The Concession 1969 Ryder Cup

Heading into the final round of singles matches in the 1969 Ryder Cup at Royal Birkdale, the Great Britain side were tied 8-8 with the United States team, thanks in no small part to the part played by that year’s Open Champion Tony Jacklin.

Jacklin had won 3.5 out of 4 points for his side including a Friday fourball win with Neil Coles over Jack Nicklaus and Dan Sikes. Amazingly despite being the holder of 7 major championships, this was Jack Nicklaus’ first Ryder Cup due to the selection policy of the PGA of America.

In contrast to the gesture that was to come, the golf in the 1969 matches were played in an acrimonious fashion over the first few days due to the combative nature of GB Captain Eric Brown and some of the USA players. During the Friday afternoon fourballs the captains had to come out and calm down the players.

The final Sunday of the golf match play format comprised two rounds of 8 singles matches and hopes were high for the first home win since 1957 and only the fourth since the matches began in 1927.

In the morning singles, the USA took an early lead before GB rallied to win the last four games with Jacklin defeating Nicklaus 4&3 to lead 13-11 going into the afternoon.

The USA fought back in the afternoon and win 5 of the first 7 games and with Brian Hugget halving the penultimate match with Billy Casper to level the scores, it all came down to Jacklin v Nicklaus in the last game.

Nicklaus was one up playing the par-5 17th and both players were on the green in 2 with Jack 15 feet away. However Jacklin holed from long range for an eagle and Nicklaus missed to send the game down the last all square.

With both players on the green in two, Nicklaus sent his birdie putt 5 feet past the hole. Jacklin putted up to two feet and then watched Jack hole out. As Jack picked his ball out of the hole, he also conceded Jacklin his putt to halve the game and the match. Shaking Jacklin’s hand he said, “I don’t think you would have missed it, but I wasn’t going to give you the chance either”.

Reflecting on the moment in later years, Jack’s reasoning was that Jacklin was the hero of British Golf as he had been the first home winner of The Open in 1969 for 18 years. It was therefore important for him and for British Golf that the matches were halved, even though the United States retained the trophy as holders.

The Concession as it became known, set the tone for future Ryder Cups and created a life long friendship between the players that is continued today in the Nicklaus Jacklin Award at the Ryder Cup for sportsmanship.

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