The United States won a ninth successive Presidents Cup with a 17.5-12.5 victory over an International team who failed to pull off an unlikely comeback on the final day in North Carolina.
South African Trevor Immelman’s side had given themselves a glimmer of hope after claiming five of the eight points on offer on Saturday to cut the deficit to four at 11-7, having been 8-2 down the previous day.
However, it still left the hosts needing only four-and-a-half points to retain the trophy at Quail Hollow in Charlotte and that was achieved when Xander Schauffele holed the putt which beat Corey Conners one-up.
Jordan Spieth led off with a 4&3 win over Cam Davis to make it five points from five this week before Patrick Cantlay beat Adam Scott 3&2, Tony Finau defeated Taylor Pendrith – who was two up through eight – 3&1 and Sam Burns halved with Hideki Matsuyama.
That paved the way for Schauffele to clinch it with five matches still out on the course.
Highlights for the International side on the last day saw South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, ranked 76th in the world, beating two-time major winner and current world number seven Justin Thomas one up and Colombian Sebastian Munoz taking down world number one and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler 2&1.
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