Elaine Thompson, tapped for Ryder Cup painting, learned through crayons and TV

Elaine Thompson remembers getting a box of crayons for the first time in the 1940s when she was a schoolgirl in Sayville and trying out art techniques that Jon Gnagy taught on television.

Those were formative moments for the Bohemia-based painter, who is known for crafting scenes of lighthouses and other local landmarks such as the Big Duck in Flanders. Her work extends to Long Island’s vaunted golf courses, where for more than two decades she’s been selected to paint commemorative posters for professional competitions, including U.S. Open tournaments at Shinnecock Hills and Bethpage State Park.

“The most gratifying thing is everyone that buys my art is very happy,” Thompson said in an interview.

Thompson, 82, was commissioned this year to create a commemorative piece for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage State Park’s Black course, the 45th iteration of the event that pits the best golfers in the United States against those in Europe every other year.

This year’s painting, a look at the historic 18th hole with the Ryder Cup trophy at the center of the course’s bright fairways, is the latest addition to Thompson’s expansive career creating artwork for fans of professional golf. The posters, which are lithograph reproductions, will be available to the public for sale at the Ryder Cup’s pro shop from Sept. 19 to 22 and then during the week of the championship to ticketed spectators from Sept. 23 to 28, Thompson said.

Thompson, whose maiden name is Ryder — she’s not sure of any relation to the cup's founder, Samuel Ryder — first painted the Bethpage course in 2002. At the time, she said she knew little about golf and toured the grounds, taking more than 100 photographs to use as reference in her final piece. She has since painted multiple other works that were used as posters for the U.S. Open, including events in Bethpage and Southampton.

“I try to figure out what represents the golf course the most, the historical representation of the course,” Thompson said. 

Thompson said she relied on the top portion of her 2009 painting of Bethpage Black's 18th hole for this year's artwork. She used the iconic scene she painted in the past and added the Ryder Cup trophy in the center of the piece for her 2025 painting.

Ed Wankel, the former deputy commissioner of the state parks department, said he helped negotiate a deal with the U.S. Golf Association to hold the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park. For years, Wankel, who was also Town of Islip’s parks commissioner, knew Thompson through her work as a graphic designer for the town.

Wankel, 81, who now lives in Florida, encouraged Thompson to make a design for a poster for the 2002 competition.

“She went out and said, ‘I’m going to do a painting,’ and I was totally amazed at what she produced,” Wankel said in an interview. “She just has a natural capacity to see something and be able to paint it in such detail.” 

Wankel will attend this year’s Ryder Cup and plans to help Thompson with distributing the posters, he said.

Thompson said she has been working around the clock to meet demand. She accepted the job on a tight deadline. The pieces can take a week to sketch out and months to paint, she said. Then, she prints “thousands” of posters that are later sold.

“I’ve been rolling posters and putting them in tubes for six days in a row,” Thompson said during an interview in late August.

Hannah Hanley, vice president of merchandising and licensing for Legends, a partner of the USGA's Ryder Cup, said Thompson is "a highly regarded and recognized artist in the market who has established a strong fan base, particularly in the golf community."

Hanley said when the organization began considering whom to select to create posters for sale at the pro shop, “we felt her work would be a seamless fit.”

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ