Quiz! Can You Name The Golfers With The Most Ryder Cup Appearances?

Can you name the 20 golfers who have played in at least eight Ryder Cups?

Tiger Woods blasts out of a bunker
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Roderick Easdale
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published

This golf quiz looks over the 44 Ryder Cups that have been played. The first one was held in 1927 at Worcester Country Club, Worcester, Massachusetts.

A sub-committee of the Professional Golfers' Association comprising of Harry Vardon, J.H. Taylor and James Braid had picked the British team for that contest, with Abe Mitchell later made captain. But Mitchell fell ill – and was eventually operated on for appendicitis – and so Ted Ray took over as captain. Both captains, unlike nowadays, played in the contest.

There were nine players on each side, but one player on each side sat out each session as the format was four 36-hole foursomes matches on the Friday and eight 36-hole singles on the Saturday. For Britain, George Gadd missed out both times. He was never picked for another Ryder Cup side. For the USA, Al Espinosa did not play on either day, but he, however, did play in the next two Ryder Cups.

George Gadd appears in the official lists of Ryder Cup player for his, um ‘appearance’ in 1927. He was the first of a handful of unfortunate players who only got picked for only one Ryder Cup but did not actually play any matches.

For the next Ryder Cup, in 1929, 10 players were chosen on either side. In 1969 the size of each team was increased to 12, by which time it well-established that the captain did not play in any of the matches. The last playing captain had been Arnold Palmer in 1963. The first non-playing captain had had been in 1933, for Great Britain. The USA had had its first non-playing captain in 1937.

Up until 1979 only British and Irish players had been eligible to play for USA’s opponent, and this team was known as either Great Britain or Great Britain and Ireland. But in 1979 European golfers would also become eligible, and the name of the team was therefore changed to Europe.

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Roderick Easdale
Roderick Easdale

Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novel, Summer At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine, travel supplement and website. He also compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose Golf & Country Club and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is also the author of five non-fiction books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.

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