Europe's second away win: David Gilford reflects on the 1995 Ryder Cup

At the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, Luke Donald will aim to oversee just the fifth victory by a European team on U.S. soil.

No team has won an away Ryder Cup since the “Miracle at Medinah” in 2012, which followed on from prior success for Team Europe on the road in 1987, 1995 and 2004.

24 SEP 1995: DAVID GILFORD OF ENGLAND IS CONGRATULTED BY SEVE BALLESTEROS AFTER HIS VICTORY OVER BRAD FAXON OF THE USA AT THE 1995 RYDER CUP AT OAK HILL COUNTRY CLUB IN ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. Mandatory Credit: David Cannon/ALLSPORT

The second album, the second novel and, for a sportsperson, the second win.

The European victories of 1985 and 1987 had changed the Ryder Cup beyond recognition: what was once a walk in the park for the United States had, in the space of just a decade, become one of the most competitive events in world sport.

A brilliant comeback in the singles in 1989 saw the United States win the last four matches to salvage a tie but Europe retained the cup, before the Americans sealed back-to-back narrow victories in 1991 and 1993.

The 1991 edition – which became known as the War on the Shore - will always be remembered for Bernhard Langer’s short missed putt which could have retained the trophy as the US won 14½-13½ but it was also the debut for a 26-year-old David Gilford.

At the time he had just a single DP World Tour victory to his name and by his own admission, it was not his best week.

“I qualified in 91,” Gilford told Ryder Cup Europe’s My Ryder Cup series. “I had a good year and I won a tournament about three weeks before the Ryder Cup to get in. I was playing well, I was looking forward to playing.

“All of a sudden I'm thrown into a team with Bernard Langer, Seve (Ballesteros), (José María) Olazábal, (Nick) Faldo, (Colin) Montgomerie.

“Having been brought up watching those superstars to then be part of a team playing with them was an incredible experience.

“I played two foursomes games and then got dropped from the singles so it wasn't a great week for me to be honest.

“The European team were underdogs, supposedly or always were at the time in America. But it all came down to one putt at the end of the week, so it was all very close really.

“I think it's always disappointing, isn't it, if you lose, but you know it was very close and I think really it could have gone either way.”

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Gilford did not make the team for 1993 but by the time the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill came around two years later, he qualified automatically having added a further five wins to his CV.

But he was still surrounded by players who, on the international stage at least, had far bigger reputations and in the build up to the main event, Gilford developed a rapport with the biggest of them all.

“Myself and Seve had a practice match against Howard Clark and Mark James and I remember Mark James saying to Bernard Gallacher, ‘I think you’ve found a good partnership here’.

“I was brought up watching Seve play from when he first came to the fore at Birkdale in 76 so it was fantastic for me to play with him in a Ryder Cup.”

The opening foursomes session finished 2-2 before Gallacher deployed his new partnership in the fourballs against Brad Faxon and Peter Jacobsen.

“It was a good game,” Gilford said of the 4&3 win. “It was reasonably close, probably after nine holes, and then we just sort of moved in front on the back nine.

“I think he (Seve) probably felt better that I was playing behind him and I was sort of playing steady golf.

“He came in with some spectacular shots and he had a couple of spectacular pars which mattered during the match. So we combined well.

“I had a very good last few holes and I had probably three birdies in the last six or seven so we sort of went from one up to game over, really.

“It was fantastic. The series didn't go particularly well. We were the only winners in that series, so it in some ways it made it more important. I know every point's important, but it made it more important that, you know, it was 3-1 instead of 4-0 and it was great for us.”

The praise for Gilford was high, with Ballesteros himself saying: “I caddie for him today. I don't know how much he's going to pay me, but I want to ask for a lot of money.”

The noise about the man known as the Silent Assassin was growing louder and in the Saturday foursomes he would be paired with another illustrious partner in two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer.

The duo would defeat Corey Pavin and Tom Lehman 4&3 as Europe briefly edged ahead before ending the day 9-7 down.

“We got off to a very good start,” said Gilford of his match alongside Langer. “I played well. I remember I hit it to a foot at the second and I hit it to about two feet at the third. Bernhard chipped in I remember on about the 12th hole for a birdie.

“Bernhard was a perfect partner in fourball or foursomes, but probably especially foursomes. We won quite comfortably in end.

“But we were still behind heading into Sunday. I think the press sort of virtually wrote us off because we were two points behind but there's a long way to go, isn't there? With 12 points to be won, there's a long way to go.

“It was close all day, but we always had a chance of winning.”

Team Europe members Philip Walton, Mark James, Ian Woosnam, Seve Ballesteros, Sam Torrance, Bernard Gallacher, Costantino Rocca, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Howard Clark, David Gilford, and Colin Montgomerie during the 1995 Ryder Cup at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York.

Gilford was sent out sixth and the five matches above were split evenly on a tense final day.

His match with Faxon went down the last and the American had a chance to win it after an excellent bunker shot but missed and Gilford claimed a third point of the week 1 Up.

“I always felt I had the edge,” he said. “He was always sort of hanging on. He was holing a few five foot or six foot putts to sort of stay level or stay one down.

“It was an important point for the team and also it was great for me to win my singles which sort of topped off a good week for me.”

Gilford’s win was part of a glorious run of blue in the middle session which edged Europe into the lead and when Philip Walton’s putt was conceded on the last by Jay Haas, Europe had triumphed on American soil again.

Gallacher ran to embrace the Irishman on the 18th but Gilford celebrated with Ballesteros, having contributed to the great Spaniard’s final Ryder Cup point on day one

“Seve gave me a piggyback and gave me a flag to wave and we went out to some of the crowd and I waved my flag,” he said. “Everybody was so pleased that we'd managed to win.

“I think the Ryder Cup is one of the big moments in anybody's career and to be part of a winning team is fantastic.”

While Ballesteros would captain Europe to another victory two years later, Gilford’s Ryder Cup journey had come to an end but his contribution was vital as Europe began a period of dominance.

Between 1995 and 2014, Europe would win eight out of ten Ryder Cups as a whole new generation of players stood on the shoulders Ballesteros, Gilford and an army of trailblazing boys in blue. The tide had truly turned.