1965 Ryder Cup

16th Ryder Cup Matches

Dates	7–9 October 1965
Venue	Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Location	Southport, England
Captains	Harry Weetman (Great Britain) Byron Nelson (USA)
12½ 19½
United States wins the Ryder Cup

Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Location in England

The 16th Ryder Cup Matches were held 7–9 October 1965 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. For the first time commercialisation started to make a presence on site. The United States team won the competition by a score of 19½ to 12½ points.^[1][2]

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. From 1963 through 1971 the competition format was as follows:

• Day 1 — 8 foursomes (alternate shot) matches, 4 each in morning and afternoon sessions
• Day 2 — 8 four-ball (better ball) matches, 4 each in morning and afternoon sessions
• Day 3 — 16 singles matches, 8 each in morning and afternoon sessions

With a total of 32 points, 16½ points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams

Source: ^[3]

For the 1965 event the British PGA reduced the period that a tournament professional had to wait before becoming eligible for the Ryder Cup team from five years to three. This meant that ex-amateur golfers like Guy Wolstenholme (who turned professional in late 1960) and Doug Sewell (1961) became eligible, although neither qualified.^[4]

Team Great Britain
Name	Age	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Harry Weetman	44	Non-playing captain
Peter Alliss	34	5	15	4–7–4	40.00
Peter Butler	33	0	Rookie
Neil Coles	31	2	10	2–5–3	35.00
Jimmy Hitchcock	35	0	Rookie
Bernard Hunt	35	5	15	3–9–3	30.00
Jimmy Martin	41	0	Rookie
Christy O'Connor Snr	40	5	14	4–9–1	32.14
Lionel Platts	30	0	Rookie
Dave Thomas	31	2	8	0–5–3	18.75
George Will	28	1	4	1–3–0	25.00

Despite having won his fourth major title as a professional at The Masters in April, 25-year-old Jack Nicklaus was not a member of the U.S. team. Eligibility rules set by the PGA prevented him from participating in the Ryder Cup until 1969.^[5][6] He competed as a player through 1981, missing only the 1979 edition, and was the non-playing captain of the U.S. team in 1983 and 1987.

Pott did not play due to a back injury.^[7]

Team USA
Name	Age	Previous Ryder Cups	Matches	W–L–H	Winning percentage
Byron Nelson	53	Non-playing captain
Julius Boros	45	2	6	3–1–2	66.67
Billy Casper	34	2	8	7–0–1	93.75
Tommy Jacobs	30	0	Rookie
Don January	35	0	Rookie
Tony Lema	31	1	5	3–0–2	80.00
Gene Littler	35	2	8	3–1–4	62.50
Dave Marr	31	0	Rookie
Arnold Palmer	36	2	10	7–2–1	75.00
Johnny Pott	29	1	3	1–2–0	33.33
Ken Venturi	34	0	Rookie

Thursday's matches

Morning foursomes

	Results
Platts/Butler	1 up	Boros/Lema
Thomas/Will	6 & 5	Palmer/Marr
Hunt/Coles	2 & 1	Casper/Littler
Alliss/O'Connor	5 & 4	Venturi/January
2	Session	2
2	Overall	2

Afternoon foursomes

	Results
Thomas/Will	6 & 5	Palmer/Marr
Alliss/O'Connor	2 & 1	Casper/Littler
Martin/Hitchcock	5 & 4	Boros/Lema
Hunt/Coles	3 & 2	Venturi/January
2	Session	2
4	Overall	4

Friday's matches

Morning four-ball

	Results
Thomas/Will	1 up	January/Jacobs
Platts/Butler	halved	Casper/Littler
Alliss/O'Connor	6 & 4	Palmer/Marr
Hunt/Coles	1 up	Boros/Lema
1½	Session	2½
5½	Overall	6½

Afternoon four-ball

	Results
Alliss/O'Connor	2 up	Palmer/Marr
Thomas/Will	1 up	January/Jacobs
Platts/Butler	halved	Casper/Littler
Hunt/Coles	1 up	Venturi/Lema
1½	Session	2½
7	Overall	9

Saturday's matches

Morning singles

	Results
Jimmy Hitchcock	3 & 2	Arnold Palmer
Lionel Platts	4 & 2	Julius Boros
Peter Butler	1 up	Tony Lema
Neil Coles	2 up	Dave Marr
Bernard Hunt	2 up	Gene Littler
Dave Thomas	2 & 1	Tommy Jacobs
Peter Alliss	1 up	Billy Casper
George Will	halved	Don January
2½	Session	5½
9½	Overall	14½

Afternoon singles

	Results
Christy O'Connor	6 & 4	Tony Lema
Jimmy Hitchcock	2 & 1	Julius Boros
Peter Butler	2 up	Arnold Palmer
Peter Alliss	3 & 1	Ken Venturi
Neil Coles	3 & 2	Billy Casper
George Will	2 & 1	Gene Littler
Bernard Hunt	1 up	Dave Marr
Lionel Platts	1 up	Tommy Jacobs
3	Session	5
12½	Overall	19½

Individual player records

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

Source: ^[3]

Great Britain

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes	Fourballs
Peter Alliss	5	5–1–0	2–0–0	2–0–0	1–1–0
Peter Butler	1	0–3–2	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–0–2
Neil Coles	3	3–3–0	1–1–0	1–1–0	1–1–0
Jimmy Hitchcock	0	0–3–0	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–0–0
Bernard Hunt	3	3–3–0	1–1–0	1–1–0	1–1–0
Jimmy Martin	0	0–1–0	0–0–0	0–1–0	0–0–0
Christy O'Connor	3	3–2–0	0–1–0	2–0–0	1–1–0
Lionel Platts	2	1–2–2	1–1–0	0–1–0	0–0–2
Dave Thomas	1	1–4–0	0–1–0	1–1–0	0–2–0
George Will	1.5	1–4–1	0–1–1	1–1–0	0–2–0

United States

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes	Fourballs
Julius Boros	4	4–1–0	2–0–0	2–0–0	0–1–0
Billy Casper	2	1–3–2	0–2–0	1–1–0	0–0–2
Tommy Jacobs	3	3–1–0	1–1–0	0–0–0	2–0–0
Don January	2.5	2–2–1	0–0–1	0–2–0	2–0–0
Tony Lema	5	5–1–0	2–0–0	2–0–0	1–1–0
Gene Littler	3	2–2–2	1–1–0	1–1–0	0–0–2
Dave Marr	4	4–2–0	2–0–0	1–1–0	1–1–0
Arnold Palmer	4	4–2–0	2–0–0	1–1–0	1–1–0
Ken Venturi	1	1–3–0	0–1–0	0–2–0	1–0–0

Johnny Pott did not play in any matches.

References

1. "United States keeps Cup; Arnold Palmer paces win". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. October 10, 1965. p. 6B.
2. Wright, Alfred (October 18, 1965). "Byron's boys beat the British Cup team". Sports Illustrated. p. 79.
3. "2016 Ryder Cup Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved September 26, 2015.
4. "P.G.A. relax Ryder Cup rule". The Times. 8 February 1964. p. 4.
5. "Media Guide: 1965 Ryder Cup". PGA of America. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
6. "Media Guide: 1967 Ryder Cup". PGA of America. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
7. "Cocky Ryder Cup Teams Tee Off". The Montreal Gazette (Montreal, Canada). 7 October 1965. p. 52. Retrieved 12 May 2010.

• "Ryder Cup 2006 » History » 1965 Results". The PGA of America, Ryder Cup Limited, and Turner Sports Interactive. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
• "Ryder Cup history: 1965". BBC Sport. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2007-03-15.

External links

• PGA of America: 1965 Ryder Cup
• About.com: 1965 Ryder Cup

Coordinates: 53°37′17″N 3°01′57″W / 53.6215°N 3.0325°W