All the Playing Captains in Ryder Cup History

How many "playing captains" (also known as "player-captains") have there been in the history of the Ryder Cup? And who was the last playing captain?

The answer to the first question is "many," although all of them so far had the dual role in the early part of the tournament's history. And the answer to the second question is Arnold Palmer, who was 34 years old when he served as the playing captain for Team USA in the 1963 Ryder Cup.

Before we get to the list of all the Ryder Cup's playing captains, let's define the term. Both sides in the Ryder Cup (today, Team USA and Team Europe) appoint a team captain. Today, that captain is understood to be the captain only — it is assumed, in other words, that the team captain will not be playing in the matches. (In large part this is because captains today tend to be in their late 40s/early 50s, and likely not contending much on the PGA Tour anymore.) But there is nothing that says a team captain can't also be a player. And in the past, as we are about to see, it was common for the team captains to be "playing captains." They both captained their side, and played matches in the Ryder Cup. That's the player-captain: the captain who also participates as a player for his own team.

Playing captains were very much the norm in the early history of the event: The first seven Ryder Cups included at least one playing captain, and in five of them both captains were player-captains. And the presence of playing captains continued into the 1960s.

(Related: The full list of all Ryder Cup captains)

The List: Ryder Cup Playing Captains

• 1927 Ryder Cup: Walter Hagen (USA) and Ted Ray (Great Britain) were both playing captains. Hagen's American side won this, this inaugural Ryder Cup, by a 9.5 to 2.5 score. Hagen was 2-0 as a player, and Ray was 0-1 as a player.
• 1929 Ryder Cup: Walter Hagen again for Team USA, and George Duncan for Great Britain. The Brits won the trophy by a 7-5 score. Hagen was 1-1-0 as a player, and so was Duncan. And the two player-captains faced each other in singles: Duncan walloped Hagen by a 10-and-8 (36 holes) score.
• 1931 Ryder Cup: Walter Hagen (USA) and Charles Whitcombe (Great Britain). Team USA won the Cup, 9-3. Hagen was 2-0-0 as a player, Whitcombe was 0-1-0. Once again, the player-captains faced each other in singles. Hagen defeated Whitcombe, 4 and 3.
• 1933 Ryder Cup: Walter Hagen went 1-0-1 as the playing captain for Team USA, but his American squad was beaten by Team GB, 6.5 to 5.5.

The 1933 Ryder Cup is the first one in which one of the team captains did not also play in the competition. The Great Britain captain was J.H. Taylor of "Great Triumvirate" fame. Taylor was 62 years old at the time.

• 1935 Ryder Cup: The playing captains were once again Walter Hagen (USA) and Charles Whitcombe (Great Britain). Team USA won the Cup, 9-3. Both Hagen and Whitcombe were 1-0-0 as players, and neither captain played in singles.
• 1937 Ryder Cup: Charles Whitcombe for Team Great Britain, which lost to Team USA, 8-4. Whitcombe was 0-0-1 as a player, once again choosing not to play himself in singles.

Walter Hagen finally retired the "player" part of "player-captain" for himself in 1937. He was the opposing captain to Whitcombe again, but at age 44 and well past his prime as a player, Hagen stuck to only captaining. It was his sixth and final time as Team USA captain, and the only one of those six times Hagen did not also play in the competition.

Due to World War II, the Ryder Cup did not take place again until 1947. And then the playing captains returned ... but not for long.

• 1947 Ryder Cup: Ben Hogan (USA) and Henry Cotton (Great Britain) were both playing captains. Team USA won, 11-1. Hogan was making his Ryder Cup debut at age 35, and was 1-0-0 as a player. Cotton went 0-2-0 as a player.

Two years later there was a Ryder Cup first: The 1949 Ryder Cup was the first one that did not include any playing captains. Whitcombe, for the final time, was the Great Britain captain. But he was also 53 years old and did not participate as a player. And Hogan was the American captain, but he was still recovering from a near-fatal car crash earlier in the year.

But we aren't done with player-captains yet:

• 1951 Ryder Cup: Sam Snead (USA). Slammin' Sam went 2-0-0 as a player and Team USA won the Cup, 9.5 to 2.5.
• 1953 Ryder Cup: Lloyd Mangrum (USA) guided the American side to a 6.5 to 5.5 victory, while going 1-1-0 as a player.
• 1955 Ryder Cup: Chick Harbert (USA) and Dai Rees (Great Britain). The USA won, 8-4. Harbert was 1-0-0 as a player and Rees was 0-2-0 as a player.
• 1957 Ryder Cup: Jack Burke Jr. (USA) and Dai Rees (Great Britain) were the player-captains in the Brits' 7.5 to 4.5 victory. Burke was 1-1-0 as a player, Reese was 2-0-0 as a player.
• 1959 Ryder Cup: Sam Snead (USA) and Dai Rees (Great Britain). The Americans won the Cup, 8.5 to 3.5, with Snead going 1-0-1 as a player and Rees 0-2-0.
• 1961 Ryder Cup: Jerry Barber (USA) and Dai Rees (Great Britain). As a player, Barber was 1-2-0 and Rees was 3-1-0. But Captain Barber's side defeated Captain Rees' for the Cup, 14.5 to 9.5.
• 1963 Ryder Cup: Arnold Palmer (USA) was the 34-year-old playing captain in the Americans' 23-9 victory. Arnie was 4-2-0 as a player.

And there you have it: all the playing captains in Ryder Cup history. Palmer was the last one to date, and 1961 was the last year in which both team captains also played in the Ryder Cup.

Related articles:

• Golfers who won the most Ryder Cup matches
• Most losses in Ryder Cup singles matches
• All the holes-in-one in the Ryder Cup

Sources:
PGA of America. Ryder Cup Media Guide, 2023, All-Time Results.
PGA of America. Ryder Cup Media Guide, 2023, Previous Ryder Cup Recaps.