Ryder Cup Paintings and Prints

The Ryder Cup is a team match between professional golfers from the United States and Europe, played every two years and alternating between the two sides of the Atlantic. Samuel Ryder, an English seed merchant, donated the trophy, and the first official match was played in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts. For its first half century the American team played Great Britain, joined by Ireland from 1973; the team was expanded to include players from continental Europe in 1979, and the competition has been closely fought ever since.

The Ryder Cup is played entirely at match play, over three days of foursomes, four-balls and singles. Because players represent their countries rather than themselves and there is no prize money, it has an atmosphere unlike any other event in golf.

Many courses in Linda Hartough's collection have hosted it. In Britain, Royal Lytham & St Annes hosted the Ryder Cup in 1961 and 1977, Royal Birkdale in 1965 and 1969, and Muirfield in 1973. In the United States, Pinehurst No. 2 hosted it in 1951, Laurel Valley in 1975, Muirfield Village in 1987, The Country Club in 1999, Oakland Hills in 2004, Medinah in 2012 and Bethpage Black in 2025.

The 1999 match at The Country Club in Brookline is remembered for the American comeback from four points down on the final day, sealed when Justin Leonard holed a long putt on the 17th green. Linda Hartough's signed poster for the 1999 Ryder Cup, which shows the 9th hole, Himalayas, lists every player on both teams. A jigsaw puzzle of the 3rd hole at The Country Club is also in the collection.