The Untold History of the Ryder Cup Trophy: Origin, Meaning, and the Man on Top

Early on Sunday evening at Bethpage Black, the People’s Country Club, either Keegan Bradley or Luke Donald will have the Ryder Cup trophy placed in their hands. For Bradley, the United States captain, it will complete the long journey back to this stage, returning the trophy to the American side and ending the long heartache he’s felt in connection to this event. For Donald, the European side captain, it will have that familiar feeling, one he experienced two years ago outside of Rome when Europe throttled the U.S. 16.5-11.5 to again claim the Ryder Cup for Europe.

“Passing that trophy around as a team on Sunday night, that’s when it gets fun, because you realize it wasn’t something that you did alone,” said Chandler Withington, the founder of Archive 22 who has a vast knowledge of the history of the Ryder Cup and the trophy that goes to the winners.

There is an elegance to the Ryder Cup trophy. After all, it stands just 17 inches high and tips the scale at 4 pounds. In comparison, the Wanamaker Trophy, awarded to the winner of the PGA Championship, is 28 inches tall and weighs 27 pounds. The Stanley Cup, one of sport’s most recognizable trophies that is awarded the champions of the National Hockey League, is just over 35 inches tall and weighs 37 pounds. Sure, the Ryder Cup might be in a different weight class, but its significance goes toe-to-toe with all of them.

“Smallest trophy in golf, but biggest amount of pressure,” Withington said.

The details of the trophy add layers to its meaning. There are the results, etched into it since this event began in 1927 and grew in significance with each passing meeting.

There is the figure placed at the top, which has long been considered Abe Mitchell, who was Samuel Ryder’s instructor. Withington notes the romanticism behind the story, even if it isn’t really correct. Martin Davis, in his exhaustive book “The Ryder Cup: Golf’s Grandest Event” disproved that it is actually Mitchell at the top of the trophy. But there is one detail that stands out most to Withington, one that reminds everyone exactly how this event started and why it matters so much.

“There’s an attachment to the trophy on the one side, which has an eagle representing the United States, and a lion, which typically represents England, because it was the U.S. versus England when the Ryder Cup started,” Withington said. “Then you had the eagle over the American flag and the lion over the Great Britain flag. That looks to be something that was attached to give the trophy some significance.

“I think it’s that piece with the lion and the eagle and the flags that should remind us of how and when this all started, the origins of the Ryder Cup. Remember, the Brits showed the Americans how to play this game in the late 1800s. It’s probably piece that people don’t know is on there because they don’t often get that close to that trophy. It tells the story of the Ryder Cup.”

“That little thing … it’s not the trophy that makes you feel what you are representing to play this thing. For Americans, it’s the flag. For Europeans, it’s all the nations and countries they come from and the other 11 people on your team you don’t want to let down. You feel a different amount of pressure in this one that you don’t in any other tournament you play by yourself.”

It brings out different emotions in people. You saw Justin Leonard racing around the 17th green at Brookline, soon engulfed his teammates after an improbable putt finds the bottom of the hole in 1999. You watch Rory McIlroy, who didn’t understand the meaning of this event when he first started playing it in 2010, brought to tears after experiencing disappointment in 2021.

“You see emotions about out of people that you wouldn’t see any other time,” Withington said. “You talk to most people when their playing careers are done and they talk about this experience.”

All of it – the joy and pain, the highs and lows – can be felt in that small but meaningful trophy.