The 11th Ryder Cup Matches were held November 5–6, 1955, at Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. The United States team won its seventh consecutive competition by a score of 8 to 4 points.
Format The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. From 1927 through 1959, the format consisted of 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches on the first day and 8 singles matches on the second day, for a total of 12 points. Therefore, 6 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 36 holes.
Teams Source:
Team USANameAgePreviousRyder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinningpercentageChick Harbert – captain 40 1 1 1–0–0 100.00Jerry Barber 39 0 RookieTommy Bolt 39 0 RookieJack Burke Jr. 32 2 4 4–0–0 100.00Doug Ford 33 0 RookieMarty Furgol 39 0 RookieChandler Harper 41 0 RookieTed Kroll 36 1 2 1–1–0 50.00Cary Middlecoff 34 1 2 1–1–0 50.00Sam Snead 43 5 9 7–2–0 77.78
Seven members of the British team were chosen from the Order of Merit after the 1955 Open Championship. To qualify players had to play in 5 of the 6 qualifying events. The qualifying events were all stroke-play tournaments played in Great Britain from the Spalding Tournament ending on 22 April to the Open Championship ending on 8 July. The last three places were chosen by the seven players already selected and the four members of the PGA tournament sub-committee. The seven who qualified after the Open were: Rees, Bradshaw, Scott, Weetman, O'Connor, Bousfield and Jacobs. Later in July, Rees was chosen as captain. The three remaining players, Brown, Lees and Fallon, were chosen at the end of the Dunlop Masters in September. Brown had recently lost in the final of the News of the World Match Play where Lees was a losing semi-finalist. Fallon was runner-up in the Open Championship.
Team Great BritainNameAgePreviousRyder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinningpercentage Dai Rees – captain 42 5 8 2–5–1 31.25 Ken Bousfield 36 2 2 1–1–0 50.00 Harry Bradshaw 42 1 2 2–0–0 100.00 Eric Brown 30 1 2 1–1–0 50.00 John Fallon 42 0 Rookie John Jacobs 30 0 Rookie Arthur Lees 47 3 6 3–3–0 50.00 Christy O'Connor Snr 30 0 Rookie Syd Scott 41 0 Rookie Harry Weetman 35 2 3 1–2–0 33.33
Saturday's foursome matches Results Fallon/Jacobs 1 upHarper/BarberBrown/Scott 5 & 4Ford/KrollLees/Weetman 1 upBurke/BoltBradshaw/Rees 3 & 2Snead/Middlecoff 1 Session 3 1 Overall 3
18 hole scores: Harper/Barber: 2 up, Ford/Kroll: 3 up, Lees/Weetman: 1 up, Bradshaw/Rees v Snead/Middlecoff: all square.
Sunday's singles matches Results Christy O'Connor 4 & 2Tommy BoltSyd Scott 3 & 2Chick HarbertJohn Jacobs 1 upCary MiddlecoffDai Rees 3 & 1Sam SneadArthur Lees 3 & 2Marty FurgolEric Brown 3 & 2Jerry BarberHarry Bradshaw 3 & 2Jack Burke Jr.Harry Weetman 3 & 2Doug Ford 3 Session 5 4 Overall 8
18 hole scores: Bolt: 3 up, Harbert: 6 up, Middlecoff: 2 up, Snead: 5 up, Lees v Furgol: all square, Brown: 3 up, Bradshaw v Burke: all square, Ford: 1 up.
Individual player records Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.
Source:
United States Player Points Overall Singles FoursomesJerry Barber 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0Tommy Bolt 2 2–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–0Jack Burke Jr. 2 2–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–0Doug Ford 2 2–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–0Marty Furgol 0 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–0–0Chick Harbert 1 1–0–0 1–0–0 0–0–0Chandler Harper 0 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–1–0Ted Kroll 1 1–0–0 0–0–0 1–0–0Cary Middlecoff 1 1–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0Sam Snead 2 2–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–0
Great Britain Player Points Overall Singles FoursomesHarry Bradshaw 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0Eric Brown 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0John Fallon 1 1–0–0 0–0–0 1–0–0John Jacobs 2 2–0–0 1–0–0 1–0–0Arthur Lees 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0Christy O'Connor 0 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–0–0Dai Rees 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0Syd Scott 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0Harry Weetman 0 0–2–0 0–1–0 0–1–0
Ken Bousfield did not play in any matches.
References
External links PGA of America: 1955 Ryder Cup About.com: 1955 Ryder Cup Thunderbird Country Club – official site