Dubliner Walton on clinching special 1995 Ryder Cup victory in States

PHILIP Walton took a quick look at the Sunday singles draw, got up and went to the blackboard.

- By MICHAEL SCULLY

In doing so, he passed some of European golf's greatest ever golfers.

He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote three words: We will win.

It was Saturday night at Oak Hills in the 1995 Ryder Cup and Europe were trailing the USA by two points.

His 11 colleagues, including Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, stared at the 33-year-old Dubliner, one of two rookies in Bernard Gallacher's team. No-one reacted. "Everyone just looked at me," he said.

Thirty years have passed since Walton won the trophy on American soil. The memory hasn't faded. "It's gone very quickly," he said, reflecting on the time that has passed in between.

"Golf does feel like a different game now — I started off with a wooden head club.

"But that Ryder Cup team was such a hard thing to make, when you look at the quality in it. Back then there were only two picks, you had to play your way on. You could say it's a bit easier now...slightly!".

Walton forced his way onto it by winning twice that year, the Open Catalonia and Murphy's English Open, as well as the Irish PGA Championship.

"I was looking forward to it," he said. "I was playing well and felt confident. There were nerves, but there were always nerves. But you knew there was no hiding place.

"It was a great team. I got on great with every one of them — well, maybe not with Faldo, but I probably wasn't the only one."

He got great advice and support on the side from John O'Leary, the 1982 Irish Open winner who was helping out in the background.

Left out of action on the first day, Walton was paired with Ian Woosnam in the Saturday morning foursomes. They lost one up to Loren Roberts and Peter Jacobsen.

"Woosie unfortunately didn't play very well, we got beaten and I got dropped for the afternoon, said Walton.

"I thought I was going to play, whereas he went back out with (Constantino) Rocca.