Samuel Ryder did not envisage European competition for the trophy bearing his name. Despite Arnaud Massy, a Frenchman, winning the Open in 1907, there was never any suggestion that the USA would take on an entire continent at golf, when the Ryder Cup was in its formative stages.
Ryder, the tournament’s sponsor, did not entertain this, nor did the magazine Golf Illustrated, whose fund-raising for an American raiding party to challenge for the 1921 Open at St Andrews built the momentum and appetite for an international team competition.
Europe’s involvement began in 1979, as a consequence of the United States winning 17 of the previous 18 editions against Great Britain and Ireland. Team Europe pretty much hijacked the Ryder Cup at that point, and it is a good job they did.