1981 Ryder Cup: USA wins at Walton Heath Golf Club
USA won the 1981 Ryder Cup 18½–9½ over Europe at Walton Heath Golf Club in Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, England.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1981 in the Ryder Cup room, or every year on the Ryder Cup results list.
- Dates
- 18 September 1981 to 20 September 1981
- Course
- Walton Heath Golf Club, Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, England
- Edition
- 24th Ryder Cup
- Teams
- USA v Europe
- Result
- USA 18½, Europe 9½ · USA won by 9 points
- Points to win
- 14½ (holder retains with 14)
- USA captain
- Dave Marr
- Europe captain
- John Jacobs
- Holder after
- USA
- Attendance
- 16,000 (total as given (single local-history source))
Session 1: foursomes, 18 September 1981 (AM)
Session: USA 2, Europe 2 · running score USA 2, Europe 2.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Trevino and Larry Nelson | Bernhard Langer and Manuel Piñero | 1 up | USA |
| 2 | Bill Rogers and Bruce Lietzke | Sandy Lyle and Mark James | 2 & 1 | Europe |
| 3 | Hale Irwin and Raymond Floyd | Bernard Gallacher and Des Smyth | 3 & 2 | Europe |
| 4 | Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus | Peter Oosterhuis and Nick Faldo | 4 & 3 | USA |
Session 2: four-ball, 18 September 1981 (PM)
Session: USA 1½, Europe 2½ · running score USA 3½, Europe 4½.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Kite and Johnny Miller | Sam Torrance and Howard Clark | halved | halved |
| 2 | Ben Crenshaw and Jerry Pate | Sandy Lyle and Mark James | 3 & 2 | Europe |
| 3 | Bill Rogers and Bruce Lietzke | Des Smyth and José María Cañizares | 6 & 5 | Europe |
| 4 | Hale Irwin and Raymond Floyd | Bernard Gallacher and Eamonn Darcy | 2 & 1 | USA |
Session 3: four-ball, 19 September 1981 (AM)
Session: USA 3, Europe 1 · running score USA 6½, Europe 5½.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Trevino and Jerry Pate | Nick Faldo and Sam Torrance | 7 & 5 | USA |
| 2 | Larry Nelson and Tom Kite | Sandy Lyle and Mark James | 1 up | USA |
| 3 | Raymond Floyd and Hale Irwin | Bernhard Langer and Manuel Piñero | 2 & 1 | Europe |
| 4 | Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson | José María Cañizares and Des Smyth | 3 & 2 | USA |
Session 4: foursomes, 19 September 1981 (PM)
Session: USA 4, Europe 0 · running score USA 10½, Europe 5½.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Trevino and Jerry Pate | Peter Oosterhuis and Sam Torrance | 2 & 1 | USA |
| 2 | Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson | Bernhard Langer and Manuel Piñero | 3 & 2 | USA |
| 3 | Bill Rogers and Raymond Floyd | Sandy Lyle and Mark James | 3 & 2 | USA |
| 4 | Tom Kite and Larry Nelson | Des Smyth and Bernard Gallacher | 3 & 2 | USA |
Session 5: singles, 20 September 1981 (all day)
Session: USA 8, Europe 4 · running score USA 18½, Europe 9½.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Trevino | Sam Torrance | 5 & 3 | USA |
| 2 | Tom Kite | Sandy Lyle | 3 & 2 | USA |
| 3 | Bill Rogers | Bernard Gallacher | halved | halved |
| 4 | Larry Nelson | Mark James | 2 up | USA |
| 5 | Ben Crenshaw | Des Smyth | 6 & 4 | USA |
| 6 | Bruce Lietzke | Bernhard Langer | halved | halved |
| 7 | Jerry Pate | Manuel Piñero | 4 & 2 | Europe |
| 8 | Hale Irwin | José María Cañizares | 1 up | USA |
| 9 | Johnny Miller | Nick Faldo | 2 & 1 | Europe |
| 10 | Tom Watson | Howard Clark | 4 & 3 | Europe |
| 11 | Raymond Floyd | Peter Oosterhuis | 1 up | USA |
| 12 | Jack Nicklaus | Eamonn Darcy | 5 & 3 | USA |
USA team, 1981
| Player | Nationality | Rookie | W-L-H | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Crenshaw | United States | yes | 1-1-0 | 1 |
| Raymond Floyd | United States | 3-2-0 | 3 | |
| Hale Irwin | United States | 2-2-0 | 2 | |
| Tom Kite | United States | 3-0-1 | 3½ | |
| Bruce Lietzke | United States | yes | 0-2-1 | ½ |
| Johnny Miller | United States | 0-1-1 | ½ | |
| Larry Nelson | United States | 4-0-0 | 4 | |
| Jack Nicklaus | United States | 4-0-0 | 4 | |
| Jerry Pate | United States | yes | 2-2-0 | 2 |
| Bill Rogers | United States | yes | 1-2-1 | 1½ |
| Lee Trevino | United States | 4-0-0 | 4 | |
| Tom Watson | United States | 3-1-0 | 3 |
Europe team, 1981
| Player | Nationality | Rookie | W-L-H | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| José María Cañizares | Spain | yes | 1-2-0 | 1 |
| Howard Clark | England | 1-0-1 | 1½ | |
| Eamonn Darcy | Ireland | 0-2-0 | 0 | |
| Nick Faldo | England | 1-2-0 | 1 | |
| Bernard Gallacher | Scotland | 1-2-1 | 1½ | |
| Mark James | England | 2-3-0 | 2 | |
| Bernhard Langer | Germany | yes | 1-2-1 | 1½ |
| Sandy Lyle | Scotland | 2-3-0 | 2 | |
| Peter Oosterhuis | England | 0-3-0 | 0 | |
| Manuel Piñero | Spain | yes | 2-2-0 | 2 |
| Des Smyth | Ireland | 2-3-0 | 2 | |
| Sam Torrance | Scotland | yes | 0-3-1 | ½ |
What happened at the 1981 Ryder Cup
Jack Nicklaus went 4-0-0 in his sixth and final Ryder Cup as a player, on a U.S. team often called the strongest ever (36 major titles).
Seve Ballesteros was left off the European team after a dispute over appearance money.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's Ryder Cup data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: ryder-cup.csv (the Ryder Cup room's record), with every match and team sheet from GNN's Ryder Cup data.