Story highlights
United States retain the Presidents Cup after beating Internationals 19-15 in Melbourne
Tiger Woods defeated Aaron Baddeley to score the winning point for the United States
Woods had also provided the winning when the United States won the team event in 2009
Former world number one Tiger Woods scored the winning point in the Presidents Cup for the second competition in a row to help the United States retain their trophy against an International team in Melbourne on Sunday.
Woods claimed a comfortable four and three success over Australian Aaron Baddeley in their singles match to send the United States past the required 17 1/2 points total needed for victory.
Despite enduring a frustrating competition prior to the final day, Woods was able to rediscover some form to replicate the winning point he achieved in San Francisco in 2009.
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The American side held a healthy four-point lead going into the 12 singles matches, and those were eventually split 6-6 to ensure a 19-15 win for the visiting side – their seventh success in nine Presidents Cup events so far.
Woods told reporters: “We didn’t get off to a good start early on. We needed to get our point so we went out there and played really well – putting a lot of heat on Badds (Baddeley).”
The success completed a dominant American display over the four days, as they won both foursomes, split a fourball and narrowly lost the second fourballs sessions.
On Sunday, Woods’ victory was complimented by wins for Hunter Mahan, Nick Watney, Jim Furyk, David Toms and Steve Stricker – with Furyk the only player to finish unbeaten in his five matches.
In response to critics who believe the Americans fail to bond together in golfing team events, Furyk told the official PGA Tour website: “This stuff about how we aren’t close and how we can’t come together as a group, it’s just not accurate.
“We will win some of these events like the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup, and we’ll lose some. But whatever we do, we’ll always do it as a team.”
He continued: “Since I’ve started playing in these, I’ve always loved them. But so do all the guys. They all care. Look at Tiger and Phil (Mickelson) in his room. Do they look like they don’t care about what we just accomplished?”
