Ryder Cup 1979 At Greenbrier

Photo of author

By Golf Histories

With continental Europeans allowed to compete in the Ryder Cup, the final format change brought the total number of points to be decided to 28, with eight foursomes, eight four-balls, and 12 singles.

The new European Team was bolstered by the play of Sir Nick Faldo, who finished 4-1, but it was America’s Larry Nelson who turned in a brilliant 5-0 performance.

Nelson defeated Spain’s Seve Ballesteros in four of those meetings as the Americans won, 17 to 11.

Ballesteros was joined by fellow countryman Antonio Garrido as the first continental European Ryder Cup selections.

It was the first Ryder Cup where each team would use the “envelope,” a process where each Captain inserted the name of a player in a sealed envelope in the event either team was reduced to 11 players due to injury or health reasons.

The result was a half point for each team.