Samuel Ryder and the Ryder Cup

Source:  Ryder Cup Diary
http://www.ryderdiary.com

This week the USA's best male professional golfers team up against Europe's best to play for the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club near Chicago.  You can read about the teams, the course, and formats to be played at the Ryder Cup web site, but this post is devoted to Samuel Ryder, after whom the contest is named.

Source:  St. Albans Museums
www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk

Samuel Ryder (1858-1936) was a successful English seed merchant in St. Albans (about 20 miles NW of London) whose pioneering business of selling seeds in packets by mail brought him wealth.  But by the time Ryder was in his late 40s, he was in poor health and exhausted from his rigorous work habits. When his doctor prescribed exercise and fresh air, Ryder took up golf on the suggestion of a minister friend.  Although Ryder had no prior interest in the game, he devoted considerable resources to learning it, having a 200-yard hole built in his back yard, hiring a private coach, and practicing six days a week.  By age 51 he was an accomplished player with a 6 handicap.

Source: GOLF.com Sports Illustrated
blogs.golf.com

Ryder was both an active amateur competitor and a promoter of professional competition.  In1926, at age 68, he was an enthusiastic spectator of an informal British and American pro team match held prior to the British Open at the Wentworth Golf Club.  Ryder's personal coach, Abe Mitchell, played in and helped organize that match.  Afterwards, Ryder commissioned a gold trophy to be the prize for a similar match to be held biennially between Great Britain and the United States, and the figure of the golfer at the top of the gold cup was modeled after his friend and instructor Abe Mitchell. The first official Ryder Cup match, played in 1927 in Worcester, Massachusetts, was won by the United States with Walter Hagen as captain.  After 1977 the Great Britain team was expanded to include European pros, because the matches had become one-sided with the United States having won all but three matches since 1927.

Addressing the British Ryder Cup team in 1931 before it headed to the U.S. for matches, Samuel Ryder said, "..it has been a source of pride and gratification to me that these matches have taken their place among the great sporting events of the world.  I hope I have done several things in my life for the benefit of my fellow men, but I am certain I have never done a happier thing than this."

Sources (Article titles link to full text in the library's ProQuest subscription database.  Your Lake Forest Library card # is required if accessing articles from outside the library.):

Armstrong, M.  A Special Thank You to Samuel Ryder. (Las Cruces Sun-News, Oct. 1, 2010)
Campbell, Malcolm. The New Encyclopedia of Golf. (DK, 2001)
Duffy, B.  Ryder Had Faith in His Idea.  (Boston Globe, Sep. 22, 1999)
Ryder, Samuel.  Fellow Golfers and Sportsmen. (Speech delivered in 1931, www.oldsportsauction.com)
Samuel Ryder St. Albans Trail: An Introduction. (St. Albans City and District Council, June 2010)