Presidents Cup 2019: Team USA proves raw talent is hard to beat

The U.S. team finally exerted its dominance to win the Presidents Cup Sunday

Over an extended competition, talent is hard to beat. That mantra held true on Sunday afternoon at the Presidents Cup.

In the end, the United States won the 13th annual competition 16-14 at Royal Melbourne Sunday because it had the better players. Everybody knew that entering the week, yet the Internationals — who functioned with more of a sense of team chemistry and purpose –built a significant early lead and carried a 10-8 advantage into Sunday’s dozen singles matches.

But if the U.S. side came up short on teamwork, it dominated when the focus turned to basic, head-to-head golf talent. Americans won six of the 12 singles matches Sunday and split four more. They played 61 of the 201 holes under par — that was 13 more than the Internationals – and on the decisive back nine they posted 10 more under-par holes than their opponents.

In the end, those back nine streaks were the difference. U.S. players cobbled together three strong comebacks; without all three of which the Internationals probably would have won.

Tony Finau, playing in the day’s second match, delivered the first one. After Captain Tiger Woods built enough of a margin to make his eventual 3 & 2 win over Abraham Ancer inevitable, Finau began the process of reeling in Hideki Matsuyama, who led him by four holes through the first 10. At the 11th, Finau ran in an eight-footer for birdie, and at the 12th his par was good enough when a run-in with a greenside bunker drove Matsuyama to double bogey.

Energized, Finau sank an 18-footer for birdie at 13 and a 10-footer at 14 to draw even for the first time since the opening hole. Matsuyama birdied 16, but three-putted from 25 feet at 17 to fall back into a tie, which is where the match finished.

Patrick Cantlay trailed Joaquin Niemann through 10 holes, but birdied four of the next five and closed out Niemann 3 & 2 with a par at 16.

The true turning point, though, was delivered by Matt Kuchar, playing in the day’s penultimate match. Facing South African Louis Oosthuizen, Kuchar lost the first three holes and remained three down at the turn. But he dropped eight- and nine-foot putts on the 10th and 11th for consecutive birdies to move within one, then made eight- and seven-footers at 14 and 15 to square the match.

Fittingly, it was Kuchar who delivered the decisive point of the Presidents Cup with a 128-yard approach within five feet at 17 and a birdie putt. That gave him a one-hole lead going to 18, but it also ensured the U.S. the half point that put them over the top.

Woods, Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson gave the American team a jolt of early momentum it needed to overcome the energy deficit the visitors had shown most of the week at Royal Melbourne.

Woods, who nominated himself to play the opening match, fought a back-and-forth battle with Ancer that turned when Ancer bogeyed the ninth hole and Woods birdied the 10th to take a two-up advantage.

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Reed, going out third against C.T. Pan, showed the competitive fire that had been AWOL through his team matches. He took the first, second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh holes from Pan, eventually winning 4 & 2.

Johnson, who followed Reed onto the course, won three of the first five holes of his match with Haotong Li and also was never threatened.

Those early outcomes made it certain that the U.S. would erase the 10-8 advantage the Internationals carried into the final day of this Presidents Cup. But the matches behind them were close enough that they did not ensure victory. Sungjae Im won the 13th through 15th holes of his match to take out U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Cameron Smith overcame an early 3 hole deficit to beat Justin Thomas, and Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson and Xander Schauffele each survived close finishes.

When Smith finished off Thomas, it remained possible for the Internationals to snatch away a tie for the Cup by claiming the final two matches, each of which was even entering the final three holes.

Next. Tiger Woods is the highlight of the 2019 Presidents Cup. dark

Kuchar’s birdie putt to take a 1-up lead at 17 – thus clinching at least a tie – ended that fragment of an upset dream. At the end of the week, the underdogs simply lacked the talent, skill and muscle to stand up to the Americans over the span of a dozen one-on-one showdowns.

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