Ryder Cup history: A look at the Team USA's past wins

Samuel Ryder died at 77 on January 2, 1936, but his golf legacy has only grown over the last nine decades.

The English seed merchant became enthralled by golf as a middle-aged man. He sponsored tournaments in the 1920s and innovatively staged a match between an American team and a British team in June 1926.

A May 1926 British wire service article detailed how the surplus money from that event would be used for the British team’s travel expenses to America for a rematch in 1927. It read: “It is hoped thus to make the affair an annual one.”

Though it would become a biennial event, the stage was set for the first official Ryder Cup in June 1927: a 9 1/2-2 1/2 win for the U.S. at the Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts.

More than 98 years later, the 45th Ryder Cup will begin on Sept. 26 at Bethpage Black.

The U.S. is 27-15-2 in the Ryder Cup, though most of its success came in the event’s early years.

America prevailed in 22 of the first 25 Ryder Cups, winning 21 and retaining the trophy in a tie in 1969.

The first 19 Ryder Cups pitted the U.S. against Great Britain (through 1971). The U.S. played a team from Great Britain and Ireland in 1973, 1975 and 1977. Team Europe officially debuted in 1979, two years after Jack Nicklaus advocated for the inclusion of European players in the Ryder Cup in a meeting with the PGA of America's Henry Poe and Lord Derby, who ran the British PGA. That paved the way for talents like Spaniard Seve Ballesteros and German Bernhard Langer to lead a European renaissance.

Europe has been dominant since 1985, winning or retaining 13 of the last 19 Ryder Cups. That includes its only four wins on American soil, the first in 1987 at Muirfield Village, the course designed by Nicklaus in Dublin, Ohio.

Later this month, captain Keegan Bradley and the U.S. will look to reverse the script and recapture some of the magic from the old days.

Here’s a look at each of the 28 American successes:

1927

Walter Hagen became the first winning captain to lift the Ryder Cup. Only eight golfers played on each team, and the event featured eight singles matches and four foursomes matches over two days (a format that remained through 1959).

1931

The U.S. won 9-3 in very hot conditions at Scioto Country Club in Ohio. Hagen, Billy Burke, Wiffy Cox, Gene Sarazen and Denny Shute each went 2-0.

1935

The U.S. claimed its first of seven consecutive Ryder Cups with a 9-3 win at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey. It was the first time the event was held in September and the final playing appearance for Hagen, who went 7-1-1 in his Ryder Cup career.

1937

The U.S. earned its first win on foreign soil with an 8-4 triumph at Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club in England. Sam Snead, tied with Tiger Woods for the most PGA Tour wins of all-time, went 1-0 in his Ryder Cup debut.

1947

After a 10-year absence due to World War II, the Ryder Cup returned to a rainy Portland Golf Club in Oregon, where the U.S. cruised to an 11-1 win under playing captain Ben Hogan. Robert A. Hudson, a Portland-based grocery industry executive, funded the return of the tournament. It was the first U.S. team selected by a points system.

1949

Hogan, recovering from his near fatal February 1949 automobile accident, was a non-playing captain in the 7-5 victory at Ganton Golf Club in England. He uncovered a controversy the night before the tournament when he complained about illegal grooves on British clubs, which had to be repaired.

1951

Snead, a playing captain, went 2-0 to lead the U.S. to a 9 1/2-2 1/2 win at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina. Only two of the 12 matches reached the 18th hole. Jimmy Demaret, who went 6-0 in three Ryder Cups, played in his final one.

1953

In the 10th Ryder Cup, the U.S. squeaked out a 6 1/2-5 1/2 win at Wentworth Club in England. Englishman Bernard Hunt’s missed putt on the 18th hole allowed Dave Douglas to halve the singles match and secure the result.

1955

Tommy Bolt, Jack Burke Jr., Doug Ford and Snead each won two matches, accounting for all of the U.S. points in an 8-4 win at Thunderbird Country Club in California.

1959

After a loss in 1957, their first since 1933, the Americans bounced back with an 8 1/2-3 1/2 win at Eldorado Country Club in California. Dow Finsterwald, Bob Rosburg and Mike Souchak each went 2-0 to start a 13-tournament unbeaten streak for the U.S.

1961

The U.S. won 14 1/2-9 1/2 at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in England, the first Ryder Cup to be played in two sets of 18-hole foursomes and singles. Arnold Palmer went 3-0-1 in his Ryder Cup debut.

1963

Palmer, the last playing captain in Ryder Cup history, went 4-2 in the Americans’ 23-9 win at Atlanta Athletic Club. It was the first Ryder Cup with four-ball competition.

1965

The Americans won 10 of the final 16 points for a 19 1/2-12 1/2 win at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in England. Byron Nelson held the U.S. captaincy for the first and only time.

1967

Palmer and Gardner Dickinson each went 5-0 in the Americans’ 23 1/2-8 1/2 win at Champions Golf Club in Houston, the largest victory margin in Ryder Cup history.

1969

The U.S. retained the Ryder Cup in a 16-16 tie at Royal Birkdale. In one of the all-time great displays of sportsmanship, Nicklaus conceded a two-foot putt to Tony Jacklin to halve the final match.

1971

Nicklaus went 5-1 and Palmer went 4-1-1 to lead the U.S. to an 18 1/2-13 1/2 win at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis.

1973

The U.S. clawed back from a 5 1/2-2 1/2 deficit after the first day for a 19-13 triumph at Muirfield in Scotland. GB&I’s Peter Butler recorded the first hole-in-one in Ryder Cup history.

1975

Palmer was the captain for the second and final time as the U.S. breezed to a 21-11 win at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Pennsylvania.

1977

The format was reduced from 32 to 20 matches, which was no problem for the U.S. in a 12 1/2-7 1/2 win at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

1979

In the first Ryder Cup featuring Team Europe, the U.S. won, 17-11, at The Greenbrier at White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia. Larry Nelson went 5-0, winning four times against Ballesteros.

1981

Nicklaus won all four of his matches in his sixth and final Ryder Cup as a player, an 18 1/2-9 1/2 U.S. victory at Walton Heath Golf Club in England.

1983

In Nicklaus’ first of two stints as captain, the U.S. held off a ferocious European effort in a 14 1/2-13 1/2 win at PGA National Resort in Florida. Lanny Wadkins’ effort to halve the match against Jose Maria Canizares is remembered as a pivotal moment.

1991

In its first win in eight years, the U.S. edged out a 14 1/2-13 1/2 victory at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. Langer notably missed a six-foot putt that would have won his match against Hale Irwin, secured a 14-all tie and retained the Ryder Cup for Europe.

1993

This 15-13 victory at The Belfry in England remains the Americans’ most recent win on European soil and the last time they won consecutive Ryder Cups. Raymond Floyd, the oldest Ryder Cup competitor ever at 51, made three birdies on the back nine of a 2-up victory over Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal.

1999

Europe needed only four points on the final day to retain the Ryder Cup, but the Americans stormed back for a 14 1/2-13 1/2 win at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Justin Leonard drained a 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole against Olazabal, ultimately leading to a halved match that completed the remarkable comeback.

2008

After three straight losses, the latter two each by nine points, the U.S. responded with a 16 1/2-11 1/2 win at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Anthony Kim’s 5-and-4 win over Sergio Garcia led a 7-4-1 singles effort.

2016

The U.S. never trailed in a 17-11 win at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota. Captain Davis Love III dedicated the win to Arnold Palmer, who died the Sunday before the tournament.

2021

The Americans’ 19-9 win at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin was the largest margin of victory in a Ryder Cup since 1967. Dustin Johnson went 5-0 as the U.S. secured its first back-to-back wins on home soil since 1979 and 1983.

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.