Tag Archives: golf

Opinion: The Ryder Cup is symbolic – Europe is stronger together – and it’s more entertaining

By Antony Hook | Tue 2nd October 2012 - 5:45 pm

The 2012 Ryder Cup involved a classic sporting comeback and a heart-stopping close finish. Team Europe came from kilometres behind to beat the USA 14.5 to 13.5.

The Ryder Cup is one of those sporting events, like football’s World Cup or the Olympic athletics, that interests people who normally take little notice of sport.

I think the interest in such big events is because:

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged ryder cup | 8 Comments

The Ryder Cup – celebrating a Liberal invention

By Sara Bedford | Tue 5th October 2010 - 10:56 am

Whilst the nation celebrated Europe’s triumph and the champagne flowed at Celtic Manor, few people will have realised that the Ryder Cup was introduced by a Liberal politician.

Sam Ryder was an entrepreneur and golfing enthusiast, who built his fortune by selling garden seeds in small ‘penny packets’ to ordinary households. A keen amateur golfer, with a single figure handicap, Ryder proposed a tournament between British and American golfers, with a trophy manufactured by the jewellers Mappin and Webb at a cost of 250 guineas. The first official match for …