4 June 1926: Samuel Ryder’s first US v GB golf match

On this day in 1926 businessman and golf fanatic Samuel Ryder organised a match between British and American golfers - the precursor to the Ryder Cup.

Ben Judge
By
published
in Features

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Participants in the precursor to the Ryder Cup

Preston-born Samuel Ryder made his fortune from selling seeds via mail order for a penny a packet. He rose to become a prominent local figure, serving as a magistrate and mayor of his adopted home of St Albans.

By the age of 49 his health was failing and a friend suggested taking up golf to get some gentle exercise and fresh air. He was soon hooked, and joined his local club. Within two years, he was captain.

He became a considerable patron of the game, andwas perturbed by the number of American pro-golfers who would arrive every year for the Open Championship, to routinely beat the local talent and swan back over the Atlantic with the Claret Jug. So he decided to set up a challenge match between the two nations' golfers, in the hopes of stirring up the British a little.

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And so on 4 June 1926, he funded a match at Wentworth between British and American professionals. The British won 13 to 1 .

He was so pleased with the way the competition turned out that he decided to formalise it, and had a £300 solid-gold trophy made. A year later, the first official Ryder Cup' match took place at the Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts.

The Ryder Cupis unusual in that the players receive no prize money. And for years, it operated at a loss, only breaking even in 1985. Since then, however, it has gone from strength to strength, making millions for the governing bodies of US and European golf largely on the back of extremely lucrative TV deals.

Ben Judge
Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.

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