Written by Travis Puterbaugh, Curator

Golf fans of all stripes know that the Ryder Cup is contested on a biennial basis between the United States and Europe. Most golf fans know that prior to 1979, the competition only included golfers from Great Britain and Ireland against the United States. The average golf fan may even know that the Ryder Cup is named for Samuel Ryder, but they would struggle to tell you who he was or why this event is named in his honor. It is not a stretch to believe, however, that even the most hardcore of golf fans could tell you about the golfer on the top of the Ryder Cup.

But first, a few words on how the Ryder Cup trophy came into existence. Prior to the 1926 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Walter Hagen had issued a challenge for a match between a team of professionals representing the United States against the best British golfers. The match, played at the Wentworth Club in England, proved to be no contest as the British team shellacked Hagen and his squad 13 ½ to 1 ½. Despite the outcome, the nature of the match drew great interest in the United States and Great Britain. A successful businessman and seed merchant from St Albans named Samuel Ryder attended the matches, and noting the chivalrous atmosphere of the occasion, decided that he would like to create a winner’s trophy for a return match the following year. The first official Ryder Cup, held in June 1927 at the Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts, signaled the beginning of one of golf’s greatest traditions.

Most would logically assume that given his role in establishing the Ryder Cup, that the figure atop the cup is that of Ryder himself. Not a bad guess, but given that Ryder did not play competitive golf, it seems improbable that his own likeness would adorn the hallowed gold trophy designed by Mappin & Webb Co. for 250 pounds sterling. The figure is in fact based on a professional golfer, one of the most well-known British golfers of the 1920s. Author Bernard Darwin said that to see him at his “best, serene and unworried, was to find it impossible to believe that anyone could beat him, and I still find it surprising that anyone ever did.”

That golfer, Abe Mitchell, is one of the almost-greats in golf history. Known for having immense power, strong hands and massive forearms, as a decorated amateur he won the prestigious Golf Illustrated Gold Vase tournament on two occasions, finished second behind John Ball at the 1912 Amateur Championship, and as a professional he won at least one tournament a year between 1919 and 1929, including the inaugural Miami Open in 1924. Still, his career was defined by close calls and his never-fulfilled dream of winning an Open Championship.

With eight top-10 finishes in 17 Open Championship appearances, Mitchell was dubbed by golf journalist Henry Longhurst as “the finest golfer never to win the Open Championship.” In the 1920 Open at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, Mitchell let a six-shot lead slip away, done in by an unsightly 84 in the third round. His next big chance to win the Open Championship came in 1928 at Royal St George’s Golf Club, and again Mitchell let another lead slip away, this time shooting an 82 in the third round to doom his chances.

In 1923, Ryder sponsored the Heath and Heather, a professional golf tournament named after his seed company. It was there that a friendship bloomed with Mitchell, himself a former gardener but by then a widely accomplished professional golfer. The two struck up a friendship and Ryder hired Mitchell as his personal golf instructor. Several years later when the time came to design the Ryder Cup, Ryder paid homage to his friend and coach by stipulating that the statuette on the lid of the cup be designed to resemble Mitchell.

Scheduled to serve as playing captain for Great Britain in the first Ryder Cup, Mitchell fell ill with appendicitis prior to leaving for the United States and could not participate in the competition whose trophy bore his likeness. He did play, however, in the next three Ryder Cup competitions, posting an overall record of 4-2-0. Though time has largely obscured the exploits of his playing career, his legacy endures as one of the most recognized symbols in the game of golf.