It is difficult to decide how and when the Ryder Cup begun. The tale goes that an imaginative move by James Harnett in 1920, a representative for Golf Illustrated, who was desperate to attract readers, thought that a match between the USA and Great Britain would draw the readers.
The rivalry that Harnett wanted soon flowered as the PGA granted funds. Six years on and Americans were beginning to arrive early for the British Open to play at Wentworth for the informal match against British players. A one Samual Ryder, a successful seed merchant by trade was present in the galleries and met with the players afterwards in 1926.
Later that same evening in a pub, George Duncan, a member of the British winning team suggested formalising this increasingly popular America-British battle. Ryder enthusiastically agreed and proposed prize money "I'll give $5 to each of the winning players, and I'll give a party afterwards, with champagne and chicken sandwiches" he declared. Alongside that he provided the solid gold trophy, worth $250 pounds then. Its popularity snowballed from there.
The 2nd World War interrupted the bi-annual battle, and matches only commenced again in 1947 after a wealthy Oregon fruit grower and canner funded the British team given food rationing was still enforced.
The players then couldn't have dreamt of the supersonic speed they travel at now, as back in 1947 they took the Queen Mary ship to New York, followed by a 3-day train journey to Portland, only to be thrashed 11-1.
Britain lost 10 years on the trot, before winning at Lindrick in Yorkshire in 1957. The win was to be short lived, as 1959 witnessed a severe loss to Britain. This embarrassing blunder was explained by a flight from Los Angeles to Palm Springs carrying the British team that almost crashed and was forced to turn back to Los Angeles. The British team refused the next flight and endured an exhausting bus ride instead to leave them in a poor state to play golf.
Progress and change have been a feature of the Ryder Cup's 80 years. In 1973, players from the Republic of Ireland were permitted to join the British team. That year signaled the first time a match was played in Scotland.
By 1978, Jack Nicklaus was pioneering a change to improve the competitiveness by including players from the European Tournaments. The first Europeans to join the team were Antonio Garrido and the now infamous Seve Ballesteros. Seve's history in the Ryder Cup has gone from strength to strength having earned 191/2 points in 31 Ryder Cup Matches.
A variety of formats of play have been tried, tested and revised over the century.
Today the format is four four-ball and four foursome matches the first day, the same playing format for the second day and 12 singles matches scheduled for the third day. Total points available are 28.
Today the Ryder Cup is still about prestige not prize money. It is simply the best American Professionals against the finest British Professionals.
