The Ryder Cup is a biennial event, with this year’s contest, taking place between 28th-30th September marking the Cup’s 42nd edition.  The event will be staged in France for the first time in the event’s history. Le Golf National is located 20 miles southwest of central Paris. The Albatros is the main championship course, is 7,331 yards long with a par of 72. This is only the second time the competition has been held on continental Europe- until now UK and Irish courses have dominated.

17th

American golfer Scott William Simpson was born today in 1955 in San Diego, California, and played college golf at the University of Southern California, where he was two-time medallist at the NCAA Championship in 1976 and 1977. He turned professional in 1977 and graduated in 1978. He played on the PGA Tour from 1979, and won seven PGA Tour events between 1980 and 1998. The highlight of Simpson’s career was the US Open in 1987 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, his only major title. He birdied the 14th, 15th, and 16th holes of the final round to overtake Tom Watson by one stroke and finished with a three under par total of 277. Simpson became eligible to play senior golf in 2005 and won his first Champions Tour title in 2006. In team competition, Simpson played for the United States in the Walker Cup in 1977 and the Ryder Cup in 1987. He lists bible study among his interests and attributes his success to it. Simpson was previously a Democrat (during Bill Clinton’s presidency he was the only PGA Tour player vocally to support him), but became a Republican later on and supported George W. Bush.

 

18th

Robert John Toski, born Algustoski in 1926, is an American golfer and golf instructor. He was inducted into the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame in 2013.  He was born in Haydenville, Massachusetts of Polish descent, the eighth of nine children born to Walenty Algutoski and his wife Mary. He learned to play golf at Northampton Country Club, where he caddied and where two of his elder brothers, Jack and Ben, were assistant professionals. He joined the PGA Tour in 1949, his first win came in the Insurance City Open in 1953. Toski found stardom on the Tour despite weighing only 118 pounds. He was the smallest Tour player throughout his playing career and his combination of his small size and his driving prowess earned him the nickname “Mouse” from Sam Snead, a reference to the cartoon superhero Mighty Mouse popular at that time. Toski left the tour aged 30 so he could spend more time with his young family and took a series of jobs as a club professional, while still competing occasionally on the Tour. Later he found renewed fame as a leading golf coach, assisting tour pros such as World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Tom Kite and Judy Rankin as well as Australian star Bruce Crampton. He also wrote several golf instructional books,and made some of the earliest golf instruction videos. In the early 1980s he was a regular on NBC Sports golf telecasts. He worked as colour commentator with Hughes Sports Network golf telecasts in the 1970s. Toski began playing on the Senior PGA Tour (now Champions Tour) upon its formation in 1980. He left the Tour in January 1986 after he became involved in a controversy over how he marked his ball in a tournament  in Japan.  Fellow Senior PGA Tour player Gay Brewer stated that Toski improved his lie by marking it away from a spike mark near where his ball had come to rest on the green. Toski said that he had no recollection of any rules infraction. He returned in April 1986 and played several more years on the Tour.He was the first living instructor inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame, and he is also a member of the National Polish-American Hall of Fame.

 

19th

Clarkson Potter, born today in 1880 in Kansas City and was affiliated to the St Louis Country Club. Potter attended St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, and then graduated from Yale in 1901. He took part in the 1904 St Louis Olympics – right on his doorstep as it were, where he was 48th overall, not qualifying for the final stages of the tournament. He eventually became an investment banker in New York, first serving with the William R. Compton Bond and Mortgage Company in his native St. Louis. He did very well in investment banking and served on the board of directors of several prominent companies, including the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Corporation. In New York, he was a partner with Hayden Stone & Co. During World War I, Potter served as national assistant director of the War Loan Organization. He also had a younger golf playing brother called Henry, also known as Harry, who was won a silver in the same Olympics. Clarkson himself died aged 73 on 4th October 1953 in New York.

20th

Spanish golfer José Rivero, who was born today in 1955, started his golf career as a caddie and turned professional in 1973. He was a full member of the European Tour from 1983 to 2001 and he won four European Tour events. He made the top fifteen on the Order of Merit five times, including a best of tenth in 1988. Rivero was a member of the first two winning European Ryder Cup teams after the inclusion of Continental European players, at The Belfry in 1985 and Muirfield Village in 1987. He represented Spain in the Alfred Dunhill Cup and the World Cup on many occasions, winning the latter in 1984 in partnership with José Maria Cañizares. Rivero became eligible for senior golf in September 2005. He played four events on the European Senior Tour that year and placed in the top six in each of them. His first win as a senior came at the 2006 DGM Barbados Open.

 

21st

Edward Stewart “Porky” Oliver, Jr. died on this day in 1961.  He was born on September 6th 1915 in Wilmington, Delaware, Oliver started as a caddy at age 11 at Wilmington Country Club and turned pro at age 18. He earned his nickname because he stood 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) but weighed 240 pounds (109 kg). He won eight times on the PGA Tour in the 1940s and 1950s. Oliver was well known for finishing second in several major championships, but not letting it get him down. He lost to Ben Hogan in the finals of the 1946 PGA Championship, was runner-up to Julius Boros in the 1952 US Open, and to Hogan at the 1953 Masters. Oliver also finished in a tie with Lawson Little and Gene Sarazen at the 1940 US Open, but was disqualified because – during the final round, when the weather was about to take a turn and, in a bid, to beat the rain, Oliver’s group teed off before their scheduled time, the official starter was still having lunch. Even protests from Sarazen and Little – who thought Oliver should be able to compete in the play-off – couldn’t prevent his disqualification. Oliver played on three Ryder Cup teams (1947, 1951, and 1955). He lost several years of playing time while serving in the US Army during World War II.

 

22nd

I was unable to find any golfers from GB. Ireland, Europe or the US who were born or died on this day so i present a potted history of the Ryder Cup – The best place to start is perhaps with none other than Samuel Ryder himself. English seed merchant Ryder was a successful businessman and an avid golfer so he commissioned a trophy be made and then donated it in 1927 as the prize for the winning side in a proposed golf match between players from the United States and Great Britain. At the time, it cost about $400 dollars to make which today would be worth about $6,000 dollars. Created by the Mapping and Webb company, it was designed as a golden chalice and the man on top is believed to be Abe Mitchell, who was a friend of Ryder’s and also his personal golf instructor. Mitchell played in three Ryder Cups, in 1929, 1931 and 1933 in which Europe won two of the three. The cup itself is 17 inches in height and weighs only four pounds. The wooden base at the bottom has the scores of each event engraved onto it.
Ryder eventually gave the original trophy to the Professional Golfers Association of Great Britain. That trophy is housed at their headquarters in Britain. The trophy that actually gets awarded to winning teams today is a replica owned by the PGA of America, and there is also another replica that is used for promotional purposes.
There were two unofficial matches between professionals from Great Britain and the United States before the birth of The Ryder Cup in 1927, both won by the British. The first was played at Gleneagles in 1921 but the second of these, held at Wentworth in 1926. Ryder, who was present at Wentworth was enthralled by the match and particularly delighted to see Mitchell team up with George Duncan to defeat the defending Open Champion Jim Barnes and the great Walter Hagen. ‘We must do this again’, said Ryder in the bar afterwards and The Ryder Cup was born.
The first 22 Ryder Cup matches pitched Great Britain and Ireland against the United States, with the US winning 18, GB and Ireland three and one match, the famous 1969 contest, tied. In 1979, Europe entered the fray, with Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido becoming the first continental golfers to play in The Ryder Cup. In the subsequent 16 matches, Europe have won eight, the United States seven, with one match tied. The Ryder Cup has become one of the world’s greatest sporting contests as every two years 24 of the best players from Europe and the United States go head-to-head in match play competition. Drama, tension, incredible golf, camaraderie and sportsmanship are served in equal measure, captivating an audience of millions around the world. It’s an event that transcends sport, yet remains true to the spirit of its founder, Samuel Ryder.

 

23rd

British and Scottish golfer Walter Mathers Rutherford was born on this day in 1857 in Crailing in the Scottish Borders, the son of a well-known Borders farming family. Having initially attended the local school, he went to Madras College, St Andrews, as a boarder, where he took advantage of opportunities to play more golf. Thereafter, he spent 1873-74 at St Andrews’ University’s United College studying English, Latin and Greek after which he returned to farming at Crailing. Prior to the 1900 Olympics, he was a well-known figure on the Borders golfing scene, at one stage playing off a plus-5 handicap, and it is possible that, by 1900, he was past his peak. He was the first president of the Borders Golf Association, winning their championship several times, and club champion at Hawick and Jedburgh, captaining both clubs. He played against some of the top names of the day, including the legendary Freddie Tait at North Berwick, John Ball Jr, multiple British amateur and Open champion on the Isle of Man, and James Braid in an exhibition match at Berwick. When golf was first held at the Olympics, in Paris in 1900, Walter competed for GB, narrowly missing out on gold, losing by a stroke and taking home a silver medal. The bronze was claimed by David Robertson, a Glasgow Academical then based in London where he practised as a barrister. Walter’s medal was the first won by a native Scot at the Olympics, Launceston Elliot, a weightlifting gold medallist at Athens in 1896, having been born in India to a Scots family. Away from the links, Walter had a strong social conscience and was heavily involved in his local community. Politically active as a Liberal, he was office bearer in numerous agricultural bodies, a Justice of the Peace who sat regularly on the bench, a councillor and school board member as well as being a leading figure in Madras College former pupils’ association. His untimely death in 1913,at the age of 56, from diabetic complications was a devastating blow to many.