Golf: The United States retained the Presidents Cup with a 19-15 victory over the International team at Royal Melbourne, Tiger Woods winning the decisive point with a singles triumph over Aaron Baddeley.
Greg Norman's Internationals started as favourites to pick up just a second win in an event that started in 1994, having thrashed the Americans 20.5-11.5 at the same venue back in 1998, but Fred Couples' team grabbed the lead on the opening day and, after going further ahead in miserable conditions on Saturday, and sealed victory with Woods' 4&3 win over Victorian Baddeley sealing the triumph.
By winning the first four matches on Sunday thanks to Ryo Ishikawa, Charl Schwartzel, KT Kim and Geoff Ogilvy, the Internationals gave themselves some hope of fighting back from their 13-9 overnight deficit.
But, having claimed the first of five points they needed on the final day through Hunter Mahan, who completed a horror week for wayward Queenslander Jason Day with a 5&3 win, subsequent victories from David Toms, Nick Watney, Jim Furyk and Woods proved decisive.
Queenslander Adam Scott and South African Retief Goosen were the other International winners on Sunday, Scott downing Phil Mickelson 2&1 and Goosen a 1-up winner over Matt Kuchar, before Steve Stricker wrapped up the final match against South Korean YE Yang 2&1.
After a disappointing week playing with Baddeley, having struggled to come to terms with the famed sandbelt course, Day shot a nine-over 44 to the turn to be down by five and never got closer than three as Mahan took the first point of the day.
But after impressing as he and compatriot Yang beat Woods and Dustin Johnson on Saturday, Kim repeated the dose when he bolted to a 3-up lead after seven holes and then survived a fightback from Webb Simpson by winning the 17th hole en route to a 1-up win.
That was after US Masters champion Schwartzel had capitalised on poor putting from Johnson to win 2&1 and Japanese star Ishikawa overcame dropping the first hole to beat Bubba Watson 3&2. But Watney's 3&2 defeat of South Korean KJ Choi gave the USA a 15-12 lead and, soon after, Toms capped a 0-4 week for captain's pick Robert Allenby when he won the 13th hole for a 7&5 result.
Victorian Ogilvy, so desperate to help his team to victory, finished as the Internationals' leading player with a 3-1-1 record thanks to his 2-up win over Bill Haas, but soon after Furyk capped his memorable 5-0 week when he beat South African Ernie Els 4&3.
That left the Americans needing only one more point to get home and Woods duly delivered when Baddeley could not hole out for the eagle at the 15th that would have kept the match alive, ending a contest in which Woods had been five under.
Woods, a controversial wild card pick by USA captain Couples, was pleased with the way he played all week and credited team-mate Stricker for the improvement in his putting.
"It does feel good," the 14-time major champion said on Sky Sports 1 after his victory. "I was hoping it wouldn't come down to my point. I was hoping Stricks and I could take a victory lap back here but we didn't get off to a good start early. I was saying on the range it was going to come down to probably the last four matches and we needed to get our points so we went out there and played really well today.
"I played well all week. Unfortunately I just didn't make putts. I hit putts well but they weren't going in over the first three days, the first four matches."
Asked where it had come good, he replied: "On the putting green. I was listening to this dude behind me [Stricker] giving me a putting tip about releasing the blade a little bit. Whatever he says about putting, I'm going to listen to."
Norman was disappointed but proud of his team.
"Obviously I feel for the guys," he said. "They came here full of enthusiasm.
"We did the right thing the way we loaded it up at the start of play, and the guys stepped up to the plate.
"I'm really proud of them for doing that. We really put a little bit of fear into the Americans. But the Americans had too much horsepower and putted really well."
Results in the Sunday Singles of the Presidents Cup, Royal Melbourne GC, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
(USA unless stated):
Webb Simpson lost to Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 1 down
Dustin Johnson lost to Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 2 & 1
Bubba Watson lost to Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 3 & 2
Bill Haas lost to Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 2 down
Hunter Mahan bt Jason Day (Aus) 5 & 3
Nick Watney bt K J Choi (Kor) 3 & 2
Phil Mickelson lost to Adam Scott (Aus) 2 & 1
Matt Kuchar lost to Retief Goosen (Rsa) 1 down
Jim Furyk bt Ernie Els (Rsa) 4 & 3
David Toms bt Robert Allenby (Aus) 7 & 5
Tiger Woods bt Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 4 & 3
Steve Stricker bt Y.E. Yang (Kor) 2 & 1
USA 19 International Team 15
