Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup

Tournament information
Location	Guidonia Montecelio, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Italy
Established	1927; 97 years ago
Course(s)	2025: Bethpage Black Course
Par	2025: 71
Length	2025: 7,426 yd (6,790 m)
Organized by	PGA of America, Ryder Cup Europe
Tour(s)	PGA Tour, European Tour
Format	Match play
Prize fund	None
Month played	late September, early October
Current champion
Europe
2025 Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named after the English businessman Samuel Ryder who donated the trophy. The event is jointly administered by the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe, the latter a joint venture of the PGA European Tour (60%), the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (20%), and the PGAs of Europe (20%).^[1][2]

Originally contested between Great Britain and the United States, the first official Ryder Cup took place in the United States in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts. The home team won the first five contests, but with the competition's resumption after the Second World War, repeated American dominance eventually led to a decision to extend the representation of "Great Britain and Ireland" to include continental Europe from 1979. The inclusion of continental European golfers was partly prompted by the success of a new generation of Spanish golfers, led by Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido. In addition to players from Great Britain and Ireland, the European team has since included players from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

Since 1979, Europe has won twelve times outright and retained the Cup once in a tied match, whilst the United States won nine times over the same period. Since 1979, Europe has won four times away on foreign soil (in 1987, 1995, 2004 and 2012),^[3] whilst the United States has won twice away on foreign soil (in 1981 and 1993).^[4][5][6][7] From 1995 to 2014, Europe won eight out of ten Ryder Cups.^[8][9][10]

The Ryder Cup, its alternate-year non-European counterpart (the Presidents Cup), and its women's equivalent (the Solheim Cup) remain exceptions within the world of professional sports because the competing professionals receive no prize money, despite the contests being high-profile events that bring in large amounts of money in television, sponsorship, ticketing and merchandise revenue.^[11][12] The Ryder Cup was held in odd-numbered years until 1999, but it then moved to even years in 2002 after being cancelled in 2001 due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It moved back to odd years again in 2021, after the 2020 event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[13]