The Joy Cup was an annual men's professional team

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 ...

competition between teams representing the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

and the Rest of Europe. It was played from 1954 to 1958. The British Isles won all four contests that were played. The trophy was provided by the

Jean Patou Jean Patou (; 27 September 1887 – 8 March 1936) was a French fashion designer, and founder of the Jean Patou brand. Early life Patou was born in Paris, France in 1887. Patou's family's business was tanning and furs. Patou worked with his ...

company and named after

Joy The word joy refers to the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness. Dictionary definitions Dictionary definitions of joy typically include a sense of ...

perfume that they produced. The concept of a match between

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and Continental Europe was revived with the Hennessy Cognac Cup in 1974.

Format

The cup was contested over two days with 36-hole foursomes on the first day and 36-hole singles matches on the second day. Generally there were 5 foursomes and 10 singles except that in 1956 there were only 4 foursomes and 8 singles.

History

Originally the Rest of Europe team was selected by the

European Golf Association The European Golf Association (EGA) is a non-profit organisation based in Epalinges, Switzerland, which was founded in 1937 in Luxembourg. The EGA's main activity consists of coordinating and co-organizing European amateur golf championships. ...

while the British team was selected and captain by Henry Cotton. In early 1957, the EGA agreed with the PGA that the PGA would take over from Cotton. A match was planned for 19 and 20 October 1957 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

but was not held, the

1957 Ryder Cup The 12th Ryder Cup Matches were held 4–5 October 1957 at Lindrick Golf Club near Worksop, England. The Great Britain team, led by captain Dai Rees, beat the United States team by a score of 7 to 4 points, and won the Ryder Cup for the first ti ...

and the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...

being held in the same month. In January 1960 it was announced that the Joy Cup had been discontinued. The

company withdrew the gold cup that the winners had received.

Results

Appearances

The following are those who played in at least one of the four matches.

British Isles

Peter Alliss Peter Alliss (28 February 1931 – 5 December 2020) was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, he was regarded by many as the "Voice of ...

1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 *

Ken Bousfield Ken Bousfield (2 October 1919 – 25 May 2000"Ken Bousfield - Winner of 19 professional golf championships in six years" ''The Times'', 2 June 2000.) was one of the leading British golfers of the immediate post-World War II World War&nb ...

1955, 1958 * Harry Bradshaw 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 * Eric Brown 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 * Henry Cotton 1954, 1956 *

Fred Daly Fred Daly may refer to: * Fred Daly (American football), American football player at Yale, head football coach at Williams College (1913–1914) * Fred Daly (politician) Frederick Michael Daly (13 June 1912 – 2 August 1995) was an Aust ...

1954, 1955 * Bernard Hunt 1958 * John Jacobs 1954, 1955, 1958 * Eric Lester 1956 * Peter Mills 1956, 1958 * Christy O'Connor Snr 1955, 1956, 1958 *

John Panton John Panton, MBE (9 October 1916 – 24 July 2009) was a Scottish professional golfer, who represented Great Britain three times in the Ryder Cup. Panton was born in Pitlochry. He turned professional in 1935 and took up a job in the local go ...

1954, 1956 *

Dai Rees David James Rees, (31 March 1913 – 15 November 1983) was one of the Britain's leading golfers either side of the Second World War. The winner of many prestigious tournaments in Britain, Europe and farther afield, Rees is best remembered as ...

1954, 1955, 1958 * Syd Scott 1954, 1955, 1956 *

Harry Weetman Harry Weetman (25 October 1920 – 19 July 1972) was an English professional golfer. Weetman won many tournaments on the British PGA circuit in the pre-European Tour era and won the Harry Vardon Trophy for lowest stroke average in 1952 and 1956. ...

1954, 1955, 1956, 1958

Rest of Europe

* Jean Baptiste Ado 1954, 1958 * Michel Alsuguren 1954 * Alfonso Angelini 1954, 1955, 1958 * Georg Bessner 1954, 1955 * Ovidio Bolognesi 1956 * Aldo Casera 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 * Carlos Celles 1955, 1956, 1958 * Roger Cotton 1958 * Gerard de Wit 1955, 1956 * Jean Garaïalde 1954, 1955, 1958 * Ugo Grappasonni 1954, 1955, 1956 * Ángel Miguel 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 * Sebastián Miguel 1954, 1956, 1958 * François Saubaber 1954, 1955 *

Ramón Sota Ramón Sota Ocejo (23 April 1938 – 28 August 2012) was a Spanish professional golfer. Sota was born in Pedreña, Cantabria. He won many professional tournaments around the world including some of the major national opens around Europe that for ...

1958 * Donald Swaelens 1958 *

Flory Van Donck Flory Van Donck (23 June 1912 – 14 January 1992) was a Belgian professional golfer. Van Donck is widely regarded as the greatest ever Belgian golfer. During his career, he won more than fifty tournaments worldwide, including many of the m ...

1954, 1955, 1956, 1958

References

{{reflist Team golf tournaments Recurring sporting events established in 1954 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1958 1954 establishments in Europe 1958 disestablishments in Europe