Great Britain & Ireland hadn’t won a Ryder Cup for nearly a quarter of a century when they gathered at this parkland and moorland course near Worksop.
Dai Rees captained GB&I and Jack Burke Jr an American side that was between eras in terms of superstar players – a scenario illustrated by the fact GB&I’s next win was not until the famous success at The Belfry in 1985!
It was played at the start of October. In the Ryder Cup from 1927 to 1959, the format consisted of four foursomes matches on day one and eight singles matches on day two, playing for a total of 12 points. All matches were 36 holes too.
The GB&I side had a new selection system. A points-based system over a two-year period ending after the 1957 Open at the Old Course was used.
If you were British and won The Open or the News of the World Match Play that year, you were in. Nine places were confirmed, and Christy O’Connor won the Match Play.
In August, the Amateur-Professionals Match was held at Lindrick, which was between the Ryder Cup and Walker Cup sides, to give both sides some competitive action and some experience of Lindrick. O’Connor and Harry Weetman of the Ryder Cup side were ill and missed out, and were replaced by Eric Lester and local pro Jack Jacobs.
In terms of the American side, notable absentees were Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret and Cary Middlecoff.
| Great Britain and Ireland | USA |
| Captain: Dai Rees | Captain: Jack Burke Jr |
| Peter Alliss | Tommy Bolt |
| Ken Bousfield | Dow Finsterwald |
| Harry Bradshaw | Doug Ford |
| Eric Brown | Ed Furgol |
| Max Faulkner | Fred Hawkins |
| Bernard Hunt | Lionel Herbert |
| Peter Mills | Ted Kroll |
| Christy O’Connor | Dick Mayer |
| Harry Weetman | Art Wall Jr |
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1957 Ryder Cup
Things didn’t start promisingly either, only Ken Bousfield and Rees claiming a point from the opening day’s four foursomes matches.
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But in the singles, GB&I were transformed, starting with Eric Brown’s 4&3 win over the combustible Tommy Bolt and a 5&3 triumph for Peter Mills over US skipper Burke.
Peter Alliss slipped to GB&I’s only defeat – a 2&1 reverse to Fred Hawkins – in match three, but Bousfield and Rees completed 100 per cent personal records with emphatic successes over Lionel Herbert and Ed Furgol.
Rees’ 7&6 win sparked a trio of wins ‘in the country’ for GB&I, with Bernard Hunt and Christy O’Connor seeing off Doug Ford and Dow Finsterwald by 6&5 and 7&6 respectively.
Harry Bradshaw and Dick Mayer halved the bottom match, with the overall result settled.
On October 21, Weetman was suspended by the PGA for a year. This was after his actions following his omission from the singles on day two, saying he would never play in another Ryder Cup. He was unable to play in PGA events.
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