Understanding the 2025 Ryder Cup Format
The 2025 Ryder Cup brings together teams from the United States and Europe to compete in a unique match-play golf event.
- The 1983 Ryder Cup at PGA National marked a turning point for the event, shifting it from a U.S.-dominated exhibition to a fiercely close competition.
- U.S. Captain Jack Nicklaus led his team against a formidable European squad captained by Tony Jacklin, featuring stars like Seve Ballesteros.
- The competition was tied 8-8 entering the final day’s singles matches, creating a dramatic and tense conclusion.
- The U.S. team secured a narrow 14 ½ to 13 ½ victory after Lanny Wadkins won the final hole against José María Cañizares.
This week’s Ryder Cup at raucous Bethpage Black in New York has the potential to be one of the biggest sporting events in recent history, a spectacle that will be watched by tens of millions of fans – not just golf fans – around the world.
But when the Ryder Cup was held in Palm Beach County for the only time in 1983 at PGA National, it was just a blip on the sports radar. Tickets were plentiful and cheap, and there was plenty of room to stand next to the yellow ropes lining The Champion course.
That’s because, four decades ago, the Ryder Cup was more of an exhibition than a competition. The U.S. team held a lopsided 20-3-1 advantage in the biennial competition, had never lost on home soil and hadn’t tasted defeat since 1957.
The PGA of America – whose headquarters was about a par-5 and a par-4 distance away from the Champion — named legend Jack Nicklaus to his first U.S. team captaincy. The same Golden Bear who didn’t play in four Ryder Cups during the 1960s because he had yet to become a PGA member. When he played in his first one, in 1969, Nicklaus memorably gave Europe’s Tony Jacklin a putt on the final hole that resulted in a tie.
As fate would have it, Jacklin was serving as the European captain for the first time in 1983. He was named captain four months before the competition. But it was his team, led by veteran Seve Ballesteros, the reigning Masters champion, and emerging stars such as Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle – who would all go on to win majors – that had the American players concerned.
“We knew, even if the rest of America didn’t, we were going to have to have our absolute best if we were going to keep the Cup,” said U.S. player Ben Crenshaw, who 16 years later would lead the Americans to a miracle comeback at Brookline.
The different times of the Ryder Cup were evident before the first ball was struck. The Europeans were scheduled to have a team dinner at the Palm Beach Yacht Club during the week.
“We had been invited to the Palm Beach Yacht Club, a short drive from the team hotel,” said European team member Sam Torrance. “I saw (U.S. member) Fuzzy Zoeller giving directions, so I told our driver to ‘follow that car.’
“Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at a magnificent property to see Calvin Peete (another U.S. team member) emerge from the car in front. We thought nothing of it. (European teammate) Ian Woosnam and I got to the door before the Americans.”
Who answered the door? Nicklaus, at his palatial home in Lost Tree Club.
“Is this the Yacht Club?” Torrance asked.
“No, this is my home,” the Golden Bear said, smiling. “Come on inside.”
Nicklaus poured Torrance and Woosnam a drink and pointed out the window the direction of the Yacht Club on the other side of the Intracoastal. The Europeans had mistakenly gate-crashed an American team dinner.
The European team didn’t make many mistakes once the competition started. They split the four Friday morning foursomes matches and won the afternoon four-ball matches, 2 ½-1 ½ to take a 4½ -3½ lead after Day 1.
Hmmm.
The Americans responded to win Saturday morning’s four-ball matches 2½-1½, and when the teams split the afternoon foursomes matches, the Ryder Cup was tied at 8-8 entering Sunday’s singles.
A longer hmmmmmmm.
The captains used different strategies when setting the lineups for the 12 singles matches – Jacklin sent his top players (Ballesteros, Faldo and Langer) out early while Nicklaus saved his best players for the end (Lanny Wadkins, Raymond Floyd and Tom Watson).
Nicklaus was no Knute Rockne, but he made his intentions clear with his final words to his team. “I will not,” he said, “be the first captain to blow this thing. Now you guys show me some brass.”
Nicklaus had sent out Zoeller first, and he wasn’t thrilled when he learned he would be going against Seve, especially with his back ailing. Zoeller said he spent the previous night popping pain pills and later half-joked, “Thank God they didn’t make us take a drug test.”
Sure enough, Ballesteros quickly took a 3-up lead after 11 holes. (And we mean quickly – the Seve-Fuzzy pairing was eventually five holes ahead of the next match). Zoeller responded by winning the next four holes before Ballesteros took the 16th to tie the match. They halved the last two holes, thanks to an incredible 3-wood Seve hit from a fairway bunker at No. 18 for his third shot. The half-point Zoeller unexpectedly earned would prove to be crucial.
Another example of how times were different: When this reporter ducked into the media room after the first match, the two TVs were turned on the Miami Dolphins’ 32-14 win over the New York Jets, and Game 4 of the Baltimore Orioles’ 5-0 victory over Philadelphia to clinch the World Series. The volunteers weren’t even watching the golf.
They were missing out on some amazing drama.
Faldo beat Jay Haas, 2-and-1, and Crenshaw defeated Lyle, 3-and-1. Score still tied. Langer edged Gil Morgan, 2-up, and Bob Gilder beat Gordon Brand by the same score. Tied again. Peete won a 1-up thriller against Brian Waites, but Paul Way beat Curtis Strange. Another tie. Craig Stadler handled Woosnam, 3-and-2, and when Ken Brown beat Floyd, and Sam Torrance-Tom Kite halved their match, the Ryder Cup was tied yet again at 13-13 with two matches still on the course (Watson vs. Bernard Gallagher and Wadkins vs. Jose Maria Canizares).
Nicklaus must have put 20 miles on his golf cart that day, trying to keep up with the back-and-forth. But all he could control was the volume on his walkie-talkie.
“It’s the first tournament I’ve ever been to when I wasn’t playing and couldn’t do anything about what was happening,” Nicklaus said afterward. “It was the damndest thing I was ever involved in.”
Watson won his match when Gallagher inexplicably missed a short putt at the 17th hole, giving the U.S. a 14-13 lead. All the attention turned to the Wadkins-Canizares match, with Canizares one-up heading to the 18th.
After Canizares hit a pedestrian approach, Wadkins, with Nicklaus and his teammates standing near him on the 18th fairway, displayed his clutch gene by almost holing his wedge. When Canizares missed his birdie, the American team celebrated after the 14 ½-13 ½ victory.
Nicklaus, with tears streaming down his face, actually ran out to where Wadkins hit his final chip and kissed the divot.
“I was glad nobody wanted to talk to me then because I couldn’t get a word out,” Nicklaus said. “It’s an experience I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
So will golf and the sparse crowd at PGA National. The Europeans may have lost, but the narrow defeat changed the direction of the Ryder Cup. Europe won the next two matches and has a 12-6-1 advantage since 1983.
“In the end,” Jacklin said, “golf won. And that’s the most important thing.”
Editor’s note: Dolch covered the 1983 Ryder Cup for The (Palm Beach) Evening Times.
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