1927 Ryder Cup

The 1st Ryder Cup Matches were held at the Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts. The first competition was dominated by the United States who won by the then landslide score of 91⁄2–21⁄2 points. USA Captain Walter Hagen became the first winning captain to lift the Ryder Cup. Samuel Ryder, the competition's founder was unable to be present at Worcester Country Club for the inaugural event due to ill health at the time. Ted Ray was the first captain to represent the Great Britain team.

1st Ryder Cup Matches

Dates	June 3–4, 1927
Venue	Worcester Country Club
Location	Worcester, Massachusetts
Captains	Walter Hagen (USA) Ted Ray (Great Britain)
91⁄2 21⁄2
United States wins the Ryder Cup
1929 →

Worcester CC

Location in the United States

Worcester CC

Location in Massachusetts

Format

The Ryder Cup is a match play golf event, with each match worth one point. From this inaugural event through 1959, the format consisted of 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches on the first day and 8 singles matches on the second day, for a total of 12 points. Therefore, 61⁄2 points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 36 holes.

Teams

Source: ^[1]

Team USA Name Age Walter Hagen – captain 34 Leo Diegel 28 Al Espinosa 36 Johnny Farrell 26 Johnny Golden 31 Bill Mehlhorn 28 Gene Sarazen 25 Joe Turnesa 26 Al Watrous 28

Team Great Britain Name Age Ted Ray – captain 50 Aubrey Boomer 29 Archie Compston 34 George Duncan 43 George Gadd 37 Arthur Havers 28 Herbert Jolly 32 Fred Robson 42 Charles Whitcombe 31

A sub-committee of the Professional Golfers' Association was appointed to choose the Great Britain team for the first official Ryder Cup. This consisted of Harry Vardon, J.H. Taylor and James Braid.^[2] In March 1927 an initial group of 9 players was selected to represent Great Britain. These consisted of the above 9 players but with Abe Mitchell instead of Jolly.^[3] Later in March it was announced that Abe Mitchell would be the captain of the team.^[4] However, in May, his health gave some concern. It was eventually decided that he was unfit to travel.^[5] Later he was operated on for appendicitis.

Seven members of the team left on the Aquitania on May 21, Boomer being picked up in Cherbourg. Ray was appointed the new captain.^[6] George Philpot, editor of the British Golf Illustrated magazine, was the team manager and travelled with the team. With the team a man short, the PGA Secretary Percy Perrins recruited Jolly who sailed on a later boat, the Majestic, and arrived in New York on May 31, four days after the rest of the team.

Friday's foursome matches

	Results
Ray/Robson	2 & 1	Hagen/Golden
Duncan/Compston	8 & 6	Farrell/Turnesa
Havers/Jolly	3 & 2	Sarazen/Watrous
Boomer/Whitcombe	7 & 5	Diegel/Mehlhorn
1	Session	3
1	Overall	3

Saturday's singles matches

	Results
Archie Compston	1 up	Bill Mehlhorn
Aubrey Boomer	5 & 4	Johnny Farrell
Herbert Jolly	8 & 7	Johnny Golden
Ted Ray	7 & 5	Leo Diegel
Charles Whitcombe	halved	Gene Sarazen
Arthur Havers	2 & 1	Walter Hagen
Fred Robson	3 & 2	Al Watrous
George Duncan	1 up	Joe Turnesa
11⁄2	Session	61⁄2
21⁄2	Overall	91⁄2

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.

Source: ^[1]

United States

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes
Leo Diegel	1	1–1–0	1–0–0	0–1–0
Johnny Farrell	2	2–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0
Johnny Golden	2	2–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0
Walter Hagen	2	2–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0
Bill Mehlhorn	1	1–1–0	1–0–0	0–1–0
Gene Sarazen	1.5	1–0–1	0–0–1	1–0–0
Joe Turnesa	1	1–1–0	0–1–0	1–0–0
Al Watrous	2	2–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0

Al Espinosa did not play in any matches.

Great Britain

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes
Aubrey Boomer	1	1–1–0	0–1–0	1–0–0
Archie Compston	0	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–1–0
George Duncan	1	1–1–0	1–0–0	0–1–0
Arthur Havers	0	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–1–0
Herbert Jolly	0	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–1–0
Ted Ray	0	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–1–0
Fred Robson	0	0–2–0	0–1–0	0–1–0
Charles Whitcombe	1.5	1–0–1	0–0–1	1–0–0

George Gadd did not play in any matches.