Facts to Know about the Ryder Cup Trophy

The Ryder Cup Trophy is for those who have won the Ryder Cup competition, which involves the biennial golf event which takes place between the US team and the European team.

For all of the participants, winning the Ryder Cup is a proud achievement. It is also a symbol of prestige for all of the winners.

The trophy design

The design of the trophy is one of the interesting aspects of the Ryder Cup.

The cup itself is situated on the wooden foundation plinth.

Surrounding the plinth is a gold band which contains the final scores of the overall event played. The wooden base foundation will need to expand with the age of the competition to provide enough space for all of the scores engraved on it. Well, we could imagine how large it would be two decades in the future, or more centuries in the future.

The name origin

Why is it the Ryder Cup? Not the other name’s cup? The name of the trophy came from the person who contributed to the trophy itself. The name of the person is Samuel Ryder. He donated the trophy to create and organize the golf competition which involves the rivalries between the two continents, team America and team Great Britain.

The creator of the trophy

The ones who got the trophy were Mapping and Webb. They made the particular trophy based on the instruction from Samuel Ryder.

The trophy was created in 1927. Then he donated it as a prize for the winners of the golf tournament.

It costs around $400, equivalent to 250 euros in 1927. It is now worth around 6,000 dollars per cup. However, those are the materials costs. But looking at the real value of the trophy, it can be worth millions nowadays.

Samuel Ryder

Samuel Ryder is a British businessman, entrepreneur, and avid fan of the golf sport. He had a successful business in garden seed sales.

He became an avid fan of golf at the age of 50. Since then, he has actively sponsored various golf tournaments. Then, in 1926, he pitched the idea of a golf tournament that would meet the US team and the European team.

Ryder Cup figure-Who is it?

For most huge fans of golf across the globe, the cup trophy has always been an interesting thing to discuss. When you look at the trophy, you will see a figure of the golfer on the top piece of the trophy.

Back then, there had been huge speculation about the trophy figure of the real golfer there. The golfer figure is none other than Abe Mitchell, the personal golf instructor who’s also Samue Ryder’s friend.

Mitchell was an influential figure in the Ryder Cups since he inspired the creator of the trophy. He appeared in the Ryder Cups three times: in 1929, 1931, and 1933.

So, when you still notice that your friends are debating about who the figure is, you could show them this post to let them know about it.

The original cup

Perhaps most of us assumed that the Original Cup would land in the hands of the winner every year. Well, it is not true.

The winning team won’t take the real Ryder Cup. On the contrary, they will only get a replica of the trophy. However, Ryder kept donating the trophy to the Professional Golfers Association of Great Britain.

Meanwhile, the PGA of America has an extra replica of the cup.

There are some extra cups which are there for the tour objectives.

In the world of the Ryder Cup, the folks have been calling it “The Travelling Ryder Cup”.

Each member of the winning team has a replica. So, each member could commemorate the best moment they attained personally.

Where is the original Ryder Cup Trophy?

The Trophy from the Ryder Cup remains in place. The officials store it at the house of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland. The winning team will keep the replica of the cup.

The Nicklaus-Jacklin Trophy

In the Ryder Cup, there is another award called “Man of the Match”. It is actually an unofficial trophy but very imperative in the tradition of the Ryder Cup history for years.

In the upcoming Ryder Cup 2021, the organizers will create a trophy for each top player in the team. So, there will be two Nicklaus-Jacklin Award holders from the current edition of the Ryder Cup.

It seems much more fun to see one European player and one American player receive the trophy.

As the name suggests, the trophy is to honor two individuals, namely Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin, for the epic moment they had at Royal Birkdale back in 1969. You should watch the video of the competition on YouTube or other sources to learn more about this amazing event.

Trophy details

This trophy is made out of gold. The height is 17 inches and nine inches in width, which we can measure from handle to handle. It weighs four pounds.

Samuel Ryder made the trophy out of gold. He commissioned the trophy as he was also the founder of the Ryder Cup competition. He made a donation to the trophy in the 1927 year. The first cup appearance was at a send-off for the British team departing for Worcester, Massachusetts. Ryder paid around 250 euros to produce the real trophy. And now, the genuine and original trophy belongs to the PGA of Great Britain. The officials decided to situate the trophy at a particular location to honor the memory of Samuel Ryder as the initiator of the big event.

That’s why the officials won’t hand out the original trophy to the winners. They rarely show it to the public because it has such a rich history and iconic nature. Instead, the officials hand over the replica of the cup to the winners of the competition.

The PGA of America Ryder Cup replica is full size and identical with 1:1 proportion.

There is also one extra replica which is travelling from one place to another for promotional and showcase purposes.

Also Read: Best Ryder Cup Courses in History