By: Fred Altvater
The 2018 Ryder Cup is being held at Le Golf Club National outside of Paris, France. The European Team has won seven of the past ten Ryder Cups and has not lost on European soil in 25 years.
The Ryder Cup has become one of the biggest sporting events in the world, but did you know it had its beginnings in Toledo, Ohio?
S.P. Jermain has been called the “Father of Public Golf in America.” He served four terms as the Chairman of the Board of Parks Commissioners for the city of Toledo at the end of the 19th century and was responsible for the construction of Ottawa Park Golf Course. It opened for play in 1898 and was the first public golf course to open west of New York City.
Jermain was the president of the Inverness Club, when the land was purchased on which to build the course. He was instrumental in convincing the USGA to bring a U.S. Open to Inverness in 1920 and again in 1931. An 18-year-old golf prodigy, Bobby Jones made his first appearance in a U.S. Open at Inverness in 1920 and his last in the 1931 U.S. Open held at Inverness.
S.P. Jermain with Bobby Jones.
Jermain is also remembered for being the first to allow touring professionals into the locker rooms of private golf clubs. In the early days, golf professionals were not welcome in the clubhouse of the private clubs on which they played. Jermain felt this to be an archaic practice and opened the Inverness Club locker room to the participants of the 1920 U.S. Open.
The great Walter Hagen was so appreciative of Jermain’s generosity that he took a collection among the professionals and used the funds to purchase a beautiful clock that sits proudly in the entry of the club today.
Jermain has been credited with the idea of holding a tournament featuring the best amateurs from Great Britain and the United States in a team competition. He first mentioned it to, George Sargent, the President of the PGA of America, after the 1920 U.S. Open.
Sargent was quoted in the Toledo News-Bee in 1931,
“The credit for the idea (of the Ryder Cup) should go to Sylvanus P. Jermain of Toledo, who made the suggestion back in 1921, the year after the U.S. Open was staged at Inverness.”
Patrick Reed showed his emotion at Hazeltine in 2016.
The first such exhibitions were held in 1921 and a second competition was held at Gleneagles in Scotland in 1926, from which the competition was born.
Sam Ryder witnessed the 1926 event and became so enamored with the idea of the team competition between the two nations, that he offered to supply the trophy to the winning team, hence the Ryder Cup.
Sam Ryder got his name on the event that has become such a huge success in the world of golf, but the idea stemmed from a forward-thinking S.P. Jermain right here in Toledo.
The Ryder Cup has become one of the biggest sporting events in the world and millions of golf fans from across the globe will be watching Team USA try to retain the cup versus a strong European Team.
