The Ryder Cup, 1927-2008

Between 19 and 21 September teams representing the USA and Europe compete at the Valhalla golf club, Louisville, Kentucky, for the biennial Ryder Cup—golf’s most prestigious team competition.

The cup is named after Samuel Ryder, a Hertfordshire seed merchant and passionate amateur golfer who funded an international match between British and American professionals in 1926. In the following year he proposed a regular event between representatives of the British and American professional golfers' associations, for which he offered the Ryder Cup, a 100 guineas gold trophy. Prior to 1979 the cup was contested by two teams from the USA and from Britain and Ireland. Since 1979 the Americans have faced the challenge of a team from Europe.

To mark this year’s contest we offer two teams of great Ryder Cup players—past and present—drawn from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the American National Biography, and Who’s Who. The first two publications include players who died in or before 2004 while Who’s Who includes entries on living players. Simply click on a name to read more.

USA Ryder Cup greats European Ryder Cup greats Tommy Armour Peter Alliss Jimmy Demaret Severiano Ballesteros Leo Diegel Henry Cotton Walter Hagen Darren Clarke Ben Hogan Nick Faldo Phil Mickelson Tony Jacklin Jack Nicklaus Bernhard Langer Arnold Palmer Colin Montgomerie Gene Sarazan José Maria Olazábal Denny Shute Ted Ray Lanny Wadkins Dai Rees Tiger Woods John Henry Taylor

If you enjoyed this feature, you may also like our two further sporting galleries, marking the 2006 football World Cup and the 2006-07 Ashes cricket series between England and Australia.