A Brief History of the Ryder Cup

Peter Ambrose has spent the last eight years heading operations at Merrill Lynch in McLean, Virginia, as the director of the northern Virginia region. When he is not managing the Merrill Lynch offices and financial advisors, Peter Ambrose likes to stay active playing golf.

The Ryder Cup is a biannual golfing competition, contested between European and American golf teams, which follows a traditional match play format. Established in 1927, it ranks as one of the oldest international sporting events in American history. Originally, the Ryder Cup only involved U.S. and British teams. Between 1927 and 1935, the respective teams took turns hosting the event every four years. For the first five contests, the hosting team won, until the U.S. broke the trend in 1937.

The Ryder Cup resumed after World War II in 1947. Over the next two decades, Great Britain and Ireland managed just one victory and one draw. The extensive period of American dominance resulted in the British team expanding to include all nations in continental Europe. Since that time, America has won the Ryder Cup on seven occasions and drawn once, compared to nine wins for Europe, including seven of the last nine competitions. The U.S. leads the overall series 25 to 13, with two draws.