Cup founder's faith stayed the course
As golf’s biggest names converged at Bethpage Black for the 45th Ryder Cup in September, few would pause to ponder the real passion behind its founder. Samuel Ryder – celebrated as the man whose name adorns the trophy – was emphatic: “his meaning in life centred on Trinity Church, St Albans … and the welfare of his workforce.”
Born on 24 March 1858 at Walton-le-Dale, Lancashire, Ryder made his fortune selling seeds in penny packets, before relocating to St Albans. In mid-life he took up golf – not as a lifelong obsession but on medical advice – yet his faith and civic calling always came first.
Though Ryder only picked up a club around the age of 49 or 50, he advanced rapidly. By 1910, he was Captain at Verulam Golf Club and later held that role in 1926 and 1927. In the 1920s, he began sponsoring professional tournaments – culminating in his 1927 donation of the golden trophy, first contested at Worcester, Massachusetts.
Yet even as golf blossomed into a global spectacle, Samuel Ryder remained grounded in Christian duty and humility.
He died on 2 January 1936, aged 77, and his tomb in Hatfield Road Cemetery, opposite Trinity Church, carries this inscription: “His body to the pleasant country’s earth and his pure soul unto his captain Christ under whose colours he had fought so long.”
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