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In our weekly series, Yahoo Sport’s Nick Metcalfe features a famous voice of sport. On Ryder Cup weekend, presenter Steve Rider is the latest to go under the spotlight.

Steve Rider has been one of the main faces of sports coverage in Britain for generations.

Whether it was settling down for an afternoon of sport on Grandstand, following a Grand Prix on a Sunday, or staying up late for the conclusion to the Masters at Augusta, Rider was your very welcome companion.

It may often have been Des Lynam, who I profiled in August, taking the plaudits but Rider was also a fabulous presenter. Unflappable, authoritative, always measured and thoughtful in his approach and somebody who had genuine gravitas. As viewers, we never doubted for a minute that we were in safe hands.

As with so many of the broadcasters in this series, Rider was at first a writer, working for a newspaper in south London and then the respected news agency Hayters.

He also worked as a sports reporter for Independent Radio News in his early days, and did his first work on television, covering motor racing for Anglia. He soon became Head of Sport on the regional news programme About Anglia.

Rider was beginning to make a real name for himself, and was soon doing work for ITV Sport. He was a reporter for the Saturday afternoon programme enjoyed by millions of viewers, World of Sport.

He also covered the 1980 Moscow Olympics – which was shared between the BBC and ITV - beginning a long association with the Games. In the early days of Channel 4, Rider presented golf coverage, including American majors.

A nationwide audience was becoming familiar with Rider, and the BBC soon came calling. He joined up with the corporation in 1985, taking over from the great Harry Carpenter as a presenter of Sportsnight, the Wednesday night highlights programme. He also fronted Grandstand, and other key BBC shows throughout the year like Sports Personality. Rugby, golf and motorsport soon became Rider staples too.

If I think of sport in the 1980s now, it’s probably the Masters that first comes to mind with Rider. On those wonderfully dramatic Augusta nights, he was the face and voice of calm and good sense.

The special moments in the legendary springtime major kept coming. There was Jack Nicklaus winning at the age of 46 and Larry Mize chipping in from a mile away to claim victory in a play-off.

Sandy Lyle’s bunker shot and putt on the 18^th in 1988 sealed a glorious triumph, the first for a British player at Augusta, The following year another Briton, Nick Faldo, saw off Scott Hoch in a play-off. Memorable moments all of them, and for British television viewers they will be always associated with Rider.

He was also a regular face of the Olympics on the BBC, alongside Lynam for the Games of. Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta. And then, with Sue Barker, he was the main presenter for Olympics in Sydney and Athens. He was on air for many unforgettable moments at the Games, like Steve Redgrave winning a fifth gold in Sydney in 2000, and his fellow rowing great Matthew Pinsent then producing heroics in Athens four years later.

ITV tried to poach Rider in 1996, but he decided to stay put. For us sports fans, the rhythms of our years tend to remain the same, and Rider was a permanent witness. Five Nations (later Six) in the winter, the Boat Race and Masters in early spring, the Challenge Cup final in May and The Open in July. All were big events presented by Rider. When Lyman left for ITV in 1999, he was quite clearly the main man at the BBC.

But eventually Rider himself would also cross channels to ITV, back to his old home. He replaced Jim Rosenthal as the main presenter of their Formula One coverage, settling in quickly to a familiar role. He was also chosen over Gabby Logan to be ITV’s main presenter at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

For a time, he was the number one face of football on the channel. In 2008, Rider was on duty in Moscow for Manchester United’s victory over Chelsea in a memorable European Cup final, and a few weeks later was the main presenter for ITV’s Euro 2008 coverage. But Adrian Chiles arrived from the BBC in 2010, taking over from Rider as the main face of football on ITV.

ITV also withdrew early from its F1 contract, with the BBC taking over coverage of the sport. Rider wasn’t offered a new contract and left in 2010. The ITV director of television, channels and online, Peter Fincham, said: ‘From World of Sport through to Formula One and football, I’d like to thank Steve for the immense contribution he has made to ITV’s sports coverage through the years.’

Despite that departure, Rider has regularly been seen on the channel in the years since. He was the main presenter for ITV’s coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, where big games - including Wales playing France in one of the semi-finals - were broadcast in the mornings in Britain.

To this day, he presents coverage of the British Touring Car Championship on ITV. Four decades after he first appeared on our screens, Rider is still going strong. He hasn’t changed much really in all that time really. There’s always that authority we have come to rely on, plus great knowledge and a wealth of experience.

Rider briefly found himself in the headlines in 2015, when he responded to Gary Lineker called the Royal and Ancient ‘pompous, superior beings’, saying the comments were ‘sour and misguided’. Lineker had for some time presented coverage of golf on the BBC, and Rider commented: ‘For four years, the R&A and most other observers knew that Gary was the wrong man in the wrong job.’

That was an unusual intervention from Rider though. He’s usually let his excellent work do all the talking for him.

We’ve been fortunate to enjoy sport in the company of so many special presenters across the generations. Rider is right up there as one of the very best.