Throwback Thursday: Team Europe debut at the Ryder Cup
The Background
The Ryder Cup had always been a competition contested between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland.
However, the American opposition would change from the 1979 installment of the biennial event as the continent of Europe would replace the Great Britain and Ireland team.
The Scene
Only two players represented Europe from outside of Great Britain and Ireland in the first year of the switch.
Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido, both of Spain, played together in all four of the team sessions.
The United States side triumphed 17-11 at The Greenbrier following a dominant final day.
The competition wasn’t without controversy, though, as Mark James and Ken Brown received the highest fines in the history of golf for unprofessional misconduct.
The “offences” were refusing to wear team uniform at times and refusing to respect the flag raising ceremonies.
James was fined £1500 while Brown received a fine £500 less than his teammate. Both were banned for 12 months from international duty.
The Legacy
It took Europe three attempts to win the Ryder Cup following the change. In 1985 Tony Jacklin’s team beat the United States 16.5-11.5 at The Belfry in a historic triumph.
If the changes hadn’t occurred then the likes of Sergio Garcia, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Henrik Stenson, Thomas Pieters and Martin Kaymer would have all been missing from the 2016 Ryder Cup side.
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Matthew Beedle
Matthew has been playing golf since he was around 13 and took up the game at a local nine-hole municipal course with his friends before joining Pontefract & District Golf Club just over the hedge.
Still a member of Pontefract with a handicap of 3, he currently sits on the board of directors to help with digital and marketing initiatives in order to improve membership and visitor income.
Matthew graduated university with a First Class in Sports Journalism from Leeds Trinity University and has been working in the golf industry since graduating.
NCG’s social media & marketing manager, Matthew’s main job role is to increase website traffic to the National Club Golfer website via our email and social media channels as well as driving entries to grow our NCG Top 100s Tour events amongst other tasks.
Not one to change his equipment too often, Matthew currently plays the TaylorMade M2 driver which has lasted the test of time in his bag. Elsewhere, you’ll find him using the TaylorMade Stealth 2 three-wood with a Ping G425 Crossover 2-iron to aid his long game.
Through his 4-iron to Gap Wedge, Matthew uses the Ping i500 irons accompanied by Ping’s Glide 3.0 56-degree and 60-degree wedges.
Another club that has stood the test of time in his bag is a Nike Method Core MC-3i putter which has had to have the SuperStroke grip changed at least three times. Ball of choice is the Titleist ProV1.
