# 1971 Ryder Cup

The 19th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 16–18, 1971, in the United States at the Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. The U.S. team won the competition by a score of 181⁄2 to 131⁄2 points.

## Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. From 1963 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, 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 |
| Jay Hebert | 48 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Miller Barber | 40 | 1 | 4 | 1–1–2 | 50.00 |
| Frank Beard | 32 | 1 | 4 | 1–2–1 | 37.50 |
| Billy Casper | 40 | 5 | 24 | 14–4–6 | 70.83 |
| Charles Coody | 34 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Gardner Dickinson | 44 | 1 | 5 | 5–0–0 | 100.00 |
| Gene Littler | 41 | 5 | 21 | 9–4–8 | 61.90 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 31 | 1 | 4 | 1–2–1 | 37.50 |
| Arnold Palmer | 42 | 4 | 21 | 16–4–1 | 78.57 |
| Mason Rudolph | 37 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| J. C. Snead | 30 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Dave Stockton | 29 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Lee Trevino | 31 | 1 | 6 | 3–2–1 | 58.33 |
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, Peter Oosterhuis, Brian Barnes, Harry Bannerman, Peter Butler and Maurice Bembridge. The committee chose Brian Huggett, Peter Townsend and Bernard Gallacher who had finished 7th, 8th and 9th in the list, together with Tony Jacklin, Christy O'Connor Snr 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 who had had a good season in 1970 but had been less consistent than Garner in 1971.
Team Great Britain :
| Name | Age | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Eric Brown | 46 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Harry Bannerman | 29 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Brian Barnes | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0–3–0 | 0.00 |
| Maurice Bembridge | 26 | 1 | 5 | 2–2–1 | 50.00 |
| Peter Butler | 39 | 2 | 9 | 2–5–2 | 33.33 |
| Neil Coles | 36 | 5 | 27 | 10–13–4 | 44.44 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 22 | 1 | 4 | 2–2–0 | 50.00 |
| John Garner | 24 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Brian Huggett | 34 | 3 | 15 | 4–7–4 | 40.00 |
| Tony Jacklin | 27 | 2 | 12 | 6–3–3 | 62.50 |
| Christy O'Connor Snr | 46 | 8 | 27 | 9–16–2 | 37.04 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 23 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Peter Townsend | 25 | 1 | 5 | 3–2–0 | 60.00 |

## Thursday's matches
### Morning foursomes

| | Results | |
| Coles/O'Connor | 2 & 1 | Casper/Barber |
| Townsend/Oosterhuis | 2 up | Palmer/Dickinson |
| Huggett/Jacklin | 3 & 2 | Nicklaus/Stockton |
| Bembridge/Butler | 1 up | Coody/Beard |
| 3 | Session | 1 |
| 3 | Overall | 1 |

### Afternoon foursomes

| | Results | |
| Bannerman/Gallacher | 2 & 1 | Casper/Barber |
| Townsend/Oosterhuis | 1 up | Palmer/Dickinson |
| Huggett/Jacklin | halved | Trevino/Rudolph |
| Bembridge/Butler | 5 & 3 | Nicklaus/Snead |
| 11⁄2 | Session | 21⁄2 |
| 41⁄2 | Overall | 31⁄2 |

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

| | Results | |
| O'Connor/Barnes | 2 & 1 | Trevino/Rudolph |
| Coles/Garner | 2 & 1 | Beard/Snead |
| Oosterhuis/Gallacher | 5 & 4 | Palmer/Dickinson |
| Townsend/Bannerman | 2 & 1 | Nicklaus/Littler |
| 0 | Session | 4 |
| 41⁄2 | Overall | 71⁄2 |

### Afternoon four-ball

| | Results | |
| Gallacher/Oosterhuis | 1 up | Trevino/Casper |
| Jacklin/Huggett | 2 & 1 | Littler/Snead |
| Townsend/Bannerman | 1 up | Palmer/Nicklaus |
| Coles/O'Connor | halved | Coody/Beard |
| 11⁄2 | Session | 21⁄2 |
| 6 | Overall | 10 |

## Saturday's matches
### Morning singles

| | Results | |
| Tony Jacklin | 1 up | Lee Trevino |
| Bernard Gallacher | halved | Dave Stockton |
| Brian Barnes | 1 up | Mason Rudolph |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 4 & 3 | Gene Littler |
| Peter Townsend | 3 & 2 | Jack Nicklaus |
| Christy O'Connor | 5 & 4 | Gardner Dickinson |
| Harry Bannerman | halved | Arnold Palmer |
| Neil Coles | halved | Frank Beard |
| 31⁄2 | Session | 41⁄2 |
| 91⁄2 | Overall | 141⁄2 |

### Afternoon singles

| | Results | |
| Brian Huggett | 7 & 6 | Lee Trevino |
| Tony Jacklin | 1 up | J. C. Snead |
| Brian Barnes | 2 & 1 | Miller Barber |
| Peter Townsend | 1 up | Dave Stockton |
| Bernard Gallacher | 2 & 1 | Charles Coody |
| Neil Coles | 5 & 3 | Jack Nicklaus |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 3 & 2 | Arnold Palmer |
| Harry Bannerman | 2 & 1 | Gardner Dickinson |
| 4 | Session | 4 |
| 131⁄2 | Overall | 181⁄2 |

## Individual player records

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

### United States

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Miller Barber | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Frank Beard | 2 | 1–1–2 | 0–0–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Billy Casper | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Charles Coody | 0.5 | 0–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Gardner Dickinson | 4 | 4–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Gene Littler | 2 | 2–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 5 | 5–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Arnold Palmer | 4.5 | 4–1–1 | 0–1–1 | 2–0–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Mason Rudolph | 1.5 | 1–1–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–1 | 1–0–0 |
| J. C. Snead | 4 | 4–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Dave Stockton | 1.5 | 1–1–1 | 1–0–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Lee Trevino | 3.5 | 3–1–1 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 |

### Great Britain

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Harry Bannerman | 2.5 | 2–2–1 | 1–0–1 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Brian Barnes | 2 | 2–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Maurice Bembridge | 1 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Peter Butler | 1 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Neil Coles | 2 | 1–2–2 | 0–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 3.5 | 3–1–1 | 1–0–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| John Garner | 0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Brian Huggett | 1.5 | 1–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–1 | 0–1–0 |
| Tony Jacklin | 1.5 | 1–3–1 | 0–2–0 | 1–0–1 | 0–1–0 |
| Christy O'Connor | 1.5 | 1–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 3 | 3–3–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Peter Townsend | 0 | 0–6–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–2–0 |