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 12½ to 7½ 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 Professional Golfers' Association 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 would change the future 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, 10½ points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

Team Great Britain and Ireland

Captain: Brian Huggett

• Howard Clark
• Neil Coles
• Peter Dawson
• Brian Barnes
• Tommy Horton
• Bernard Gallacher
• Eamonn Darcy
• Mark James
• Nick Faldo
• ...... ...
...

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