The Ryder Cup (officially the Ryder Cup Matches) is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is also the name of the trophy, after the person who donated it, Samuel Ryder. The Ryder Cup, and its counterpart the Presidents Cup, are unique in the world of golf, and possibly professional sports, since despite being high-profile events that bring in tens of millions of dollars in TV and sponsorship revenue the players receive no prize money and compete purely for the victory.

The competition began following an exhibition match in 1926 between a team comprising American professionals against a similar one drawn from the British PGA on the East Course, Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, UK. The first competition took place in 1927 at the Worcester Country Club, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE: R), or Ryder, is an American-based provider of transportation and supply chain management products, and is especially known for its fleet of rental trucks. Ryder specializes in fleet management, supply chain management and dedicated contracted carriage. Ryder operates in North America, the United Kingdom and Asia. It has its headquarters in suburban Miami, Florida within Miami-Dade County.

Ryder was founded in Miami, Florida in 1933 by James Ryder as a concrete hauling company with one truck, a 1931 Model "A" Ford. Within a few years,^[when?] the business expanded to leasing trucks to other companies. This led to Ryder changing its focus from distribution to leasing. By 1939, Ryder's truck fleet had increased to 50. Ryder bought Great Southern Trucking Company in 1952. In 1955 Ryder System, Inc. was formed to combine Great Southern and Ryder Truck Rental. Ryder System went public in 1955. By the 1960s and 1970s, Ryder had expanded into the distribution and supply chain markets.

Philip Walton (born 28 March 1962) is an Irish professional golfer.

Walton attended Oklahoma State University in the United States and played for Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup in 1981 and 1983. He turned professional in 1983 and spent many years on the European Tour, making the top one hundred on the Order of Merit every year from 1983 to 1998, with a best ranking of thirteenth in 1995. He has won three European Tour events and four Irish PGA Championships.

Walton has represented Ireland or Great Britain & Ireland on many occasions. He was a member of the winning Irish team at the 1990 Alfred Dunhill Cup. He made his only Ryder Cup appearance for Europe in 1995 at Oak Hill, where he beat Jay Haas on the final green of the crucial penultimate singles match.

Walton came through Local qualifying to earn his place at the 2008 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, his first major since 1998.

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English professional golfer who is a member of the world's top two professional golf tours, the U.S.-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has previously been rated as high as #5 in the world rankings. He is the touring professional for Woburn Golf and Country Club which is situated in Bedfordshire.^{[citation needed]}

Born in Hitchin, Poulter took up the game at the age of four when his single-handicap father, Terry, gave him a cut-down 3-wood. His older brother Danny is also a professional golfer. Unable to get a place as a pro at a private club, he became the assistant pro and golf shop manager at the Chesfield Downs Golf Club. There he was forced by his boss to pay a full green fee every time he wanted to play in a competition. His handicap hence stayed at four, because he did not play in competitions.

Poulter turned professional in 1996 gaining his first win at the 1999 Open de Côte d'Ivoire on the European Tour's second tier Challenge Tour; he won promotion to the European Tour itself via the qualifying school later that year. In his first season, he claimed the Italian Open title and was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year for 2000. Further wins followed in each of the next four seasons, most prestigiously the season ending "tour championship" the Volvo Masters in 2004. He was in the top ten on the Order of Merit in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. In 2010, he finished 4th on the Order of Merit, his highest placing so far. After narrowly missing a place in the 2002 European Ryder Cup team, Poulter was a member of the victorious squad in 2004, where he officially scored the winning points for his team. This entitled him to take up membership of the PGA Tour in 2005, and he has divided his time between the two tours since then.^{[citation needed]}

Gerry Lester "Bubba" Watson, Jr. (born November 5, 1978) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour. One of the few left-handed golfers on tour, he is a major champion, the winner of the Masters Tournament in 2012. Among the longest drivers on the PGA Tour, in 2007 he had an average drive of 315.2 yards (288.2 m) and can hit a ball over 350 yards (320 m), capable of generating a ball speed up to 194 mph (312 km/h)]. Watson won the 2012 Masters Tournament after defeating Louis Oosthuizen in a sudden death playoff. The win elevated Watson to a career-high fourth place in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Watson was born and raised in Bagdad, Florida, near Pensacola. He played on the golf team at Milton High School, which had featured future PGA Tour members Heath Slocum and Boo Weekley just before he attended. Watson played golf for Faulkner State Community College in nearby Baldwin County, Alabama, where he was a junior college All-American. He transferred to the University of Georgia, the defending NCAA champions, and played for the Bulldogs in 2000 and 2001. As a junior, Watson helped lead the Bulldogs to the SEC title in 2000.