The 31st Ryder Cup Matches were held September 22–24, 1995 at the East Course of Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, a suburb southeast of Rochester.

The European team won the competition by a margin of 14 to 13 points to win back the Cup. At the time, this was only Europe's second victory on U.S. soil, the first was eight years earlier in 1987. This was the third consecutive Ryder Cup where Bernard Gallacher captained the European side and the only victory.

Going into the Sunday singles matches, Europe trailed by 2 points, 7 to 9. For the first time, they overcame a deficit entering the singles to win the Cup. The unheralded Irish rookie Philip Walton secured victory for Europe by defeating Jay Haas 1 up. The next Ryder Cup where Europe won from behind was 2012, also held in the U.S.

Format The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. The competition format used in 1995 was as follows: Day 1 (Friday) — 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball (better ball) matches in an afternoon session Day 2 (Saturday) — 4 foursome matches in a morning session and 4 four-ball matches in an afternoon session Day 3 (Sunday) — 12 singles matches With a total of 28 points, 14 points were required to win the Cup, and 14 points were required for the defending champion to retain the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 18 holes.

Teams  Team USANameAgePointsrankWorldrankingPreviousRyder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinningpercentageLanny Wadkins 45 Non-playing captainCorey Pavin 35 1 7 2 8 4–4–0 50.00Tom Lehman 36 2 12 0 RookieDavis Love III 31 3 19 1 4 2–2–0 50.00Phil Mickelson 25 4 24 0 RookieJay Haas 41 5 29 1 4 2–1–1 62.50Jeff Maggert 31 6 30 0 RookieLoren Roberts 40 7 20 0 RookieBen Crenshaw 43 8 25 3 9 3–5–1 38.89Peter Jacobsen 41 9 21 1 3 1–2–0 33.33Brad Faxon 34 10 31 0 RookieCurtis Strange 40 23 61 4 17 6–9–2 41.18Fred Couples 35 34 8 3 12 3–6–3 37.50

Captains picks are shown in yellow. The world rankings and records are at the start of the 1995 Ryder Cup.

Two changes were made to the selection process for the European team. For the first time prize money in the three Major Championships played in the USA was included. This change was meant to provide more opportunities for the leading players to gain automatic qualification. The number of captain's picks was, however, reduced from three to two. The qualifying period remained the same, starting with the Canon European Masters in Switzerland at the beginning of September 1994 and ending with the Volvo German Open on August 27, the remaining two team members being chosen soon afterwards by the team captain. In the final event Ian Woosnam had a chance to overtake Philip Walton but a poor last round left him out of the automatic qualifying places."Woosnam's Ryder Cup prospects look bleak". The Times, August 28, 1995; pg. 20; Issue 65357. Gallacher announced his picks on August 28. He had already indicated that he would choose Nick Faldo as one of his choices. José María Olazábal was chosen as the second selection. Olazábal had finished in the top 10 in two recent PGA Tour events but had been troubled with a foot injury during the season."Olazábal given final place in Ryder Cup team". The Times, August 29, 1995; pg. 23; Issue 65358. Olazábal continued to be troubled with his foot injury and withdrew from the team on September 11. Gallacher immediately chose Ian Woosnam as his replacement."Woosnam steps in for Olazábal". The Times, September 12, 1995; pg. 48; Issue 65370. Olazábal had finished 12th in the points list and had a world ranking of 10 at the time of the Ryder Cup.

 Team EuropeNameAgePointsrankWorldrankingPreviousRyder CupsMatchesW–L–HWinningpercentage Bernard Gallacher 46 Non-playing captain Colin Montgomerie 32 1 6 2 8 4–2–2 62.50 Bernhard Langer 38 2 5 7 29 13–11–5 53.45 Sam Torrance 42 3 17 7 23 4–13–6 30.43 Costantino Rocca 38 4 28 1 2 0–2–0 0.00 Seve Ballesteros 38 5 15 7 34 19–10–5 63.24 David Gilford 30 6 58 1 3 0–2–1 16.67 Mark James 41 7 57 6 22 7–14–1 34.09 Howard Clark 41 8 73 5 13 6–6–1 50.00 Per-Ulrik Johansson 28 9 70 0 Rookie Philip Walton 33 10 108 0 Rookie Nick Faldo 38 17 4 9 36 19–13–4 58.33 Ian Woosnam 37 13 26 6 26 12–10–4 53.85

Captains picks are shown in yellow. The world rankings and records are at the start of the 1995 Ryder Cup.

Friday's matches Morning foursomes Results Faldo/Montgomerie 1 upPavin/LehmanTorrance/Rocca 3 & 2Haas/CouplesClark/James 4 & 3Love III/MaggertLanger/Johansson 1 upCrenshaw/Strange 2 Session 2 2 Overall 2

Afternoon four-ball Results Gilford/Ballesteros 4 & 3Faxon/JacobsenTorrance/Rocca 6 & 5Maggert/RobertsFaldo/Montgomerie 3 & 2Couples/Love IIILanger/Johansson 6 & 4Pavin/Mickelson 1 Session 3 3 Overall 5

Saturday's matches Morning foursomes Results Faldo/Montgomerie 4 & 2Strange/HaasTorrance/Rocca 6 & 5Love III/MaggertWoosnam/Walton 1 upRoberts/JacobsenLanger/Gilford 4 & 3Pavin/Lehman 3 Session 1 6 Overall 6

Afternoon four-ball Results Torrance/Montgomerie 4 & 2Faxon/CouplesWoosnam/Rocca 3 & 2Love III/CrenshawBallesteros/Gilford 3 & 2Haas/MickelsonFaldo/Langer 1 upPavin/Roberts 1 Session 3 7 Overall 9

Sunday's singles matches Results Seve Ballesteros 4 & 3Tom LehmanHoward Clark 1 upPeter JacobsenMark James 4 & 3Jeff MaggertIan WoosnamhalvedFred CouplesCostantino Rocca 3 & 2Davis Love IIIDavid Gilford 1 upBrad FaxonColin Montgomerie 3 & 1Ben CrenshawNick Faldo 1 upCurtis StrangeSam Torrance 2 & 1Loren RobertsBernhard Langer 3 & 2Corey PavinPhilip Walton 1 upJay HaasPer-Ulrik Johansson 2 & 1Phil Mickelson 7 Session 4 14 Overall 13

Individual player records Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.

Source:

United States Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes FourballsFred Couples 2.5 2–1–1 0–0–1 0–1–0 2–0–0Ben Crenshaw 0 0–3–0 0–1–0 0–1–0 0–1–0Brad Faxon 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 1–1–0Jay Haas 1 1–3–0 0–1–0 0–2–0 1–0–0Peter Jacobsen 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0Tom Lehman 2 2–1–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 0–0–0Davis Love III 3 3–2–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 1–1–0Jeff Maggert 2 2–2–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 1–0–0Phil Mickelson 3 3–0–0 1–0–0 0–0–0 2–0–0Corey Pavin 4 4–1–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 2–0–0Loren Roberts 3 3–1–0 0–1–0 1–0–0 2–0–0Curtis Strange 0 0–3–0 0–1–0 0–2–0 0–0–0

Europe Player Points Overall Singles Foursomes FourballsSeve Ballesteros 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 1–1–0Howard Clark 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 0–0–0Nick Faldo 2 2–3–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 0–2–0David Gilford 3 3–1–0 1–0–0 1–0–0 1–1–0Mark James 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 0–0–0Per-Ulrik Johansson 1 1–2–0 0–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0Bernhard Langer 2 2–3–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 0–2–0Colin Montgomerie 2 2–3–0 1–0–0 1–1–0 0–2–0Costantino Rocca 3 3–2–0 0–1–0 2–0–0 1–1–0Sam Torrance 3 3–2–0 1–0–0 2–0–0 0–2–0Philip Walton 1 1–1–0 1–0–0 0–1–0 0–0–0Ian Woosnam 1.5 1–1–1 0–0–1 0–1–0 1–0–0

References

External links PGA of America: 1995 Ryder Cup About.com: 1995 Ryder Cup Sports Illustrated – October 2, 1995 1995 Ryder Cup at BBC Sport