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.

31st Ryder Cup Matches
Logo
DatesSeptember 22–24, 1995
VenueOak Hill Country Club
East Course
LocationPittsford, New York, USA
Captains
United States 1312 1412 Europe
Europe wins the Ryder Cup
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Oak Hill CC is located in the United States
Oak Hill CC
Oak Hill CC
Oak Hill CC  is located in New York
Oak Hill CC 
Oak Hill CC 

The European team won the competition by a margin of 1412 to 1312 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.[1] The next Ryder Cup where Europe won from behind was 2012, also held in the U.S.

Format

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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, 1412 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

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  Team USA
Name Age Points
rank
World
ranking
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
Lanny Wadkins 45 Non-playing captain
Corey Pavin 35 1 7 2 8 4–4–0 50.00
Tom Lehman 36 2 12 0 Rookie
Davis Love III 31 3 19 1 4 2–2–0 50.00
Phil Mickelson 25 4 24 0 Rookie
Jay Haas 41 5 29 1 4 2–1–1 62.50
Jeff Maggert 31 6 30 0 Rookie
Loren Roberts 40 7 20 0 Rookie
Ben Crenshaw 43 8 25 3 9 3–5–1 38.89
Peter Jacobsen 41 9 21 1 3 1–2–0 33.33
Brad Faxon 34 10 31 0 Rookie
Curtis Strange 40 23 61 4 17 6–9–2 41.18
Fred Couples 35 34 8 3 12 3–6–3 37.50

Captains picks are shown in yellow.[2][3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] Olazábal had finished 12th in the points list and had a world ranking of 10 at the time of the Ryder Cup.

  Team Europe
Name Age Points
rank
World
ranking
Previous
Ryder Cups
Matches W–L–H Winning
percentage
  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

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Morning foursomes

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  Results  
Faldo/Montgomerie   1 up Pavin/Lehman
Torrance/Rocca   3 & 2 Haas/Couples
Clark/James   4 & 3 Love III/Maggert
Langer/Johansson   1 up Crenshaw/Strange
2 Session 2
2 Overall 2

Afternoon four-ball

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  Results  
Gilford/Ballesteros   4 & 3 Faxon/Jacobsen
Torrance/Rocca   6 & 5 Maggert/Roberts
Faldo/Montgomerie   3 & 2 Couples/Love III
Langer/Johansson   6 & 4 Pavin/Mickelson
1 Session 3
3 Overall 5

Saturday's matches

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Morning foursomes

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  Results  
Faldo/Montgomerie   4 & 2 Strange/Haas
Torrance/Rocca   6 & 5 Love III/Maggert
Woosnam/Walton   1 up Roberts/Jacobsen
Langer/Gilford   4 & 3 Pavin/Lehman
3 Session 1
6 Overall 6

Afternoon four-ball

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  Results  
Torrance/Montgomerie   4 & 2 Faxon/Couples
Woosnam/Rocca   3 & 2 Love III/Crenshaw
Ballesteros/Gilford   3 & 2 Haas/Mickelson
Faldo/Langer   1 up Pavin/Roberts
1 Session 3
7 Overall 9

Sunday's singles matches

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  Results  
Seve Ballesteros   4 & 3 Tom Lehman
Howard Clark   1 up Peter Jacobsen
Mark James   4 & 3 Jeff Maggert
Ian Woosnam halved Fred Couples
Costantino Rocca   3 & 2 Davis Love III
David Gilford   1 up Brad Faxon
Colin Montgomerie   3 & 1 Ben Crenshaw
Nick Faldo   1 up Curtis Strange
Sam Torrance   2 & 1 Loren Roberts
Bernhard Langer   3 & 2 Corey Pavin
Philip Walton   1 up Jay Haas
Per-Ulrik Johansson   2 & 1 Phil Mickelson
712 Session 412
1412 Overall 1312

Individual player records

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

Source:[7]

United States

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

Europe

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

References

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  1. ^ "Walton secures victory for Europe". Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  2. ^ "Wadkins picks Ryder Cup 'horses' to take on Oak Hill". Rome News-Tribune. Rome, Georgia. Associated Press. August 15, 1995. p. 9.
  3. ^ Kelley, Brent. "Ryder Cup captain's picks and how they've fared". About.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  4. ^ "Woosnam's Ryder Cup prospects look bleak". The Times, August 28, 1995; pg. 20; Issue 65357.
  5. ^ "Olazábal given final place in Ryder Cup team". The Times, August 29, 1995; pg. 23; Issue 65358.
  6. ^ "Woosnam steps in for Olazábal". The Times, September 12, 1995; pg. 48; Issue 65370.
  7. ^ "2014 Ryder Cup Media and Players' Guide". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
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43°06′47″N 77°31′59″W / 43.113°N 77.533°W / 43.113; -77.533

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