The Ryder Tournament was a professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament played at Verulam Golf Club in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, England and sponsored by

Samuel Ryder Samuel Ryder (24 March 1858 – 2 January 1936) was an English businessman, entrepreneur, golf enthusiast, and golf promoter. He originated the idea of selling garden seeds in "penny packets" and built a very successful business on the concept. ...

. The event was held just once, in 1928, and had total prize money of £500. The tournament was played over two days, 11 and 12 July, with 36 holes of

stroke play Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In stroke play, the winner is the player who has taken the fewest strokes over the ...

each day. The tournament was restricted to the first 24 British professionals in the 1928 Open Championship. The players had to be resident in Britain. ''The Times'' noted that it was "in the nature of a British Close Championship".

History

The field consisted of the 24 professionals scoring 314 or better in the Open. The field was Alf Bradbeer, Stewart Burns, Henry Cotton, Bill Davies, George Duncan, Gus Faulkner,

George Gadd Francis George Gadd (1890 – 25 September 1957) was an English professional golfer. He was on the 1927 Ryder Cup team but did not play in any matches. Gadd was Welsh Professional Champion in 1913, won the 1922 News of the World Match Play, won ...

, Willie Holley,

Herbert Jolly Herbert Charles Jolly (15 February 1895 – 16 April 1983) was a professional golfer. He is best known for being a member of the first British Ryder Cup team in 1927. He also played for Britain in the international match against America at Wentwor ...

Arthur Lacey Arthur James Lacey (20 May 1904 – 6 August 1979) was an English professional golfer who finished in the top ten of The Open Championship on four occasions in the 1930s. He also played in the 1933 and 1937 Ryder Cup matches, and was then sele ...

, Duncan McCulloch, Abe Mitchell,

James Ockenden James Ockenden (July 1885 – 30 November 1949) was an English professional golfer. His best finish in a men's major golf championship was seventh place in the 1914 Open Championship. Golf career He was first employed at Epsom Golf Club near hi ...

, Ted Ray,

Fred Robson Frederick Robson (25 April 1885 – 3 November 1952) was an English professional golfer who played in the early 20th century. Robson was a frequent competitor in the Open Championship. His best performance was a tie for second with Aubrey Boome ...

, Jack Smith, Fred Taggart,

Bill Twine William Thomas Twine (16 January 1898 – 20 October 1977) was an English professional golfer. He was a regular competitor in the Open Championship and had a best finish of 11th in 1934. He never won an important individual tournament, his best f ...

, Reg Whitcombe,

Albert Whiting Albert Whiting (31 May 1866 – 19 March 1946) was an Australian cricketer. He played one first-class match for New South Wales in 1886/87. See also * List of New South Wales representative cricketers This is a list of male cricketers ...

, Tom Williamson,

Reg Wilson Reg Wilson (born 26 January 1948 in Sheffield, England)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is a retired professional speedway rider who was team manager of the Sheffield Tigers until 2011. Wilson spent 18 years riding at the O ...

Syd Wingate Sydney Wingate (1894 – 17 April 1953) was an English professional golfer. He twice finished in the top 10 of the Open Championship, in 1920 and 1925. Golfing career Wingate was from a golfing family. His father, Frank (1872–1923), was a prof ...

, Arthur Young.

Archie Compston Archibald Edward Wones Compston (1893 – 8 August 1962) was an English professional golfer. Through the 1920s he built a reputation as a formidable match play golfer, in an era when many professionals made more money from "challenge" matches ag ...

was also eligible to play but was in America at the time. Other than him, all the eligible professionals played in the event. Two other notable players of the period,

Percy Alliss Percy Alliss (8 January 1897 – 31 March 1975) was one of the leading English professional golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, winning many tournaments in Britain and Continental Europe. He was the father of commentator and former golfer Peter Allis ...

and

Aubrey Boomer Aubrey Basil Boomer (1 November 1897 – 2 October 1989) was a professional golfer who played in the early 20th century. Boomer had three top-10 finishes in the Open Championship. He was a frequent competitor in the French Open and won the event ...

, were not resident in Britain so were ineligible. Bill Davies led after the first day on 142, a stroke ahead of Abe Mitchell and two ahead of George Gadd. Davies was out in 31 in his first round and finished with 69, despite a 4 at the short 17th hole. Mitchell and George Duncan also scored 69s in their afternoon rounds. Mitchell and Duncan both had 69s again in their third rounds. Mitchell then led, with Duncan second and Davies third after a 74. In the final round Duncan dropped back after a 77. Davies holed a 5-foot putt on the last hole to finish on 287. A little later, Mitchell also holed a difficult putt on the final green to share the honours. George Gadd and Tom Williamson tied for third place, 4 shots behind, with Duncan fifth. The tournament was played in unusually hot weather which had made the ground very hard. The tournament was originally planned to be an annual event but was not repeated.

Winners

References

{{Reflist Golf tournaments in England Sport in Hertfordshire