|  Captains
Teams
Accommodation
Course
Sponsors
History
Media
Tour operators
Andalucia
Visitor's
book
Notebook
Biographies
| | Some
have golf immortality thrust on them by reason of their skills at the game, others
gain it by their powers of administration while others such as Samuel Ryder are
remembered by the simple act of presenting a trophy to be played for by nations.
Samuel Ryder began his working life in the family corn chandler's business in
Manchester and it appears he was a bright young lad. One day he came up with the
suggestion that instead of selling seeds by the weight why not sellthem in penny
packets? Nobody, he argued, could resists such a bargain. The older members of
the family thought differently, so Samuel sticking to his guns, packed his bags
and set up his own business in St Albans.
It was a venture that was immediately
succesful and Ryder's penny packets of flower and vegetable seeds became all the
rage. Soon he was known as a successful business man and in those days, as it
is today, successful business men join golf clubs. Samuel Ryder became a member
of Verulam Golf Club, and by all accounts became very keen on the game.
He
was a great enthusiast and he all but idolised the Great Man of the day, Abe Mitchell.
So much so that he appointed Mitchell as his personal professional. One could
say he was the first man to sponsor a professional and that Abe was the first
sponsored professional.
In 1921 there had been a match at Gleneagles between
British and American professionals which was won by the home team, the margin
being 9 matches to 3. Then in 1926 there was another match this time at Wentworth
and again this resulted in a win for Great Britain - 13 matches to 1.
It was
natural, therefore, that there was talk of such matches becoming a feature of
professional golf, and Samuel Ryder agreed to give a trophy for such contests.
Unfortunately nobody at that time asked Mr Ryder, the now wealthy golf enthusiast,
to endow the gift.
He died in 1936 at the age of 77.
That is why there
have been times such as in 1947 when the continuance of the Matches was in jeopardy,
because of the lack of funds on the part of the British Professional Golfers'
Association owing to the Second World War. Fortunately an American benefactor,
Robert Hudson of Portland, Oregon came to the rescue.
Once the idea that Samuel
Ryder was going to present a gold trophy became talked about no time was lost
and the first match was played at Worcester, Mass, on the 3rd and 4th of June
1927.
Not unnaturally, perhaps, Abe Mitchell was appointed the British captain,
but sad to relate he was never a robust man, and he was taken ill on the boat
train to Southampton and had to be left behind with Ted Ray taking over the captaincy.
The result of the match was one which was to become familiar in those early days
of the Ryder Cup, a win for the United States.
In the beginning the Great
Britain team relied on contributions from clubs and for the first match £3,000
was raised to send the team on the liner Acquitania. Today the star-studded teams
travel in luxury on supersonic flights across the Atlantic.
Samuel Ryder's
gold trophy however, has always been a showpiece of professional golf and has
recorded some of the most memorable displays of matchplay from the most revered
names in the sport.
Names such as Ben Hogen, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold
Palmer, Jack Nicklaus. Lee Trevino and Tom Watson from America and their counterparts
from Great Britain such as Neil Coles, Bernard Hunt, Peter Alliss and his father
Percy, Dai Rees, Tony Jacklin, Peter Oosterhuis, Nick Faldo Sandy Lyle, Bernard
Langer, Ian Woosnam and the two Spanish heroes, Severiano Ballesteros and Jose-Maria
Olazabal.
The composition of the matches has changed several times since its
inception in 1927. Today the matches are the same format that was introduced in
1979 which mixes fourball and 4 foursomes on each day of the first two days, with
12 singles matches on the final day, making a total of 28 points to be played
for.
Initally it was played for between teams make up from Great Britrain
and America but in 1973 Ireland was invited to join the team from Great Britain
and then in 1979 the team included top Europeans, Antonio Garrido and Severiano
Ballesteros.
Today the Ryder Cup is a celebrity event where personal triumph
is surpassed by team spirit and nationalistic pride. |
