The Ryder Cup history books are full to overflowing about the 1969 match now known for ‘The Concession’, when American legend Jack Nicklaus conceded a short putt to GB star Tony Jacklin on the very last hole. It allowed a Ryder Cup match to be tied for the first time, 16 points each. Rightly so, this generous act of fellowship is listed high in the annals of great sportsmanship and highlights the respect that the two teams have always had for each other.
And yet…the other side of this story is about a very different feeling between American and British and Irish golfers during this match, one with an undercurrent of hatred.
As the Ryder Cup moved into its third decade and GB&I defeats piled high, the rivalry showed an unusual level of aggression in 1969 and the language of a match included the word ‘hate’, an expression that sportspeople have always been uncomfortable using to describe how they feel about opponents. It was the 18th match in the series and took place on an unromantic stretch of the Lancashire coastline at Royal Birkdale GC where the temperature between the two teams was raised to boiling point by one man who was not afraid to express his feelings, the home captain Eric Brown.
To describe Brown as a fierce character would be a vast understatement. Peter Alliss, who played at Birkdale, once said the Scot “could make trouble in an empty ‘hoos’” because Brown had a chip on his shoulder about many things, including Americans.
Nonetheless, Brown was also a fine player who nearly won the Open in 1958 at Royal Lytham & St Annes – he needed par to win on the 72nd hole, but drove into a bunker hole and then three-putted for a double-bogey six. Even though it was an Australian (Peter Thomson) who won that day and not an American, Brown had a deep loathing for players from the United States and what they stood for. Plus, he was not afraid to tell anyone who cared to listen how much he hated his Ryder Cup opponents.
In his four Ryder Cup appearances in the 1950s as a player, Brown played tough on every hole. In his singles matches, this hatred worked for him because he won every time, beating four major champions – Jerry Barber, Tommy Bolt, Lloyd Mangrum and Cary Middlecoff. This was a remarkable record for any GB player at that time, yet in four foursomes, Brown’s four different partners never responded to his intensity and he lost on every occasion.
Brown’s emotions boiled over in a post-match exchange after a Ryder Cup singles match with Tommy Bolt in 1955. In Malcolm Hamer’s 1992 book The Ryder Cup: The Players, he quotes Bolt as saying: “You won, Eric, but I didn’t enjoy the game.” Brown was quick to reply: “No, of course, you didn’t enjoy it because you were ****** licked.” The expletive was enough to send the equally volatile Bolt to the locker room in such a temper that he broke a club and refused to attend the closing ceremony.
To read the rest of this Ryder Cup story, click https://open.substack.com/pub/rossbidd/p/ryder-cup-2025-stories-part-9-the-23?r=2jbyei&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Ryder Cup 2025 Stories Part 10 will be available next week and will review the contest at Bethpage.
Ross Biddiscombe is the author of Ryder Cup Revealed: Tales of the Unexpected and his regular Ryder Cup posts are on the Substack platform; click here for the app https://substack.com/app and subscribe for FREE for receive extra Ryder Cup stories and other sporting journalism.