From the Ryder Cup's debut in 1927 through the 1971 competition, the Ryder Cup pitted the United States against Great Britain (for the geography challenged, Great Britain is comprised of England, Scotland and Wales).
In 1973, Ireland was added to the British to create a new team: Great Britain & Ireland, or GB&I. The GB&I team competed in three Ryder Cups, 1973, 1975 and 1977. But adding the Irish didn't do much to help against the mighty U.S. teams of the era; American dominance in the event continued.
It was Jack Nicklaus who speerheaded a larger effort to introduce more competitiveness into the Ryder Cup. Following the 1977 matches, the PGA of America and PGA of Great Britain met to discuss ways to increase the competitiveness. While the idea of opening the Great Britain side to players from across Europe didn't originate with Nicklaus, his pitch to the PGA of Great Britain and lobbying for the idea did much to make it possible.
The two PGAs agreed to open the matches to all of Europe and announced that 1979 would be the first year in which the Ryder Cup would pit the U.S. against Europe. It was a continental shift in every way: the matches soon became competitive and hard-fought and interest from the public shot way up.
Once the European team achieved competitive balance (within a decade of the change), the Ryder Cup emerged as one of the most popular sporting events in the world.
