1985 Ryder Cup: Europe wins at The Belfry (Brabazon Course)
Europe won the 1985 Ryder Cup 16½–11½ over the USA at The Belfry (Brabazon Course) in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1985 in the Ryder Cup room, or every year on the Ryder Cup results list.
- Dates
- 13 September 1985 to 15 September 1985
- Course
- The Belfry (Brabazon Course), Wishaw, Warwickshire, England
- Edition
- 26th Ryder Cup
- Teams
- USA v Europe
- Result
- USA 11½, Europe 16½ · Europe won by 5 points
- Points to win
- 14½ (holder retains with 14)
- USA captain
- Lee Trevino
- Europe captain
- Tony Jacklin
- Holder after
- Europe
- Winning point
- Sam Torrance (Europe) · Torrance d. Andy North 1 up
- Attendance
- 90,000 (total as given (single local-history source))
Session 1: foursomes, 13 September 1985 (AM)
Session: USA 3, Europe 1 · running score USA 3, Europe 1.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Curtis Strange and Mark O'Meara | Seve Ballesteros and Manuel Piñero | 2 & 1 | Europe |
| 2 | Calvin Peete and Tom Kite | Bernhard Langer and Nick Faldo | 3 & 2 | USA |
| 3 | Lanny Wadkins and Raymond Floyd | Sandy Lyle and Ken Brown | 4 & 3 | USA |
| 4 | Craig Stadler and Hal Sutton | Howard Clark and Sam Torrance | 3 & 2 | USA |
Session 2: four-ball, 13 September 1985 (PM)
Session: USA 1½, Europe 2½ · running score USA 4½, Europe 3½.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Green | Paul Way and Ian Woosnam | 1 up | Europe |
| 2 | Andy North and Peter Jacobsen | Seve Ballesteros and Manuel Piñero | 2 & 1 | Europe |
| 3 | Craig Stadler and Hal Sutton | Bernhard Langer and José María Cañizares | halved | halved |
| 4 | Raymond Floyd and Lanny Wadkins | Sam Torrance and Howard Clark | 1 up | USA |
Session 3: four-ball, 14 September 1985 (AM)
Session: USA 1½, Europe 2½ · running score USA 6, Europe 6.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Kite and Andy North | Sam Torrance and Howard Clark | 2 & 1 | Europe |
| 2 | Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller | Paul Way and Ian Woosnam | 4 & 3 | Europe |
| 3 | Mark O'Meara and Lanny Wadkins | Seve Ballesteros and Manuel Piñero | 3 & 2 | USA |
| 4 | Craig Stadler and Curtis Strange | Bernhard Langer and Sandy Lyle | halved | halved |
Session 4: foursomes, 14 September 1985 (PM)
Session: USA 1, Europe 3 · running score USA 7, Europe 9.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Kite and Calvin Peete | José María Cañizares and José Rivero | 7 & 5 | Europe |
| 2 | Craig Stadler and Hal Sutton | Seve Ballesteros and Manuel Piñero | 5 & 4 | Europe |
| 3 | Curtis Strange and Peter Jacobsen | Paul Way and Ian Woosnam | 4 & 2 | USA |
| 4 | Raymond Floyd and Lanny Wadkins | Bernhard Langer and Ken Brown | 3 & 2 | Europe |
Session 5: singles, 15 September 1985 (all day)
Session: USA 4½, Europe 7½ · running score USA 11½, Europe 16½.
| Match | USA | Europe | Result | Point to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lanny Wadkins | Manuel Piñero | 3 & 1 | Europe |
| 2 | Craig Stadler | Ian Woosnam | 2 & 1 | USA |
| 3 | Raymond Floyd | Paul Way | 2 up | Europe |
| 4 | Tom Kite | Seve Ballesteros | halved | halved |
| 5 | Peter Jacobsen | Sandy Lyle | 3 & 2 | Europe |
| 6 | Hal Sutton | Bernhard Langer | 5 & 4 | Europe |
| 7 | Andy North | Sam Torrance | 1 up | Europe |
| 8 | Mark O'Meara | Howard Clark | 1 up | Europe |
| 9 | Calvin Peete | José Rivero | 1 up | USA |
| 10 | Hubert Green | Nick Faldo | 3 & 1 | USA |
| 11 | Fuzzy Zoeller | José María Cañizares | 2 up | Europe |
| 12 | Curtis Strange | Ken Brown | 4 & 2 | USA |
USA team, 1985
| Player | Nationality | Rookie | W-L-H | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raymond Floyd | United States | 2-2-0 | 2 | |
| Hubert Green | United States | 1-2-0 | 1 | |
| Peter Jacobsen | United States | yes | 1-2-0 | 1 |
| Tom Kite | United States | 1-2-1 | 1½ | |
| Andy North | United States | yes | 0-3-0 | 0 |
| Mark O'Meara | United States | yes | 1-2-0 | 1 |
| Calvin Peete | United States | 2-1-0 | 2 | |
| Craig Stadler | United States | 2-1-2 | 3 | |
| Curtis Strange | United States | 2-1-1 | 2½ | |
| Hal Sutton | United States | yes | 1-2-1 | 1½ |
| Lanny Wadkins | United States | 3-2-0 | 3 | |
| Fuzzy Zoeller | United States | 0-3-0 | 0 |
Europe team, 1985
| Player | Nationality | Rookie | W-L-H | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seve Ballesteros | Spain | 3-1-1 | 3½ | |
| Ken Brown | Scotland | 1-2-0 | 1 | |
| José María Cañizares | Spain | 2-0-1 | 2½ | |
| Howard Clark | England | 2-2-0 | 2 | |
| Nick Faldo | England | 0-2-0 | 0 | |
| Bernhard Langer | Germany | 2-1-2 | 3 | |
| Sandy Lyle | Scotland | 1-1-1 | 1½ | |
| Manuel Piñero | Spain | 4-1-0 | 4 | |
| José Rivero | Spain | yes | 1-1-0 | 1 |
| Sam Torrance | Scotland | 2-2-0 | 2 | |
| Paul Way | England | 3-1-0 | 3 | |
| Ian Woosnam | Wales | 2-2-0 | 2 |
What happened at the 1985 Ryder Cup
Sam Torrance holed a birdie putt on 18 to beat Andy North 1 up and win the Cup for Europe, its first win since 1957.
On Saturday morning Craig Stadler missed a putt of about 2 feet on 18 that would have won his fourball with Curtis Strange. Langer/Lyle got a half, the score went to 6–6, and Jacklin called it the turning point.
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.