It’s official: the Summer holidays are over and we are back! To celebrate, we’ve brought out our new catalogue . It captures some famous sporting moments, such as Botham in 1981, Laker in 1956, England football in 1966,the West Indies cricket team in 2003 and a signed (by James Hunt himself, Graham Hill, Tony Brise, Denny […]
It’s surprising to learn that John Astley Cooper first proposed what has become the Commonwealth Games in 1891: 5 years before the Modern Olympics. The plan was to hold a sports competition every four years “as a means of increasing goodwill and understanding of the British Empire”. Committees were set up throughout the Empire to […]
A bit of Ryder Cup History
We’re eagerly awaiting the start of this year’s Ryder Cup. We’ve been testing ourselves – and failing – on what we know about its history. So we did a bit of digging and here’s what we found:
Samuel Ryder originally sponsored the Ryder Cup after watching a friendly transatlantic match at Wentworth in 1926. Ryder was a workaholic, cricket-mad businessman, who had taken up golf at the age of 50 to try and relax a little more. He loved the game and decided to sponsor a formal, professional golf tournament between a team of Americans and Brits. He commissioned a 19 inch gold chalice from jewellers, Mappin and Webb, for £300.00.
Walter Hagen was the first American captain in 1927. JH Taylor was the British captain. Taylor, like Hagen, is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. Taylor and the British team are seen here with the Oxford team. Taylor’s son, Jack was on the Oxford team:
First British Ryder Cup Team, 1927, along with the Oxford golf team
Sadly, 1927 was not to be Britain, JH Taylor’s – or Samuel Ryder’s year. Walter Hagen was the first winning captain to lift the Ryder Cup. The Americans won convincingly: 9 1/2 to 2 1/2. Samuel Ryder was not able to attend the tournament due to ill health. He did, however, live to see Britain reclaim the Ryder Cup twice on home soil: in 1929 and 1933. Samuel Ryder died in 1936, buried with his favourite 5 iron. A passionate golfer to the end!
