History of the Ryder Cup
These days, there’s only one hot topic in golf and that is the Ryder Cup as news about the European team is out into the open. Moreover, the American team is under the scanner as well. With breathtaking resorts and serene locations, the Ryder Cup is scheduled
to take place in Wales from October 1st to the 3rd. But how exactly did the Ryder Cup start and what’s the history behind this major biennial event?
To start of, this tournament is a golf competition between teams from the United States and Europe. This is a communally sponsored event between the PGA America Tour and the PGA European Tour which is held in countries located in Europe or in varying states
in America.
The official ‘birth’ of the competition came back in 1927. However, informal playoffs between the British and American golfers date back to a few years prior to 1927. Foursomes and single matches form segments of the cup since the beginning of the tournament.
The teams and the formats however changed over the years.
In 1921, American and British golf teams teed off in a series of matches at Gleneagles in Scotland. This occurred in 1921, which was right before the British Open at St. Andrews. The British team was victorious with a 9-3 score line. The first Walker Cup,
which was a platform for amateur players from America and Britain, took place a year after that.
Where the Walker Cup started for amateur players, there was discussion that something of this sort should be there for professional players as well. During those times, golf was equally popular among players in both the continents, hence there needed to
be something for them to compete against one another.
One London newspaper report from 1925 claimed that Samuel Ryder came up with the idea of a yearly competition between British and American professional golfers. Ryder himself was a passionate golfer and a businessman as well.
In a matter of just one year, his idea had actually become popular. Talk about the cup started increasing around Britain and the United States. By 1926, Ryder had even ordered for a trophy to be made for the competition.
In 1926, American golfers arrived in the United Kingdom for the British Open scheduled to take place at Wentworth. Under the captaincy of Ted Ray for the Britons and Walter Hagen for the Americans, Britain won the Open by an amazing score of 13 to 1.
Abe Mitchell who is an amazing British player was Samuel’s personal golf instructor for quite some time who was also supposed to be the player-captain of the first ever British Ryder Cup team. The Ryder Cup wasn’t really official in the 1925 tournaments.
Soon, these matches came to be regarded as ‘unofficial’. This was basically because most of the players on the American team weren’t really American. A controversy erupted on the issue that golfers should actually represent the country in which they were born
if they wanted to represent it. To make proper teams, captains decided to meet with Ryder.
After some debate, the first match was scheduled to be played in 1927 at the Worcester Country Club in Worcester Massachusetts.
In June, 1927 the British team left for the United States to make their first Ryder Cup appearance. The players went by boat. The teams were captained by Ray and Hagen once again. For the first time, Team USA won with a margin of 9.5 to 2.5. The first Ryder
Cup therefore went to the American team.
Ever since 1927, the Ryder Cup has been taking place on a biennial basis. With the trophies shifting back and forth between the two continents, this event has gripped the world of golf. The Ryder fever started in 1927 and hasn’t faded after so many decades.
Just like every other Ryder Cup, this one will be an exciting one to follow and fans are waiting to see who takes the Cup home in 2010.
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