1987 Ryder Cup Winner, Match Scores, Player Records
The 1987 Ryder Cup was the 27th time this tournament was played and, for the first time, Europe won two consecutive Cups. Following the result here, the all-time standings were 21 wins for the United States, five wins for Europe, and one draw.
Final Score: Europe 15, United States 13
Dates Played: September 25-27, 1987
Golf Course: Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio
Team Captains: Tony Jacklin for Europe, Jack Nicklaus for the United States
Team Rosters:
- Europe — Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Howard Clark, Seve Ballesteros, Gordan Brand Jr., Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer, Jose Rivero, Eamonn Darcy, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sandy Lyle, Ken Brown
- United States — Scott Simpson, Larry Nelson, Payne Stewart, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Hal Sutton, Larry Mize, Lanny Wadkins, Dan Pohl, Tom Kite, Mark Calcavecchia, Andy Bean
The final margin of victory was two points, but the 1987 Ryder Cup wasn't really that close. After the sides split the Day 1 foursomes, in the afternoon fourballs Europe won a clean sweep. It was the first 4-0 sweep of a doubles session ever by Team Europe.
The European team led by 10.5 to 5.5 going into singles, and no team has ever come back in a Ryder Cup from a five-point deficit entering singles. Team USA didn't here, either.
Jose Maria Olazabal made his Ryder Cup debut here, and the Seve Ballesteros/Olazabal team made its debut. They won three points together. Ballesteros and Olazabal went on to become the most frequent and most successful partnership in this tournament's history.
They also put an end to the 9-match winning streak of Team USA's Larry Nelson. Nelson had gone 5-0-0 in the 1979 Ryder Cup and 4-0-0 in the 1981 Ryder Cup. But Nelson and partner Payne Stewart (making his debut) lost to Ballesteros/Olazabal in the morning foursomes on Day 1.
A different European partnership was even stronger: Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam teamed to earn 3.5 of a possible 4 doubles points, the first European partnership to do so. (Ballesteros and Olazabal later did it twice.)
A Ryder Cup oddity happened here: Ben Crenshaw (whose nickname "Gentle Ben" was given to him ironically, due to his temper) snapped his putter in disgust after doing 2-down to Eamonn Darcy in singles. Crenshaw putted the remainder of the match with either his 1-iron or by blading his sand wedge. Darcy won the match, 1-up.
1987 Ryder Cup Results
Day 1
Foursomes- Curtis Strange/Tom Kite, USA, def. Sam Torrance/Howard Clark, Europe, 4 and 2
- Hal Sutton/Dan Pohl, USA, def. Ken Brown/Bernhard Langer, Europe, 2 and 1
- Nick Faldo/Ian Woosnam, Europe, def. Lanny Wadkins/Larry Mize, USA, 2-up
- Seve Ballesteros/Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe, def. Larry Nelson/Payne Stewart, USA, 1-up
Fourballs
- Gordon Brand Jr./Jose Rivero, Europe, def. Ben Crenshaw/Scott Simpson, USA, 3 and 2
- Sandy Lyle/Bernhard Langer, Europe, def. Andy Bean/Mark Calcavecchia, USA, 1-up
- Nick Faldo/Ian Woosnam, Europe, def. Hal Sutton/Dan Pohl, USA, 2 and 1
- Seve Ballesteros/Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe, def. Curtis Strange/Tom Kite, USA, 2 and 1
Cumulative score after two sessions: Europe 6, USA 2
Day 2
Foursomes- Curtis Strange/Tom Kite, USA, def. Jose Rivero/Gordon Brand Jr., Europe, 3 and 1
- Nick Faldo/Ian Woosnam, Europe, halved with Hal Sutton/Larry Mize, USA
- Sandy Lyle/Bernhard Langer, Europe, def. Lanny Wadkins/Larry Nelson, USA, 2 and 1
- Seve Ballesteros/Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe, def. Ben Crenshaw/Payne Stewart, USA, 1-up
Cumulative score after three sessions: Europe 8.5, USA 3.5
Fourballs
- Nick Faldo/Ian Woosnam, Europe, def. Curtis Strange/Tom Kite, USA, 5 and 4
- Andy Bean/Payne Stewart, USA, def. Eamonn Darcy/Gordon Brand Jr., Europe, 3 and 2
- Hal Sutton/Larry Mize, USA, def. Seve Ballesteros/Jose Maria Olazabal, 2 and 1
- Sandy Lyle/Bernhard Langer, Europe, def. Lanny Wadkins/Larry Nelson, USA, 1-up
Cumulative score after four sessions: Europe 10.5, USA 5.5
Day 3
Singles- Andy Bean, USA, def. Ian Woosnam, Europe, 1-up
- Howard Clark, Europe, def. Dan Pohl, USA, 1-up
- Sam Torrance, Europe, halved with Larry Mize, USA
- Mark Calcavecchia, USA, def. Nick Faldo, Europe, 1-up
- Payne Stewart, USA, def. Jose Maria Olazabal, 2-up
- Scott Simpson, USA, def. Jose Rivero, 2 and 1
- Tom Kite, USA, def. Sandy Lyle, Europe, 3 and 2
- Eamonn Darcy, Europe, def. Ben Crenshaw, USA, 1-up
- Bernhard Langer, Europe, halved with Larry Nelson, USA
- Seve Ballesteros, Europe, def. Curtis Strange, USA, 2 and 1
- Lanny Wadkins, USA, def. Ken Brown, Europe, 3 and 2
- Gordon Brand Jr., Europe, halved with Hal Sutton, USA
Overall and final score: Europe 15, USA 13
1987 Ryder Cup Player Records
(Records are listed as wins-losses-halves.)
Europe
Seve Ballesteros, 4-1-0
Gordon Brand Jr., 1-2-1
Ken Brown, 0-2-0
Howard Clark, 1-1-0
Eamonn Darcy, 1-1-0
Nick Faldo, 3-1-1
Bernhard Langer, 3-1-1
Sandy Lyle, 3-1-0
Jose Maria Olazabal, 3-2-0
Jose Rivero, 1-2-0
Sam Torrance, 0-1-1
Ian Woosnam, 3-1-1
USA
Andy Bean, 2-1-0
Mark Calcavecchia, 1-1-0
Ben Crenshaw, 0-3-0
Tom Kite, 3-2-0
Larry Mize, 1-1-2
Larry Nelson, 0-3-1
Dan Pohl, 1-2-0
Scott Simpson, 1-1-0
Payne Stewart, 2-2-0
Curtis Strange, 2-3-0
Hal Sutton, 2-1-2
Lanny Wadkins, 1-3-0
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