Golf Clubs � Ryder Cup � Historical Background

If you're a golf enthusiast and enjoy swinging your golf clubs, you'll love watching the Ryder Cup.

The Ryder Cup is one of the last sporting events to be founded on reputation as opposed to prise money. The Ryder Cup began in 1927 and was played for the thirty-sixth time this year.

It is believed that the concept of the Ryder Cup was suggested in 1920 by a man called James Harnett who worked for a publication called Golf Illustrated. Harnett tried to attract readers by raising funds to pay expenses for a professional golf match between Great Britain and the USA , which eventually became the Ryder Cup. The first informal match was played at Gleneagles Golf Club in Scotland where the British beat the U.S team 9-3.

In a second unofficial match held in 1926 at Wentworth Golf Club, the Americans were again defeated by 13 ½ to 1 ½. A business entrepreneur and golf enthusiast called Samuel Ryder had been watching the match and afterwards he met with key British and American team members who suggested that Ryder provide a cup to encourage regular matches between both countries. Ryder agreed and commissioned a gold chalice which had his name and the name of his golf instructor, British golf star, Abe Mitchell, on the top of it.

The first official Ryder Cup was held in 1927 at the Worcester Country Club, Massachusetts where the United State's team beat Great Britain 9 ½ � 2 ½. This famous golf match was to set the president for many years to come.

Few amateurs who took up golf after their 50th birthday have left as many positive impressions upon the game as Samuel Ryder. Having made his fortune selling packets of seeds for a penny, Ryder finally took up golf after being advised to spend more time outdoors due to overworking. He enlisted Mitchell as his golf instructor who was considered one of the best players in the UK . Ryder practiced six days a week for a full year and eventually became a member of the Verulam Golf Club in 1910 with a six handicap.

Having watched the 1926 unofficial international match between the USA and the UK at Wentworth Golf Club, Ryder questioned why the golf players couldn't get to know each other better and pledged that he would give a £5 reward to the winning player and provide a post match party. There followed an appeal for £3,000 to finance the first British Ryder Cup Team. Unfortunately, the appeal fell £500 short, but Ryder donated the remainder of the money to achieve his goal.

Samuel Ryder served two terms as Mayor of St. Albans and lived to see two Ryder Cups held at golf clubs in his home country. While celebrating the holidays with his family in London , he died of a massive haemorrhage on January 2, 1936. He was 77. Ryder's passion for the game of golf lived on in his youngest daughter, Joan, who attended matches right up to the age of 81.

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