Golfers have honoured the memory of a family whose name was given to one of sport’s most famous trophies.
The parents of Samuel Ryder, who founded the Ryder Cup between Europe and the USA are buried in a churchyard a mere chip shot away from the clubhouse at Ashton-on-Mersey Golf Club, in Sale.
Ryder grew up in Sale before moving to London, where he started his seed business.
Remembering the Ryder Legacy in Sale
On the eve of the biennial match between the two continents at Bethpage Black later this month, club members laid flowers at the grave of Samuel Ryder Snr and his wife Elizabeth to mark the family’s involvement in creating what has become golf’s biggest team competition.
The couple, who died in 1904, are buried at historic St Martin’s Church and archives discovered by local golf fans reveal Samuel Ryder Jr worked in his father’s nursery and seed merchant business in Sale, where he was also a Sunday school teacher.
The committed Christian had trained as a teacher at Owens College – now Manchester University – but failed to graduate due to ill health and worked initially as a shipping firm in the city.
Young Samuel then fell out with his father and the keen gardener moved to St Albans where he made his fortune selling penny packets of garden seed.
The Birth of the Ryder Cup
The entrepreneur founded an international golf competition in 1926, donating a gold trophy which was known as the Ryder Cup and which today is recognised as one of the world’s biggest sports events.
He died 10 years later and was buried in St Albans.
Ashton-on-Mersey member Ken Wilkes said:
The grave has become somewhat neglected, so Ryder Cup year seemed an appropriate time for a tidy-up.
Armed with trowel and pruners to attack the brambles, Ken and office manager Jessica Barlow set to work to restore the grave.
The first few matches between the professional golfers of Great Britain and America in 1926 were played at Wentworth, Surrey. However as many of the American team consisted of British nationals who had travelled to live in the USA, the competition result was declared immaterial.
In 1927 the first ‘proper’ Ryder Cup competition was held in America.
The Ryder Cup starts on September 26 this year, with Europe looking to retain the trophy they won in Rome in 2023.
