U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus, has hosted the

Memorial Tournament The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large n ...

on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

since

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

. The

2013 Presidents Cup The 2013 Presidents Cup was held October 3–6 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. It was the tenth Presidents Cup competition and the sixth played in the United States. The selection of Muirfield as ...

was held at the same course.

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. The competition format in 1987 adjusted slightly from the previous three events, with the order of play on the second day swapped: *Day 1 (Friday) — 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball (better ball) matches in an afternoon session *Day 2 (Saturday) — 4 foursome matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball matches in an afternoon session *Day 3 (Sunday) — 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

Simpson qualified by virtue of winning the 1987 U.S. Open, while Nelson qualified by winning the 1987 PGA Championship. The selection process for the European team remained unchanged from 1985, with nine players chosen from the

1987 European Tour The 1987 European Tour was the 16th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour. The season was made up of 27 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events". The Order of Me ...

money list at the conclusion of the German Open on August 30 and the remaining three team members being chosen immediately afterwards by the team captain, Tony Jacklin. Prior to the final event Eamonn Darcy was in the 9th qualifying place with

Mats Lanner Mats Åke Lanner (born 5 March 1961) is a Swedish professional golfer, who formerly played on the European Tour. In 1987, he became the second Swedish player to win a European Tour tournament. Early life and amateur career Lanner was born in G ...

in 10th. Lanner finished just one shot ahead of Darcy in the German Open and Darcy retained his qualifying place. Jacklin's choices were Ken Brown, Sandy Lyle and José María Olazábal. Captains picks are shown in yellow. The world rankings and records are at the start of the 1987 Ryder Cup.

Friday's matches

Morning foursomes

Afternoon four-ball

Saturday's matches

Morning foursomes

Afternoon four-ball

Sunday's singles matches

Individual player records

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

United States

Europe

References

* * * {{coord, 40.140, -83.141, type:event, display=title Ryder Cup Golf in Ohio Sports in Dublin, Ohio Ryder Cup Ryder Cup Ryder Cup Ryder Cup