My Top 10 Ryder Cup Facts
Having been fortunate enough to hold the Ryder Cup, be on the course in Rome 2023, and even celebrate with Robert MacIntyre when he clinched the winning point I wondered if I might be slightly underwhelmed at the prospect of a Ryder Cup I could only watch on TV. How wrong I was.
Not even the over-hyping of the FedEx Cup in the USA could put me off: especially when Tommy Fleetwood warmed up for Bethpage by winning it all right under the noses of 2025 USA captain Keegan Bradley and 2023 no-hat-wearing villain Patrick Cantlay.
A 2pm work finish on the Friday of this year's event means no need to book holiday but the rest of the diary has been totally cleared. the five-hour time difference will mean some late nights but gives time to play in the mornings on the Saturday and the Sunday!
As a golf history nerd the fact that we're approaching the 100th anniversary in 2027 excites me, mainly because it gives me another reason to trot out my favourite top ten Ryder Cup facts!
1. Today's multi-million-dollar event is named after Samuel Ryder, the man who donated the trophy, who made his money fortune selling garden seeds in packets for one old penny.
2. This year's event should be the 100-year anniversary as the first international match featuring GB v USA golfers was played at Gleneagles in 1925. A year later Wentworth was the venue for what was supposed to be the first official Ryder Cup but the General Strike meant it was in doubt right up until the day it took place, so Samuel Ryder said he was holding onto the trophy for another 12 months until the teams travelled to Worcester, Massachusetts.
3. Of the first 25 competitions, Europe only won three and managed a tie in one more: there was talk of abandoning the matches altogether but we have the unlikely combination of Jack Nicklaus and the 18th Earl of Derby to thank for suggesting what had previously been Great Britain & Ireland be expanded to include all Europe to thank for making it competitive again.
4. Until 1959 all the matches were 36 holes: since then they have been 18 holes but with twice as many games.
5. Playing captains used to be the norm: now they're almost always non-playing. The only Captain never to have played in a match was JH Taylor in 1933.
6. There were no Ryder Cup matches played during WWII -"from 2001 to 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID.
7. The figure on top of the trophy is modelled on Abe Mitchell, who was Samuel Ryder's friend and golf coach. Walter Hagen, the first USA captain, had upset Mitchell in a challenge match and so Ryder got his revenge by placing Mitchell's likeness on the trophy.
8. Even when the USA wins they don't take the trophy home: they take a replica, and the original stays at the headquarters on the European Tour at Wentworth Club.
9. No left-handed golfer every took part in the Ryder Cup until Peter Dawson for GB&I in 1977: since then four more have taken part - Phil Mickleson, Brian Harman, Bubba Watson, and Robert MacIntyre.
10. 19-year-old Sergio Garcia was the youngest player to take part in a Ryder Cup, Raymond Floyd at 51 the oldest.
So bring on Sept 26th, although European fans watching on TV might be best off doing that with the sounds turned down...