Ian Woosnam shines in Ryder Cup anniversary match at The Belfry

Woosnam, a winning captain in the contest at The K Club in 2006, teamed up with Sir Nick Faldo to beat Sandy Lyle and Sam Torrance in a fun five-hole tussle at the Sutton Coldfield venue.

Helped by Woosnam almost holing his second shot at the par-4 16th, Woosnam and Faldo won 3&1 as the quartet played in a fourball together for the first time ever.

They were all members of Tony Jacklin’s team that recorded Europe’s first win over the Americans in the biennial bout in 1985.

At the back of the tenth, where the match started, they stopped to watch some highlights from that 16.5-11.5 victory, with Torrance holing the winning putt and raising his arms skywards in one of the event’s iconic moments.

“It was before that,” declared Torrance, who also won as a captain at The Belfry in 2002, during the match, which was aired on the Ryder Cup Europe YouTube channel and on international broadcast platforms, in reply to being asked if the 1985 encounter had changed the history of the contest.

“In 1983, when we lost by one point in America, we were gutted and all of us swore we would be back, Nine of the team made it back and we made history here.”

Before teeing off on the 18th, the quartet, with 32 Ryder Cup appearances between them, were joined by current European captain Luke Donald, who, after leading his side to victory in Rome two years ago, is now bidding to join Jacklin as the only skipper to win both home and away.

“These guys were the ones who started the revolution,” said the Englishman. “They gave us the belief that we could beat America. - we talk a lot about history.”