• September 26 down the years

The Battle of Brookline

Justin Leonard holed a monster putt © Getty Images

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1999
The USA again regained the Ryder Cup, this time after an acrimonious last day in Massachusetts ('The Battle of Brookline'). No one likes to lose and having been beaten in 1995 and 1997, the Americans were smarting and it has been classed as one of the darkest moments in golf. It looked like Europe were going to chalk up another win as they led 10-6 heading into Sunday's singles and required just four points to retain the trophy. The Americans produced a sensational fightback as game after game turned to the red of the US team, but their titanic efforts were overshadowed by one event on the 17th green. Justin Leonard trailed Jose Maria Olazabal by four with seven holes to play, but kept chipping away and was level at the 17th. The American's approach shot was not great and he was left with a near-impossible 45-foot putt. Leonard made a true stroke and the ball tracked towards the hole and somehow dropped. This sparked a pitch invasion from the American team as they celebrated as though the cup had been won. The problem with the celebrations was that Olazabal still had a makeable putt to halve the hole. However, the Spaniard had been badly unsettled by the incident - while his line had also been trampled on by a load of US WAGs - and he missed the putt which handed victory to the US. A great comeback was overshadowed by a farcical moment that Europe's vice captain Sam Torrance described as the "most disgusting thing I have ever seen on a golf course."

1993
After losing the Ryder Cup so dramatically in 1991, Europe's golfers fought hard to regain it at The Belfry today. They led by a point after the first two days, then won three of the early singles, through Colin Montgomerie, Peter Baker and Joakim Häggman, which left Europe needing only 2½ points from the last six matches - with Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and José María Olazábal to come. But the Americans raised their game as usual. Langer and the two Spaniards all lost, Olazábal to 51-year-old Ray Floyd, the oldest player in any Ryder Cup; Faldo halved with Paul Azinger; and Costantino Rocca lost to Davis Love after leading with two holes to play. The USA kept the trophy and Europe were already underdogs for two years later ( September 24).

1983
At long last, after 132 years, the name America's Cup became a misnomer. USA had held the trophy since it was introduced in 1851, and they had no intention of letting it slip now: the skipper of their boat Liberty was the 'unbeatable' Dennis Connor, who'd won the race in 1974 and 1980. Against him, John Bertrand skippered Australia II, with its revolutionary fin-keel which caused all kinds of protests in the States. Revolutionary but not Cup-winning, or so it seemed after the first two races here in Newport, Rhode Island: various bits of the boat malfunctioned, leaving the Australians 2-0 down in the best-of-seven series. They won the third race but lost the fourth, and another challenge seemed to be over. But Bertrand was a helluva helmsman, and the winged keel began to do its work. For the first time in its history, the event needed a sixth race - then a seventh as Australia II levelled at three-all. The decider was appropriately close and dramatic. Twice Bertrand went looking for wind he couldn't find, leaving Connor to open up leads of thirty seconds and a full minute. Twice Bertrand drew level. A mile from the finish, a desperate Connor made a huge tack off course. Bertrand went after him - then turned and sent his faster boat into a sprint for the line. He took the race, the series, and America's invincibility, by 41 seconds. Connor won the Cup back four years later and kept it in 1988, but that's too late; the tag will always be there: the first American to lose the America's Cup.

1970
One of Britain's finest boxers won a world title. Scotland's Ken Buchanan was always willing to travel abroad: that's where the money was. If you boxed at the lower weights, your earnings in Britain didn't match those in Latin America, the USA, or the Far East. None of Buchanan's world title fights were in Europe, including the first today. To become WBA lightweight champion, he had to face a Panamanian in Puerto Rico - and embarrass his own board of control. The WBC and the British had stopped recognising Ismael Laguna as champion for allegedly breaking a contract to fight the man he took the title from. So they couldn't sanction Buchanan's challenge. But that was their problem, not our Ken's. He wasn't given much chance against Laguna, who'd first won the title in 1965 - and Buchanan ended the 15 rounds with a swollen face, cut eye, and gashed nose. But he fought his usual fight, full of brilliant left jabs with the right hand coming over the top, and he was strong in the last four rounds despite horrible heat and humidity. The referee gave Laguna the verdict, but the two judges narrowly disagreed. Buchanan was the first British boxer to win a world lightweight title since Freddie Welsh in 1914. Even the British board had to recognise the fact. He retained the title in two fights in the USA, including one against Laguna, before going back there to defend it against an all-time great who on his way up ( June 26, 1972).

1861
Back to golf - and Old Tom Morris winning the British Open for the first time. In the inaugural tournament the year before, he'd finished second to Willie Park senior (17 October). Today their positions were reversed. The tournament consisted of three rounds of 12 holes each, played on the same day, and Park shot 54 in each of the first two to lead by two shots. But Morris made 53 in the third while Park slumped to 59. Old Tom was already 40 by then. Six years later, he became the oldest ever winner of the Open (24 September).

1981
Serena Williams was born in Michigan. When Venus Williams was creating shock waves as a teenager, the tennis world didn't believe the rumour that her little sister was even better. But sure enough, Serena was the first to win a Grand Slam singles title ( September 11, 1999) - and the 2010 Wimbledon title was her 13th in Grand Slam singles events, by which time Venus had won seven and never the French or Australian, where she lost finals to Serena. The sisters' power game also brought them the Olympic doubles title in 2000 and 2008.

1988
A busy day's track and field at the Olympic Games.

In the women's javelin, Britain's Fatima Whitbread improved on her bronze medal from 1984 but couldn't come within four metres of East Germany's Petra Felke despite reaching 70.32. In the two years before this, Felke had finished second to Whitbread at the European and World Championships, but she'd recently become the first woman to throw 80 metres ( September 9), and here in Seoul she had the three longest throws in the competition. Whitbread never won an Olympic gold.

The men's 800 metres final was an exciting race full of top runners. Entering the final turn, Peter Elliott of Britain tried to overtake Brazil's Joaquim Cruz, who'd beaten Seb Coe to win gold four years earlier ( August 6). But Cruz held him off and Elliott finished a gutsy fourth. Coming into the home straight, Cruz seemed about to successfully defend the title, only for Paul Ereng of Kenya to slip past on the inside. Famous Moroccan Said Aouita, the reigning champion at 5,000 metres, did well to win bronze but fell short in his attempt to show how great his range was.

On the same day, Aouita's young countryman Moulay Brahim Boutaib was a surprise winner of the men's 10,000 metres. He led by 40 metres at the bell and set an Olympic record of 27 minutes 21.46 seconds despite walking across the line.

Carl Lewis won the long jump for the second time. Champion from 1984, today he jumped in the final only an hour after competing in the heats of the 200 metres. So he made his first attempt a big one (8.71 metres), and added another centimetre in the fourth round. He beat Mike Powell into second place for the first time on his way to winning the event four times.

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