1983 Ryder Cup

1983 Ryder Cup

The 25th Ryder Cup Matches were held at the PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The United States team won the competition by a score of 14½ to 13½ points but for the first time the Europeans showed that they had the ability to compete at their level and that it would only be a matter of time before a European victory would happen. This was the first of four occasions that Tony Jacklin was the European captain and the sole occasion that his side were defeated.

Going into the singles matches the scores were level at 8 points all. In the first match, Seve Ballesteros hit a famous shot from a fairway bunker on the final hole using a 3-wood, to force a half with Fuzzy Zoeller. The destiny of the Ryder Cup depended on the outcome of the last two singles matches still out on the course between José Maria Cañizares and Lanny Wadkins and Bernard Gallacher and Tom Watson. The U.S. victory is generally accredited to Lanny Wadkins who hit a wedge to three feet on the 18th hole to tie his match against Canizares. Gallacher had been behind in his match all day and when he double bogied the 17th it ensured that Watson won their match by a margin of 2 & 1.