Stars Stripes

Stars Stripes

The Ryder Cup: Golf's Multi-National All-Star Game

The Ryder Cup:  Golf's Multi-National All-Star Game

Although the origins of golf are distinctly in Great Britain, America has adopted the game as its own . Golf is one of the most popular sports in America contested at every level from primary school through Universities. TV coverage and multi-billion dollar sports sponsorships have made it one of the  America's richest professional games.

Organized tournaments between British and American golfers  began as early as 1921. The Walker Cup started in 1922 and still pits the best amateur golfers  of Britain against America in a bi-annual match. The Ryder Cup, also contested every other year was originally a match between Great Britain and America.

Samuel Ryder, according to a London newspaper report from 1925,  is the person who proposed an annual competition between British and American professionals.   The idea took hold in 1926 before The British Open and then the rules and format  were established in what has become one of golf's most storied traditions.  Ryder, a multi-millionaire who had made his fortune by selling seeds, championed  this annual competition between British and American professionals.  An avid golfer and a businessmen, Samuel Ryder  commissioned a trophy for the competition in 1926 - what came to be the actual Ryder Cup itself.  The first "Official " match was in 1927. The Americans did not win a match on British grass until  ten years later.  With the outbreak of World War II, The Ryder Cup was suspended from 1939-45, and the U.S. retained the trophy from its 1937 victory.  The Ryder Cup was interrupted for the second time in history following the September 11, 2001, attack upon America.   The 2001 Ryder Cup was rescheduled to the following year in 2002, with all future competitions conducted in even-numbered years.

The  Ryder Cup matches,  format and duration, have changed over the years, evolving to the current configuration: fourball and foursomes matches on the first two days, followed by singles matches on the third day, all 18 holes in length.   Each team is made up of 12 Players. The EU Team:

• Top 4 players from World Points list
• Five highest-ranking players on European Tour list not already qualified via the World Points
• Three captain's selections

Team USA:

• Top 8 players from the American points list
• Four captain's selections

The unique format , designed for the top Pro players in the World,   changed  but more notably the make-up of the Teams themselves are much different than originally intended.

The major change was expanding selection procedures to include players from the European Tournament Players' Division.  The introduction of players from continental Europe into The Ryder Cup fold in 1979 marked a new chapter in the history of the biennial competition and after years of U.S. domination.  The U.S. had won all but one outing from 1959 to 1977, the exception being the tied match in 1969 at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. The changes in team selection procedure were approved by descendants of the Ryder family along with The PGA of America.

Rally Around The Flag Boys

The Ryder Cup is the only sporting event that takes place under the EU Flag.

The Flag of Europe was created in 1955 and adopted by the European Union in 1986. Contrary to what some think, the number of stars never represented a number of countries, but instead 12 is a mathematical symbol of perfection and unity, as is a circle. The EU Flag was incorporated into the Ryder Cup Logo and now stands for a unified front  against America's invasion of a UK invention.   The plan has worked beautifully for The Ryder Cup, television rights, merchandising  and sports coverage with the overall  Ryder Cup matches pretty much in a tie since 1979.

While the EU Flag might not instill the Patriotism and pride to Britons that the Stars and Stripes does for the Americans it does represent a great match up in the great game of golf.

Ryder Cup Future Venues

2012 Ryder Cup

Medinah Country Club
Medinah, Illinois, U.S.A.

2014 Ryder Cup

Gleneagles (PGA Centenary Course)
Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland, U.K.

2016 Ryder Cup

Hazeltine National Golf Club
Chaska, Minnesota, U.S.A.

2018 Ryder Cup

TBA

2020 Ryder Cup

Whistling Straits (Straits Course)
Kohler, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

http://www.rydercup.com/2010/europe/

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Kelly Sallaway is a Scottsdale, Arizona based writer currently on assignment in the United Kingdom.

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John P. Sousa - The Stars and Stripes forever (New York Philharmonic, Bernstein)