The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman Samuel Ryder who donated the trophy, and it is jointly administered by the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe, the latter a joint venture of the PGA European Tour (60%), the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (20%), and the PGAs of Europe (20%).
Initially contested between Great Britain and the United States, the first official Ryder Cup took place in the United States in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts. The home team won the first five contests. After World War II, repeated American dominance led to an extension of the team from Great Britain and Ireland to include the rest of Europe, beginning in 1979.
Since 2000, Europe has won nine of the twelve Ryder Cups held.
In the Ryder Cup, competing professionals receive no prize money. The Ryder Cup was held in odd-numbered years until 1999, but it then moved to even years in 2002 after being postponed in 2001 due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It moved back to odd years again in 2021, after the 2020 event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Founding of the Cup
Gleneagles 1921
On 27 September 1920, Golf Illustrated wrote a letter to the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) of America suggesting that a team of 12 to 20 American professionals be chosen to play in the 1921 Open Championship, to be financed by popular subscription. The idea was that of James D. Harnett, who worked for the magazine. At that time, no American golfer had won the Open Championship. The PGA of America replied positively and announced the idea in the November 1920 issue. The fund was called the British Open Championship Fund. By the following spring, the idea had been firmed up. A team of 12 would be chosen, who would sail in time to play in a warm-up tournament at Gleneagles, the Glasgow Herald 1000 Guinea Tournament, before the Open at St Andrews two weeks later. The team was chosen by the PGA of America's president and secretary, George Sargent and Alec Pirie, with the assistance of United States Golf Association Vice-president Robert Gardner. A team of 11 sailed with James Harnett from New York on the RMS Aquitania on 24 May 1921.
The idea for a 12-man international match between the American and Great Britain professionals was reported in The Times on 17 May, with James Douglas Edgar being reported as the probable 12th player. The match would be played at Gleneagles on Monday 6 June, the day before the start of the 1000 Guinea Tournament. With Great Britain's Jim Barnes indisposed, the match became a 10-man contest. The match consisted of five foursomes in the morning and 10 singles in the afternoon, played on the King's Course. The match was won by Great Britain by nine matches to three, with three matches halved.
The British team was: George Duncan (captain), James Braid, Arthur Havers, Abe Mitchell, James Ockenden, Ted Ray, James Sherlock, J.H. Taylor, Josh Taylor, and Harry Vardon. The American team was: Emmet French (captain), Clarence Hackney, Walter Hagen, Charles Hoffner, Jock Hutchison, Tom Kerrigan, George McLean, Fred McLeod, Bill Mehlhorn and Wilfrid Reid. Gold medals were presented by Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, to each member of the teams at the conclusion of the Glasgow Herald tournament on Saturday.
Wentworth 1926
In 1926, American professional golfers traveled to Britain to compete in the that year's Open. In February, it was announced that Hagen would select a team of four American professionals including himself to play four British professionals in a match before the Open Championship. The match would be a stroke-play competition over 18 holes. In April, Samuel Ryder would be presenting a trophy "for annual competition between British and American professionals." with the first match to be played on 4 and 5 June "but the details are not yet decided", and then in May it was announced that the match would be a match-play competition, 8-a-side, foursomes on the first day, singles on the second. Eventually, at Hagen's request, 10 players competed for each team. Samuel Ryder (together with his brother James) had sponsored a number of British professional events starting in 1923.
The match resulted in 13–1 victory for the British team (one match was halved). The American point was won by Bill Mehlhorn with Emmet French being all square. Medals were presented to the players by the American ambassador Alanson B. Houghton.
The match was widely reported as being for the "Ryder Cup". However Golf Illustrated for 11 June states that because of uncertainty following the general strike in May, which led to uncertainty about how many Americans would be visiting Britain, Samuel Ryder had decided to withhold the cup for a year. It has also been suggested that because Walter Hagen chose the American team rather than the American PGA, that only those Americans who had travelled to Britain to play in the Open were available for selection and that it contained a number of players born outside the United States, also contributed to the feeling that the match ought to be regarded as unofficial. In addition the Americans "had only just landed in England and were not yet in full practice."
The British team was: Ted Ray (Captain), Aubrey Boomer, Archie Compston, George Duncan, George Gadd, Arthur Havers, Herbert Jolly, Abe Mitchell, Fred Robson and Ernest Whitcombe. The American team was: Walter Hagen (Captain), Tommy Armour, Jim Barnes, Emmet French, Joe Kirkwood, Fred McLeod, Bill Mehlhorn, Joe Stein, Cyril Walker and Al Watrous. While all ten of the British players subsequently played in the Ryder Cup only three of the Americans did (Hagen, Mehlhorn and Watrous). Armour, Barnes, Kirkwood, McLeod and Walker were excluded by the policy of requiring players to be born in the USA while French and Stein were never selected.
Worcester 1927
The 1927 competition was organized on a much more formal basis. A Ryder Cup "Deed of Trust" was drawn up formalising the rules of the contest, while each of the PGA organisations had a selection process. In Britain, Golf Illustrated launched a fund to raise £3,000 to fund professional golfers to play in the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup. Ryder contributed £100 and, when the fund closed with a shortfall of £300, he made up the outstanding balance himself. Although not in the rules at that time, the American PGA restricted their team to those born in the United States.
In early 1928 it became clear that an annual contest was not practical and so it was decided that the second contest should be in 1929 and then every two years thereafter.
Eligibility
The Deed of Trust allows each the respective PGAs to decide their teams and any questions of eligibility.
For the 1929 contest at Moortown Golf Club, Leeds, UK, the American PGA again restricted their team to those born in the USA, but in late 1929 the Deed of Trust was revised requiring all players to be born and resident in their respective countries, as well as being members of their respective Professional Golfers' Association.
Although the initial Deed of Trust referred to the British PGA team as "representing Great Britain", members from outside Great Britain subsequently played: Aubrey Boomer from Jersey in 1929, Herbert Jolly from Guernsey in 1931, and players from Northern Ireland beginning with Fred Daly in 1949. In the early 1950s, the British PGA created a united division for players from the island of Ireland, and players from the Republic of Ireland became eligible, beginning in 1953 with Harry Bradshaw. The Deed of Trust changed the team name to "Great Britain and Ireland" in 1973 in recognition of the latter change.
Beginning in 1979, players from all of Europe have been eligible to play, representing "Team Europe". The change to include all Europeans arose from discussion in 1977 between Jack Nicklaus and Edward Stanley, 18th Earl of Derby, who was serving as the president of the Professional Golfers' Association, as a means to make the matches more competitive, since the Americans almost always won, and often by lopsided margins. From the resumption of competition in 1947 to 1977, Great Britain and Ireland had only managed one win and one tie. The change worked, as the contests soon became much more competitive, with talented young Europeans such as Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer bolstering the European side. The present-day popularity of the Ryder Cup, which now generates enormous media attention, can be said to date from that change in eligibility.
Prior to the 2002 Ryder Cup, the PGA of America changed its eligibility rules, extending eligibility for Team USA to all individuals born with U.S. citizenship, plus those who acquired U.S. citizenship before age 18.
As of June 2024, the International Golf Federation's nationality policy recognises fifty countries whose golfers are eligible to compete for Europe at the Ryder Cup. This includes all members of the European Golf Association except Kosovo, plus non-members Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
Format
The Ryder Cup involves various match play competitions between players selected from two teams of 12. It takes place from a Friday to a Sunday with 28 matches being played over 18 holes. On Friday and Saturday, there are four fourball matches and four foursomes matches each day, four matches in the morning and four matches in the afternoon. On Sunday, there are 12 singles matches when all team members play. Not all players must play on Friday and Saturday. The captain can select any eight players for each of the sessions.
The winner of each match scores a point for his team, with half a point each for any match that is tied after the 18 holes. The winning team is determined by cumulative total points. In the event of a tie, the Ryder Cup is retained by the defending champion.
A foursomes match is a competition between two teams of two golfers. On each hole, the golfers on the same team alternate shots playing the same ball. One team member tees off on odd-numbered holes and the other on even-numbered holes. Each hole is won by the team that completes the hole in the fewest shots.
A fourball match is a competition between two teams of two golfers. Each golfer plays his own ball throughout the round. Each team's score is determined by the better score of the two golfers on the team.
A singles match is a standard match play competition between two golfers.
The format of the Ryder Cup has changed over the years. From the inaugural event until 1959, the Ryder Cup was a two-day competition with 36-hole matches. In 1961, the matches were changed to 18 holes each and the number of matches doubled. The event was expanded to three days in 1963, with fourball matches being played for the first time. This format remained until 1977, when the number of matches was reduced to 20. In 1979, the first year continental European players participated, the format was changed to the 28-match version in use today, with eight foursomes/four-ball matches on the first two days and 12 singles matches on the last day.
The team size was increased from 10 to 12 in 1969.
There were two singles sessions, morning and afternoon, in 1979, but no player played in both sessions.
Since 1979, there have been four foursomes and four fourballs on each of the first two days. The home captain decides before the contest begins which matches will be played in the morning and which will be played in the afternoon. He may choose a different order for the two days. A player can play a maximum of five matches (two foursomes, two fourballs and a singles match). Between 1963 and 1975, it was possible to play two foursomes, two fourballs and two singles matches.
Team composition
Captains
The captains have always selected the players and chosen the playing order in each group of matches. When the contest involved 36-hole matches, it was usual for the captain to be one of the players. The USA only had two non-playing captains in this period: Walter Hagen in 1937 and Ben Hogan in 1949 while Great Britain had non-playing captains in 1933, 1949, 1951 and 1953. With the change to 18-hole matches and the extension to three days, it became more difficult to combine the roles of captain and player and Arnold Palmer in 1963 was the last playing captain. The captains have always been professional golfers and the only captain who never played in the Ryder Cup was J. H. Taylor, the 1933 British captain.
Qualification and selection
The selection process for the Ryder Cup players has varied over the years. In the early contests the teams were generally decided by a selection committee but later qualification based on performances was introduced. The current system by which most of the team is determined by performances with a small number of players selected by the captain (known as "wild cards" or "captain's picks") gradually evolved and has been used by both sides since 1989.
For the 2014 Ryder Cup both teams had 9 players qualifying based on performances with the remaining 3 players selected by the captain. For those players gaining automatic qualification the Europeans used a system, introduced in 2004, using two tables; one using prize money won in official European Tour events and a second based on World Ranking points gained anywhere in the world. Both tables used a 12-month qualifying period finishing at the end of August. The American system, introduced in 2008, was based on prize money earned in official PGA Tour events during the current season and prize money earned in the major championships in the previous season. The qualifying period ended after the PGA Championship.
For the 2016 Ryder Cup there were a number of changes from 2014 in the American system. The number of captain's picks was increased from three to four with the selections being made later than previously, especially moving the fourth and last pick to less than a week before the Ryder Cup, right after the completion of the Tour Championship. The qualifying events now included both the 2015 World Golf Championships events and The Players Championship, on top of the four major championships, but only included 2016 PGA Tour events actually played in 2016, thus excluded any other event played in 2015. The qualifying period was also extended because the Olympic Games had moved the timeslot for the 2016 PGA Championship which took place already at the end of July. Team Europe retained its old system of qualification and wild cards.
Notable Ryder Cups
1969: Nicklaus vs Jacklin
The 1969 Cup held at Royal Birkdale was perhaps one of the best and most competitive contests in terms of play (18 of the 32 matches went to the last green). It was decided in its very last match, of which United States Captain Sam Snead later said "This is the greatest golf match you have ever seen in England".
With the United States and Great Britain tied at 15+1⁄2 each, Jack Nicklaus led Tony Jacklin by the score of 1 up as they played the 17th hole. Jacklin made a 35-foot eagle putt and when Nicklaus missed his own eagle try from 12 feet, the match was all square.
At the par-5 finishing hole, both Jacklin and Nicklaus got on the green in two. Nicklaus ran his eagle putt five feet past the hole, while Jacklin left his two feet short. Nicklaus then sank his birdie putt, and with a crowd of 8,000 people watching, picked up Jacklin's marker, conceding the putt Jacklin needed to tie the matches. As the current holders, the rules meant that the United States retained the trophy. "I don't think you would have missed that putt", Nicklaus said to Jacklin afterwards, "but in these circumstances I would never give you the opportunity."
This gesture of sportsmanship by Nicklaus caused controversy on the American side, some of whom would have preferred to force Jacklin to attempt the putt for the small chance that he might miss, which would have given the United States team an outright win. "All the boys thought it was ridiculous to give him that putt", said Sam Snead. "We went over there to win, not to be good ol' boys."
1989: Azinger and Ballesteros
Held at The Belfry in England, the 1989 Ryder Cup saw the rising of tensions in the series. After holding the cup for more than two decades, the United States team lost both the 1985 and 1987 matches. At the 1989 matches, the pressure was on the United States team and its captain, Raymond Floyd. At a pre-match opening celebration, Floyd slighted the European team by introducing his United States team as "the 12 greatest players in the world."
The competition saw the beginnings of a feud between Seve Ballesteros and Paul Azinger. Early in their singles match, Ballesteros sought to change a scuffed ball for a new ball under Rule of Golf 5–3. Somewhat unusually, Azinger disputed whether the ball was unfit for play. A referee was called, and sided with Azinger in ruling the ball fit for play. Ballesteros reportedly said to Azinger, "Is this the way you want to play today?" The match continued in a contentious fashion, culminating in Ballesteros unusually contesting whether Azinger took a proper drop after hitting into the water on the 18th hole.
The American team's frustration grew as the matches ended in a tie, with the European team retaining the cup.
1991: "The War on the Shore"
The overall tension between the teams and the feud between Ballesteros and Azinger escalated at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in 1991. At the ceremonial opening dinner, the PGA of America played two videos that were seen as less than hospitable by the European team. The first video was presented as a highlight reel of past Ryder Cups, but reportedly showed only Americans. The second video was a welcoming address by then-United States President George H. W. Bush in which he closed by cheering on the American side.
On the first morning of the competition, Azinger and Chip Beck were paired against Ballesteros and José María Olazábal in a foursomes match, an alternate shot event. Azinger and Beck accused Ballesteros of gamesmanship on account of his throat clearing during Beck's shots. Later in the same match, Azinger and Beck, who were playing the same brand and make of ball but each with a slightly different model, switched their balls. While this switching was unlikely to have resulted in an advantage or to have been intentional, it was in violation of the "one ball rule" which was in effect for the competition. Under that rule, a player is prohibited from changing the type of ball he uses during the course of a match.
A few holes after the switch had occurred, Ballesteros called the Americans for the violation. Azinger, seeming to feel that his integrity was being questioned, said "I can tell you we're not trying to cheat." Ballesteros responded, "Oh no. Breaking the rules and cheating are two different things." As the violation was called too long after it had occurred, no penalty was assessed against the American pair. The constant goading between Ballesteros and Azinger intensified their respective desires to win. Out of that intensity, they and their playing partners produced what may be regarded as one of the best pairs matches in history, with the Spaniards winning 2 & 1. After the matches concluded, Ballesteros reportedly said, "The American team has 11 nice guys. And Paul Azinger."
The 1991 matches received the sobriquet "the War on the Shore" after some excitable advertising in the American media, and intense home-team cheering by the American home crowds. For his part, Corey Pavin caused controversy by sporting a Desert Storm baseball cap during the event in support of the U.S. and coalition war effort in Iraq.
The matches culminated in one of the single most dramatic putts in the history of golf. With only one match remaining to be completed, between Hale Irwin for the United States and Bernhard Langer for the Europeans, the United States team led by one point. Irwin and Langer came to the last hole tied. To win the cup, the American team needed Irwin to win or tie the match by winning or tying the hole. The Europeans could keep the cup with a win by Langer. Both players struggled on the hole, and found themselves facing a pair of putts; Langer had a six-foot, side-hill par putt, and Irwin had a generally uphill, 18-inch putt for bogey. To the surprise of his teammates, Langer conceded Irwin's bogey putt, leaving himself in a must-make position. Langer missed his putt, the match was halved, and the U.S. team took back the cup.
Players on both sides were driven to public tears by the pressure of the matches on the final day. The intense competition of the 1991 Ryder Cup is widely regarded as having elevated public interest in the series.
1999: Battle of Brookline
The 1999 Ryder Cup held at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, caused great controversy. A remarkable comeback by the American team helped propel the U.S. to a 141⁄2–131⁄2 victory after trailing 10–6 at the start of the final day. The U.S. defeated Europe 81⁄2–31⁄2 in the singles matches to seal the first American victory since 1993.