Americans Seeking to Reclaim Ryder Cup

On that day in 1985 when the Ryder Cup came home, the director of the European PGA Tour said to an American friend, “You’ve carried the banner for many years. We hope to do as well in the future.”

Six years and two successful defenses after Ken Schofield said those words, European golfers still lay claim to the title of best golfers in the world.

An American team will try to take back that title when the biennial Ryder Cup Matches start Friday on this island off the South Carolina coast.

There is no clear-cut favorite, just as there has not been since Europe’s 16 1/2-11 1/2 victory at The Belfry on the English midlands in 1985.

That triumph, which capped the rise of European golf, was a surprise but not necessarily an upset.

And it changed the Ryder Cup Matches from a dreary exhibition into an exciting fixture on the golf calendar.

The attitude of Corey Pavin, the leading money-winner on the American tour this year, is typical.

“I had only one goal starting the season,” he said. “To make the Ryder Cup team. Now that I’ve done that, I have another goal: to play on a winning Ryder Cup team.”

As the matches have grown in stature so have the controversies around them.

In a power struggle last year between the European PGA and the European PGA Tour, Seve Ballesteros threatened to pull out of the team unless future sites are given to Spain.

On the American side, there was the controversy over the shift in sites from PGA West in California to Kiawah Island -- a course that did not exist when the change was announced two years ago.

The Europeans repeated their triumph at The Belfry with a 15-13 victory at Dublin, Ohio in 1987 and retained the cup with a 14-14 tie in 1989, again at The Belfry in England.

Their six-year hold is unique in Ryder Cup history, which began in 1927 when Samuel Ryder, a wealthy British seed merchant, put up a cup for play between professionals from the United States and Britain.

The United States still holds an overwhelming victory margin, 21-5-2 overall, including 17-1-1 from the end of World War II through 1983. The U.S. holds a 3-2-1 advantage since the team was expanded from Britain to Europe in 1979.

Both sides have changed enormously in the two years since the tie in England.

Dave Stockton, a two-time PGA champion, replaced Ray Floyd as the American captain. And Bernard Gallacher, a baby-faced battler from Scotland, became the European captain, succeeded Tony Jacklin, the man who brought European golf to the fore with his Ryder Cup leadership in ‘85, ’87 and ’89.

And the teams are different.

Europe again is led by Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, Nick Faldo of England and Ian Woosnam of Wales.

“I expect Gallacher will play them every match,” American captain Stockton said.

It’s a reasonable expectation. Jacklin did, and made these world-class stars the key to the recent European success.

New-comers to the European team are Englishmen Steve Richardson, David Gilford and Paul Broadhurst, David Feherty of Northern Ireland and Colin Montomgerie of Scotland. Former Cup players on the team are Mark James of England, Sam Torrance of Scotland and Bernhard Langer of Germany.

Stockton raised some eyebrows when he used his two wild-card choices to select former captain Floyd, 48, and Chip Beck to his 12-man team.

In doing so, he passed up such frequent Ryder Cup players as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange, and such young stars as John Daly, Billy Andrade and Rocco Mediate.

His veterans include Lanny Wadkins, 41, and Hale Irwin, 46, along with U.S. Open champ Payne Stewart, Fred Couples and Paul Azinger, whose strong performance in the last two tournaments indicates a full recovery from shoulder surgery.

He also has Pavin and Steve Pate among his more reliable players. Mark O’Meara, who has a questionable back, is playing in Japan this week, while Mark Calcavecchia and Wayne Levi are fighting prolonged slumps.

“I’ll wait until I get to Kiawah,” Stockton said from his home in California last week, “to decide how they’re playing and how much I’ll use them.”

The format calls for four foursome matches (two-man teams playing alternate shots on the same ball) and four fourball matches (with scoring based on the better ball of each two-man team) both Friday and Saturday.

Sunday will be given over to 12 singles matches. Each match is worth one point, with one-half point going to each team on matches that are even after 18 holes.

The event will be televised by USA and NBC, with a total of 21 1/2 hours scheduled for air time.