1957 Ryder Cup

12th Ryder Cup Matches
Dates 4–5 October 1957
Venue Lindrick Golf Club
Location Rotherham, England
Captains
United Kingdom 7½ 4½ United States
Great Britain wins the Ryder Cup
Lindrick
Golf Club
Location in England

The 12th Ryder Cup Matches were held 4–5 October 1957 at Lindrick Golf Club in Rotherham, England. The Great Britain team, led by captain Dai Rees, beat the United States team by a score of 7½ to 4½ points, and won the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1933.[1][2]

On the first day of competition was the Americans dominated the foursomes, winning three of the four matches. Dick Mayer and Tommy Bolt'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. to draw Britain level at 3 to 3. The Americans responded when Fred Hawkins 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 7½ to 4½, with Britain gaining 6½ points in the eight singles matches.[2]

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. From 1927 through 1959, 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, 6½ 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, a Yorkshire steel industrialist. He had sponsored a foursomes tournament, the Goodwin (Sheffield) Foursomes Tournament, 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.[3][4] 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.[5] 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.[6]

He later made a gift of £5,000 to the R&A to help promote the Walker Cup and games with Commonwealth countries.[7]

Teams

Source: [8]

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 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.[9] 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.[10] Rees was again chosen as the captain.[11] With O'Connor winning the News of the World Match Play, Mills became the last member of the team.

United Kingdom Team Great Britain
Name Age Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Wales Dai Rees – captain 44 6 10 2–7–1 25.00
England Peter Alliss 26 1 2 0–2–0 0.00
England Ken Bousfield 38 3 2 1–1–0 50.00
Republic of Ireland Harry Bradshaw 43 2 4 2–2–0 50.00
Scotland Eric Brown 32 2 4 2–2–0 50.00
England Max Faulkner 41 4 7 1–6–0 14.29
England Bernard Hunt 27 1 2 0–1–1 25.00
England Peter Mills 26 0 Rookie
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr 32 1 1 0–1–0 0.00
England Harry Weetman 36 3 5 1–4–0 20.00
United States Team USA
Name Age Previous
Ryder Cups		 Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Jack Burke, Jr. – captain 34 3 6 6–0–0 100.00
Tommy Bolt 41 1 2 2–0–0 100.00
Dow Finsterwald 28 0 Rookie
Doug Ford 35 1 2 2–0–0 100.00
Ed Furgol 40 0 Rookie
Fred Hawkins 34 0 Rookie
Lionel Hebert 29 0 Rookie
Ted Kroll 38 2 3 2–1–0 66.67
Dick Mayer 33 0 Rookie
Art Wall 33 0 Rookie

Friday's foursome matches

United Kingdom Results United States
Alliss/Hunt United States 2 & 1 Ford/Finsterwald
Bousfield/Rees United Kingdom 3 & 2 Wall/Hawkins
Faulkner/Weetman United States 4 & 3 Kroll/Burke
O'Connor/Brown United States 7 & 5 Mayer/Bolt
1 Session 3
1 Overall 3

18 hole scores: Ford/Finsterwald: 1 up, Bousfield/Rees v Wall/Hawkins: all square, Kroll/Burke: 1 up, Mayer/Bolt: 3 up.[12]

Saturday's singles matches

United Kingdom Results United States
Eric Brown United Kingdom 4 & 3 Tommy Bolt
Peter Mills United Kingdom 5 & 3 Jack Burke, Jr.
Peter Alliss United States 2 & 1 Fred Hawkins
Ken Bousfield United Kingdom 4 & 3 Lionel Hebert
Dai Rees United Kingdom 7 & 6 Ed Furgol
Bernard Hunt United Kingdom 6 & 5 Doug Ford
Christy O'Connor United Kingdom 7 & 6 Dow Finsterwald
Harry Bradshaw halved Dick Mayer
6½ Session 1½
7½ Overall 4½

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.[13]

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.[14] The decision was upheld at the annual meeting of the P.G.A. in November.[15] Following an appeal from Rees the P.G.A. lifted the suspension on 17 April 1958.[16]

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the Win–Loss–Half record of the player.

Source: [8]

Great Britain

Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes
Peter Alliss 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0
Ken Bousfield 2 2–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–0
Harry Bradshaw 0.5 0–0–1 0–0–1 0–0–0
Eric Brown 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0
Max Faulkner 0 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–1–0
Bernard Hunt 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0
Peter Mills 1 1–0–0 1–0–0 0–0–0
Christy O'Connor 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0
Dai Rees 2 2–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–0
Harry Weetman 0 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–1–0

United States

Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes
Tommy Bolt 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0
Jack Burke, Jr. 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0
Dow Finsterwald 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0
Doug Ford 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0
Ed Furgol 0 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–0–0
Fred Hawkins 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0
Lionel Hebert 0 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–0–0
Ted Kroll 1 1–0–0 0–0–0 1–0–0
Dick Mayer 1.5 1–0–1 0–0–1 1–0–0
Art Wall 0 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–1–0

References

  1. ↑ "British golfers stun Americans; win Ryder Cup". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. 6 October 1957. p. 2-sports.
  2. 1 2 Longhurst, Henry (October 21, 1957). "Britannia rules". Sports Illustrated. p. 49.
  3. ↑ "Golf". The Times. 27 November 1951. p. 8.
  4. ↑ "New professional tournament - British record prize fund". The Times. 5 October 1955. p. 13.
  5. ↑ "Ryder Cup match of Yorkshire course - £10,000 offer accepted". The Times. 7 March 1956. p. 16.
  6. ↑ "£11,000 Ryder Cup profit - Extra prize money". The Times. 4 December 1957. p. 16.
  7. ↑ "Royal & Ancient given £5,000 - Walker Cup backing". The Times. 8 October 1957. p. 14.
  8. 1 2 "2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Helping the golf spectator - Innovations by the P.G.A.". The Times. 21 December 1955. p. 3.
  10. ↑ "Ryder Cup team - Nine places now filled". The Glasgow Herald. 6 July 1957. p. 5.
  11. ↑ "Sport in brief - Golf". The Times. 17 July 1957. p. 3.
  12. ↑ "United States two up in Ryder match - Rees and Bousfield Britain's only foursomes winners - Weetman and Faulkner disappoint: left out of singles". The Times. 5 October 1957. p. 10.
  13. ↑ "Ryder Cup retained after 24 years - Rees's team magnificent in the singles - Astounding U.S. collapse". The Times. 7 October 1957. p. 12.
  14. ↑ "P.G.A. suspend Weetman - Action over Ryder Cup conduct". The Times. 22 October 1957. p. 15.
  15. ↑ "P.G.A. decision upheld - No reprieve for Weetman". The Times. 21 November 1957. p. 16.
  16. ↑ "P.G.A. lifts Weetman's suspension - Recommendation by Rees". The Times. 30 April 1958. p. 5.

External links

Coordinates: 53°20′10″N 1°10′23″W / 53.336°N 1.173°W / 53.336; -1.173

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