1951 Ryder Cup: Winner, Match Scores, Player Records
Final Score: United States 9.5, Great Britain 2.5
Dates Played: November 2-4, 1951
Golf Course: Pinehurst Resort No. 2 Course in Pinehurst, North Carolina
Team Captains: Arthur Lacey for Great Britain, Sam Snead for the United States
Team Rosters:
- Great Britain — Jimmy Adams, Ken Bousfield, Fred Daly, Max Faulkner, Jack Hargreaves, Arthur Lees, John Panton, Dai Rees, Charlie Ward, Harry Weetman
- USA — Skip Alexander, Jack Burke Jr., Jimmy Demaret, Dutch Harrison, Clayton Heafner, Ben Hogan, Lloyd Mangrum, Ed "Porky" Oliver, Henry Ransom, Sam Snead (playing captain)
On Day 2, the squads traveled 70 miles to watch the University of North Carolina play the University of Tennessee in a football game. (Tennessee won, 27-0.) That means this is the only three-day Ryder Cup from the era when only 12 points were at stake.
And Team USA dominated, earning 9.5 of those 12 points. (Arthur Lees was the only member of Team GB to win a match, and he won two.) Only two of the 12 games went the full 36 holes.
Ben Hogan played only two Ryder Cups, and this was the last of those two. He won both his matches.
Jimmy Demaret won both his matches, too, and this was the last of his three Ryder Cup appearances. He was 2-0 all three times, and his 6-0-0 career record is the most wins by any player in Ryder Cup history without a loss or tie. In his singles match against Dai Rees, Demaret was in 11 greenside bunkers and got up-and-down 10 times. He closed out the match by holing from a bunker on the 35th hole. When it was over, Rees called Demaret "the greatest sand player I have ever seen."
The 1951 Ryder Cup was the first of five appearances on Team USA for Jack Burke Jr. and the first of seven appearances on Team GB for Harry Weetman. Sam Snead captained for the first of three times.
One of the highlights of the match was Skip Alexander's win over John Panton. Alexander wasn't even supposed to play after showing up with his hands bandaged and bleeding. A year earlier, he had been the sole survivor of a plane crash, but suffered serious burns and injuries that required 17 surgeries and months of hospitalization and rehabilitation. But he was forced into action when Dutch Harrison fell ill on the second day. And despite his skin-grafted hands — which had been surgically set to allow him to grip a golf club again — bleeding during the game, he bested Panton 8-and-7.
1951 Ryder Cup Results
Day 1
Foursomes- Clayton Heafner/Jack Burke Jr., USA, def Max Faulkner/Dai Rees, Great Britain, 5 and 3
- Charles Ward/Arthur Lees, Great Britain, def. Ed Oliver/Henry Ransom, USA, 2 and 1
- Sam Snead/Lloyd Mangrum, USA, def. Jimmy Adams/John Panton, Great Britain, 5 and 4
- Ben Hogan/Jimmy Demaret, USA, def. Fred Daly/Ken Bousfield, Great Britain, 5 and 4
Day 2
No Matches.
Day 3
Singles- Jack Burke Jr., USA, def. Jimmy Adams, Great Britain, 4 and 3
- Jimmy Demaret, USA, def. Dai Rees, Great Britain, 2-up
- Fred Daly, Great Britain, halved with Clayton Heafner, USA
- Lloyd Mangrum, USA, def. Harry Weetman, Great Britain, 6 and 5
- Arthur Lees, Great Britain, def. Ed Oliver, USA, 2 and 1
- Ben Hogan, USA, def. Charles Ward, Great Britain, 3 and 2
- Skip Alexander, USA, def. John Panton, Great Britain, 8 and 7
- Sam Snead, USA, def. Max Faulkner, Great Britain, 4 and 3
Overall and final score: USA 9.5, Great Britain 2.5
1951 Ryder Cup Player Records
(Records are listed as wins-losses-halves.)
Great Britain
Jimmy Adams, 0-2-0
Ken Bousfield, 0-1-0
Fred Daly, 0-1-1
Max Faulkner, 0-2-0
Jack Hargreaves, did not play
Arthur Lees, 2-0-0
John Panton, 0-2-0
Dai Rees, 0-2-0
Charles Ward, 1-1-0
Harry Weetman, 0-1-0
United States
Skip Alexander, 1-0-0
Jack Burke Jr., 2-0-0
Jimmy Demaret, 2-0-0
Dutch Harrison, did not play
Clayton Heafner, 1-0-1
Ben Hogan, 2-0-0
Lloyd Mangrum, 2-0-0
Porky Oliver, 0-2-0
Henry Ransom, 0-1-0
Sam Snead, 2-0-0
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