The 25th Ryder Cup Matches were held October 14–16, 1983 at the PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The United States team won the competition by a score of 141⁄2 to 131⁄2 points, the closest Ryder Cup since the tie in 1969.[1][2][3] In their third competition with players from the continent, Europe showed the ability to realistically challenge the Americans.[4] This was the first of four occasions that Tony Jacklin was the European captain and the sole occasion that his side lost.
| Dates | October 14–16, 1983 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | PGA National Golf Club | ||||
| Location | Palm Beach Gardens, Florida | ||||
| Captains |
| ||||
| |||||
| United States wins the Ryder Cup | |||||
Entering the singles matches on Sunday, the competition was even at 8 points each. Jacklin put his best players out early, while U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus saved his for last.[4] In the first match, Seve Ballesteros was 3 up at the turn but needed an outstanding 3-wood from a fairway bunker on the final hole to salvage par and force a half with Fuzzy Zoeller.[5] With ten matches complete and the score at 13 points each, the outcome depended on the two singles matches remaining on the course, between José María Cañizares and Lanny Wadkins and Bernard Gallacher and Tom Watson. The U.S. victory is generally accredited to Wadkins, who hit a wedge to less than three feet (0.9 m) on the par-5 18th hole to win the hole with a birdie and halve his match against Canizares. Gallacher had trailed all day, but Watson bogeyed 16 and was only 1 up with two holes to play. He had another bogey at the par-3 17th, but Gallacher's three-foot putt for bogey missed and ended the match at 2 & 1 and gave the U.S. the winning point.[2][3]
This was the 13th consecutive win at home for the U.S. team, but they would have to wait until the 2021 Ryder Cup to post consecutive home victories. It was also the last victory for the U.S. in the Ryder Cup for eight years, until 1991.
Format
editThe Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format in 1983 was as follows:
- 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 — 12 singles matches
With a total of 28 points, 141⁄2 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.
Teams
editThe American qualification rules remained unchanged from 1981 with 11 of the team being selected from a points list. The final place in the team was allocated to the winner of the 1983 PGA Championship (which finished on August 7), provided he was not in the top 11, in which case the 12th player in the points list would qualify. Qualification based on the points list finished after the Western Open on July 3. Tom Watson needed to win the final event to guarantee his place but finished second, lifting him from 14th to 12th place in the points list and pushing Hale Irwin out of that position.[6] The PGA Championship was won by Hal Sutton with Jack Nicklaus second.[7] Sutton was only in his third year as a professional and hence ineligible and so Watson retained his place on the team.[8]
 Team USA
| ||||||
| Name | Age | Points rank |
Previous Ryder Cups |
Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Nicklaus | 43 | Non-playing captain | ||||
| Lanny Wadkins | 33 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7–1–0 | 87.50 |
| Raymond Floyd | 41 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 5–7–3 | 43.33 |
| Tom Kite | 33 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 6–1–1 | 81.25 |
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 31 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1–4–0 | 20.00 |
| Craig Stadler | 30 | 5 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Jay Haas | 29 | 6 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Gil Morgan | 37 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0–0–2 | 50.00 |
| Calvin Peete | 40 | 8 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Ben Crenshaw | 31 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1–1–0 | 50.00 |
| Bob Gilder | 32 | 10 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Curtis Strange | 28 | 11 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Tom Watson | 34 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 5–2–0 | 71.43 |
The European team was chosen entirely from the 1983 European Tour money list as at the conclusion of the St. Mellion Timeshare TPC on September 18.[9] Prior to the final event 10 of the players had guaranteed their places with Manuel Piñero in 11th position and Gordon J. Brand in 12th. Brand made sure of his place with fifth place in the TPC but Piñero was overtaken by Paul Way who finished second to lift him to 11th place in the list.[10]
 Team Europe
| ||||||
| Name | Age | Points rank |
Previous Ryder Cups |
Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tony Jacklin
|
39 | Non-playing captain | ||||
| Nick Faldo
|
26 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7–3–0 | 70.00 |
 Seve Ballesteros
|
26 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1–4–0 | 20.00 |
 Bernhard Langer
|
26 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1–2–1 | 37.50 |
 Sandy Lyle
|
25 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 3–5–1 | 38.89 |
| Ken Brown
|
26 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1–3–0 | 25.00 |
| José María Cañizares
|
36 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1–2–0 | 33.33 |
| Brian Waites
|
43 | 7 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Sam Torrance
|
30 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 0–3–1 | 12.50 |
 Ian Woosnam
|
25 | 9 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Bernard Gallacher
|
34 | 10 | 7 | 29 | 13–11–5 | 53.45 |
| Paul Way
|
20 | 11 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Gordon J. Brand
|
28 | 12 | 0 | Rookie | ||
Friday's matches
editOctober 14, 1983
Morning foursomes
edit|
|
Results |
|
|---|---|---|
| Gallacher/Lyle |  5 & 4
|
Watson/Crenshaw |
| Faldo/Langer |  4 & 2
|
Wadkins/Stadler |
| Cañizares/Torrance | 4 & 3
|
Floyd/Gilder |
| Ballesteros/Way | 2 & 1
|
Kite/Peete |
| 2 | Session | 2 |
| 2 | Overall | 2 |
Afternoon four-ball
edit|
|
Results |
|
|---|---|---|
| Waites/Brown | 2 & 1
|
Morgan/Zoeller |
| Faldo/Langer | 2 & 1
|
Watson/Haas |
| Ballesteros/Way | 1 up
|
Floyd/Strange |
| Torrance/Woosnam | halved | Crenshaw/Peete |
| 21⁄2 | Session | 11⁄2 |
| 41⁄2 | Overall | 31⁄2 |
Saturday's matches
editOctober 15, 1983
Morning four-ball
edit|
|
Results |
|
|---|---|---|
| Waites/Brown | 1 up
|
Wadkins/Stadler |
| Faldo/Langer | 4 & 2
|
Crenshaw/Peete |
| Ballesteros/Way | halved | Morgan/Haas |
| Torrance/Woosnam | 5 & 4
|
Watson/Gilder |
| 11⁄2 | Session | 21⁄2 |
| 6 | Overall | 6 |
Afternoon foursomes
edit|
|
Results |
|
|---|---|---|
| Faldo/Langer | 3 & 2
|
Kite/Floyd |
| Torrance/Cañizares | 7 & 5
|
Morgan/Wadkins |
| Ballesteros/Way | 2 & 1
|
Watson/Gilder |
| Waites/Brown | 3 & 2
|
Haas/Strange |
| 2 | Session | 2 |
| 8 | Overall | 8 |
Sunday's singles matches
editOctober 16, 1983
|
|
Results |
|
|---|---|---|
| Seve Ballesteros | halved | Fuzzy Zoeller |
| Nick Faldo | 2 & 1
|
Jay Haas |
| Bernhard Langer | 2 up
|
Gil Morgan |
| Gordon J. Brand | 2 up
|
Bob Gilder |
| Sandy Lyle | 3 & 1
|
Ben Crenshaw |
| Brian Waites | 1 up
|
Calvin Peete |
| Paul Way | 2 & 1
|
Curtis Strange |
| Sam Torrance | halved | Tom Kite |
| Ian Woosnam | 3 & 2
|
Craig Stadler |
| José María Cañizares | halved | Lanny Wadkins |
| Ken Brown | 4 & 3
|
Raymond Floyd |
| Bernard Gallacher | 2 & 1
|
Tom Watson |
| 51⁄2 | Session | 61⁄2 |
| 131⁄2 | Overall | 141⁄2 |
Individual player records
editEach entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.
Source: [11]
United States
edit| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Crenshaw | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Raymond Floyd | 0 | 0–4–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Bob Gilder | 2 | 2–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Jay Haas | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Tom Kite | 1.5 | 1–1–1 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Gil Morgan | 1.5 | 1–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Calvin Peete | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Craig Stadler | 2 | 2–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Curtis Strange | 1 | 1–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Tom Watson | 4 | 4–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 0.5 | 0–1–1 | 0–0–1 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
Europe
edit| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seve Ballesteros | 3 | 2–1–2 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Gordon J. Brand | 0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Ken Brown | 2 | 2–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| José María Cañizares | 1.5 | 1–1–1 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Nick Faldo | 4 | 4–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 0 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Bernhard Langer | 4 | 4–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Sandy Lyle | 0 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Sam Torrance | 2 | 1–2–2 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–1 |
| Brian Waites | 1 | 1–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Paul Way | 3.5 | 3–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Ian Woosnam | 0.5 | 0–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
Video
edit- 2012 Ryder Cup Ryder Cup Flashback: 1983
References
edit- "Ryder Cup 2006 » History » 1983 Results". The PGA of America, Ryder Cup Limited, and Turner Sports Interactive. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
- "Ryder Cup history: 1983". BBC Sport. September 13, 2004. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
- ^ "Nicklaus 'thrilled' with U.S. victory". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. October 17, 1983. p. 4B.
- ^ a b Jenkins, Dan (October 25, 1983). "A close call for Captain Jack". Sports Illustrated. p. 38. Archived from the original on August 14, 2013.
- ^ a b Moffett, Dan (October 17, 1983). "Americans' Cup victory is no easy Ryder". Palm Beach Post. p. D1.
- ^ a b Moffett, Dan (October 17, 1983). "Jacklin's strategy almost paid off while Nicklaus saved best for last". Palm Beach Post. p. D7.
- ^ "Ballesteros' Bunker Shot Among Best From Ryder Cup". TSN. September 26, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
- ^ "Unsure Watson teeters on a tightrope". The Times, Tuesday, July 6, 1983; pg. 26; Issue 61577.
- ^ "A cub called Sutton follows the tracks of the Golden Bear". The Times, Tuesday, Aug 9, 1983; pg. 18; Issue 61606.
- ^ "Watson may call off". The Times, Thursday, Aug 4, 1983; pg. 21; Issue 61602.
- ^ "Money list to decide team for Ryder Cup". The Times, Friday, September 17 1982; pg. 18; Issue 61340.
- ^ "Ample consolation for Way as he is beaten by Langer". The Times, Monday, September 19 1983; pg. 27; Issue 61641.
- ^ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
External links
edit- PGA of America: 1983 Ryder Cup
- About.com: 1983 Ryder Cup Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine