# 1977 Ryder Cup

The 22nd Ryder Cup Matches were held at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England. The United States team won the competition by a score of 121⁄2 to 71⁄2 points.
The event was the last time that a Great Britain and Ireland team would compete for the Ryder Cup. During the competition, officials from the PGA of America and the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland discussed the possibility of allowing players from continental Europe to participate in the Cup, and Jack Nicklaus also advocated this change in a meeting with Lord Derby. The Deed of Trust that was struck with the PGA of Great Britain and Samuel Ryder was amended in time for the 1979 matches, and changed the popularity and competitive balance of the Ryder Cup.

## Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format was reduced in scope from the formats used from 1963 through 1975, with only 20 matches played instead of 32. The schedule of play was as follows:
* Day 1 — 5 foursome (alternate shot) matches
* Day 2 — 5 four-ball (better ball) matches
* Day 3 — 10 singles matches
With a total of 20 points, 101⁄2 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

## Teams

Source:
Team Great Britain and Ireland :
| Name | Age | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Brian Huggett | 40 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Brian Barnes | 32 | 4 | 17 | 6–10–1 | 38.24 |
| Ken Brown | 20 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Howard Clark | 23 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Neil Coles | 42 | 7 | 37 | 12–18–7 | 41.89 |
| Eamonn Darcy | 25 | 1 | 4 | 0–3–1 | 12.50 |
| Peter Dawson | 27 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Nick Faldo | 20 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Bernard Gallacher | 28 | 4 | 18 | 7–7–4 | 50.00 |
| Tommy Horton | 36 | 1 | 5 | 1–3–1 | 30.00 |
| Tony Jacklin | 33 | 5 | 29 | 12–11–6 | 51.72 |
| Mark James | 23 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 29 | 3 | 18 | 9–6–3 | 58.33 |
Team USA :
| Name | Age | Previous Ryder Cups | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Dow Finsterwald | 48 | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain | Non-playing captain |
| Raymond Floyd | 35 | 2 | 7 | 1–3–3 | 35.71 |
| Lou Graham | 39 | 2 | 6 | 3–2–1 | 58.33 |
| Hubert Green | 30 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Dave Hill | 40 | 2 | 7 | 4–3–0 | 57.14 |
| Hale Irwin | 32 | 1 | 5 | 4–0–1 | 90.00 |
| Don January | 47 | 1 | 5 | 2–2–1 | 50.00 |
| Jerry McGee | 34 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Jack Nicklaus | 37 | 4 | 21 | 12–6–3 | 64.29 |
| Ed Sneed | 33 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Dave Stockton | 35 | 1 | 3 | 1–1–1 | 50.00 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 27 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |
| Tom Watson | 28 | 0 | Rookie | Rookie | Rookie |

## Thursday's foursome matches

| | Results | |
| Gallacher/Barnes | 3 & 1 | Wadkins/Irwin |
| Coles/Dawson | 1 up | Stockton/McGee |
| Faldo/Oosterhuis | 2 & 1 | Floyd/Graham |
| Darcy/Jacklin | halved | Sneed/January |
| Horton/James | 5 & 4 | Nicklaus/Watson |
| 11⁄2 | Session | 31⁄2 |
| 11⁄2 | Overall | 31⁄2 |

## Friday's four-ball matches

| | Results | |
| Barnes/Horton | 5 & 4 | Watson/Green |
| Coles/Dawson | 5 & 3 | Sneed/Wadkins |
| Faldo/Oosterhuis | 3 & 1 | Nicklaus/Floyd |
| Jacklin/Darcy | 5 & 3 | Hill/Stockton |
| James/Brown | 1 up | Irwin/Graham |
| 1 | Session | 4 |
| 21⁄2 | Overall | 71⁄2 |

## Saturday's singles matches

| | Results | |
| Howard Clark | 4 & 3 | Lanny Wadkins |
| Neil Coles | 5 & 3 | Lou Graham |
| Peter Dawson | 5 & 4 | Don January |
| Brian Barnes | 1 up | Hale Irwin |
| Tommy Horton | 5 & 4 | Dave Hill |
| Bernard Gallacher | 1 up | Jack Nicklaus |
| Eamonn Darcy | 1 up | Hubert Green |
| Mark James | 2 & 1 | Raymond Floyd |
| Nick Faldo | 1 up | Tom Watson |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 2 up | Jerry McGee |
| 5 | Session | 5 |
| 71⁄2 | Overall | 121⁄2 |

## Individual player records

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

### Great Britain and Ireland

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Brian Barnes | 1 | 1–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Ken Brown | 0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Howard Clark | 0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Neil Coles | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Eamonn Darcy | 0.5 | 0–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–1 | 0–1–0 |
| Peter Dawson | 1 | 1–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Nick Faldo | 3 | 3–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Tommy Horton | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Tony Jacklin | 0.5 | 0–1–1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–1 | 0–1–0 |
| Mark James | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 3 | 3–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |

### United States

| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
| Raymond Floyd | 1 | 1–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Lou Graham | 2 | 2–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Hubert Green | 2 | 2–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Dave Hill | 2 | 2–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Hale Irwin | 2 | 2–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Don January | 0.5 | 0–1–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–1 | 0–0–0 |
| Jerry McGee | 1 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 1 | 1–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Ed Sneed | 1.5 | 1–0–1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–1 | 1–0–0 |
| Dave Stockton | 2 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 3 | 3–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Tom Watson | 2 | 2–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |