With the Ryder Cup approaching, and this week’s newsletter dipping into its history, it feels like a good time for a quick primer for anyone who’s never quite understood why grown men cry over a golf tournament nobody gets paid for.
It started with a seed merchant and a casual remark. In 1926, a British businessman named Samuel Ryder watched an informal match between American and British professionals at Wentworth and reportedly said, “We must do this again.” That’s it. That’s the origin story. A guy liked what he saw and said the golf equivalent of “let’s do this again sometime,” and somehow it became one of the most intense rivalries in sports.
The first official match was in 1927, at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts. The Americans won big, 9½ to 2½, using a format that’s still recognizable today : foursomes (alternate shot) on one day, singles matches on the other.
For decades, it was America against Great Britain, and it wasn’t close. The British side added Ireland in 1973, becoming “Great Britain & Ireland,” but the results barely budged. The Americans kept winning, year after year, so lopsidedly that people genuinely wondered if the whole event would just fade away from lack of drama.
Then, in 1979, everything changed. The competition expanded from just Great Britain & Ireland to include golfers from all of continental Europe, turning a mismatched rivalry into a genuine fight. It took a few more years for the new format to pay off, which brought us to this week’s Golf History section in the newsletter and 1985’s landmark European breakthrough. From that point forward, the Ryder Cup became must-watch television.
Today, it’s Europe versus the United States, biennially, with 12 players per side. Two days of foursomes and four-ball, one final day of singles, first team to 14½ points wins. No prize money changes hands. None is needed. The only thing on the line is pride, bragging rights, and occasionally a grown man’s ability to hold back tears on the 18th green.
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