# 1975 Ryder Cup

The 21st Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19–21 at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. The United States team won the competition by a score of 21 to 11 points. After the competition, questions started to be asked about the future of the event, as Britain and Ireland had once again failed to seriously challenge the United States team. The next time the competition was held in the U.S. in 1979, the visiting team included players from continental Europe.
Laurel Valley was co-founded by U.S. captain Arnold Palmer and had hosted the PGA Championship a decade earlier, in 1965.

## Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was adjusted slightly from the 1973 Ryder Cup, with the second day sessions being swapped:
* 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 — 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:
Team USA :
| Name | Age | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Arnold Palmer | 46 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Billy Casper | 44 | 7 | 33 | 18–9–6 | 63.64 |
| Raymond Floyd | 33 | 1 | 4 | 0–2–2 | 25.00 |
| Al Geiberger | 38 | 1 | 5 | 3–1–1 | 70.00 |
| Lou Graham | 37 | 1 | 2 | 0–1–1 | 25.00 |
| Hale Irwin | 30 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Gene Littler | 45 | 6 | 24 | 11–5–8 | 62.50 |
| Johnny Miller | 28 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Bob Murphy | 32 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Jack Nicklaus | 35 | 3 | 16 | 10–4–2 | 68.75 |
| J. C. Snead | 34 | 2 | 8 | 7–1–0 | 87.50 |
| Lee Trevino | 35 | 3 | 17 | 9–4–4 | 64.71 |
| Tom Weiskopf | 32 | 1 | 6 | 3–2–1 | 58.33 |
Eight members of the Great Britain and Ireland team were chosen from the money leaders in 1975 European Tour events after the Benson & Hedges Festival on 16 August, with the remaining four members of the 12-man team selected by a committee. The eight automatic selections were: Eamonn Darcy, Maurice Bembridge, Brian Barnes, Bernard Gallacher, Norman Wood, John O'Leary, Guy Hunt and Brian Huggett. The committee chose two US-based players, Tony Jacklin and Peter Oosterhuis, together with Christy O'Connor Jnr and Tommy Horton. Horton was selected despite finishing 15th in the points list, making his debut at the age of 34.
Neil Coles withdrew from consideration because of his fear of flying and because it was impractical to travel by sea.
Team Great Britain and Ireland :
| Name | Age | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Bernard Hunt | 45 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Brian Barnes | 30 | 3 | 12 | 4–8–0 | 33.33 |
| Maurice Bembridge | 30 | 3 | 13 | 5–5–3 | 50.00 |
| Eamonn Darcy | 23 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Bernard Gallacher | 26 | 3 | 13 | 7–5–1 | 57.69 |
| Tommy Horton | 34 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Brian Huggett | 38 | 5 | 23 | 8–9–6 | 47.83 |
| Guy Hunt | 28 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Tony Jacklin | 31 | 4 | 23 | 10–8–5 | 54.35 |
| Christy O'Connor Jnr | 27 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| John O'Leary | 26 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 27 | 2 | 12 | 6–4–2 | 58.33 |
| Norman Wood | 28 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |

## Friday's matches
### Morning foursomes

| | Results | |
| Barnes/Gallacher | 5 & 4 | Nicklaus/Weiskopf |
| Wood/Bembridge | 4 & 3 | Littler/Irwin |
| Jacklin/Oosterhuis | 3 & 1 | Geiberger/Miller |
| Horton/O'Leary | 2 & 1 | Trevino/Snead |
| 0 | Session | 4 |
| 0 | Overall | 4 |

### Afternoon four-ball

| | Results | |
| Oosterhuis/Jacklin | 2 & 1 | Casper/Floyd |
| Darcy/O'Connor | 3 & 2 | Weiskopf/Graham |
| Barnes/Gallacher | halved | Nicklaus/Murphy |
| Horton/O'Leary | 2 & 1 | Trevino/Irwin |
| 11⁄2 | Session | 21⁄2 |
| 11⁄2 | Overall | 61⁄2 |

## Saturday's matches
### Morning four-ball

| | Results | |
| Oosterhuis/Jacklin | halved | Casper/Miller |
| Horton/Wood | 4 & 2 | Nicklaus/Snead |
| Barnes/Gallacher | 5 & 3 | Littler/Graham |
| Darcy/Hunt | halved | Geiberger/Floyd |
| 1 | Session | 3 |
| 21⁄2 | Overall | 91⁄2 |

### Afternoon foursomes

| | Results | |
| Jacklin/Huggett | 3 & 2 | Trevino/Murphy |
| O'Connor/O'Leary | 5 & 3 | Weiskopf/Miller |
| Oosterhuis/Bembridge | 3 & 2 | Irwin/Casper |
| Darcy/Hunt | 3 & 2 | Geiberger/Graham |
| 1 | Session | 3 |
| 31⁄2 | Overall | 121⁄2 |

## Sunday's matches
### Morning singles

| | Results | |
| Tony Jacklin | 2 & 1 | Bob Murphy |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 2 up | Johnny Miller |
| Bernard Gallacher | halved | Lee Trevino |
| Tommy Horton | halved | Hale Irwin |
| Brian Huggett | 4 & 2 | Gene Littler |
| Eamonn Darcy | 3 & 2 | Billy Casper |
| Guy Hunt | 5 & 3 | Tom Weiskopf |
| Brian Barnes | 4 & 2 | Jack Nicklaus |
| 3 | Session | 5 |
| 61⁄2 | Overall | 171⁄2 |

### Afternoon singles

| | Results | |
| Tony Jacklin | 1 up | Raymond Floyd |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 3 & 2 | J. C. Snead |
| Bernard Gallacher | halved | Al Geiberger |
| Tommy Horton | 2 & 1 | Lou Graham |
| John O'Leary | 2 & 1 | Hale Irwin |
| Maurice Bembridge | 2 & 1 | Bob Murphy |
| Norman Wood | 2 & 1 | Lee Trevino |
| Brian Barnes | 2 & 1 | Jack Nicklaus |
| 41⁄2 | Session | 31⁄2 |
| 11 | Overall | 21 |

## Individual player records

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

### United States

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Billy Casper | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Raymond Floyd | 1.5 | 1–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Al Geiberger | 3 | 2–0–2 | 0–0–1 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Lou Graham | 3 | 3–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Hale Irwin | 4.5 | 4–0–1 | 1–0–1 | 2–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Gene Littler | 3 | 3–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Johnny Miller | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 0–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Bob Murphy | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 2–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 2.5 | 2–2–1 | 0–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–1 |
| J. C. Snead | 2 | 2–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Lee Trevino | 2.5 | 2–2–1 | 0–1–1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Tom Weiskopf | 4 | 4–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 1–0–0 |

### Great Britain and Ireland

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Brian Barnes | 2.5 | 2–2–1 | 2–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Maurice Bembridge | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Eamonn Darcy | 0.5 | 0–3–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 1.5 | 0–2–3 | 0–0–2 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Tommy Horton | 1.5 | 1–3–1 | 1–0–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Brian Huggett | 1 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Guy Hunt | 0.5 | 0–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Tony Jacklin | 2.5 | 2–3–1 | 0–2–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Christy O'Connor | 0 | 0–2–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| John O'Leary | 0 | 0–4–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 3.5 | 3–2–1 | 2–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Norman Wood | 1 | 1–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |