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Cink win earns U.S. the Presidents Cup
2007-10-01
Holders the United States won the Presidents Cup for a fifth time in seven editions when Stewart Cink crushed Australian Nick O'Hern 6&4 in Sunday's last-day singles. Left-hander O'Hern missed a birdie attempt from 28 feet on the 14th green to keep the match alive before conceding Cink his own birdie putt from five feet. "I'm very happy to do it," a beaming Cink told reporters after setting the tone for the day with a blistering five-bidie start. "We came into this week with a little score to settle in the international golf arena and I think we showed everybody we can play again." The Americans needed only three points from the 12 offer on the final day at Royal Montreal Golf Club and Cink's win earned them their first team title on foreign soil since they clinched the 1993 Ryder Cup at The Belfry in England. Three-times major champion Phil Mickelson earned the first point of the day for the U.S. with a 5&4 crushing of Vijay Singh in the third match out. Scott Verplank followed suit with a 2&1 victory over South Africa's Rory Sabbatini in the top match, coming from one down after 11 holes with birdies at the 12th, 16th and 17th. Although South African Ernie Els put the first blue number on the board for the Internationals by beating Lucas Glover two up, Cink sealed the trophy with his runaway win shortly after. "We've squeezed it out but the guys played well," said U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus. "Scott Verplank was my rock, winning four matches this week, and both Phil and Stewart played great. That's what we needed." LOCAL FAVOURITE Tiger Woods had a chance to hole the winning putt for the U.S. in his high-profile contest with local favourite Mike Weir of Canada but missed his birdie attempt from 11 feet on the 17th green. One down at that point, Weir rolled in a 10-footer to birdie the 17th and level the match before sealing a one-up victory over Woods at the last where the world number one ran up a bogey-five. "He's the best there is and I had to play my absolute best today to beat him," said crowd favourite Weir, who had led Woods by three after 10 holes before going one down with two to play. "It was a heck of a match, really. I got up early and he stormed back and I was able to hit some good shots coming down the end." The U.S. had the seventh Presidents Cup firmly in their grasp going into the final day, leading the Internationals by 14-1/2 points to 7-1/2. While the Americans needed only three more points, the Internationals required a further 10 in their unlikely victory bid. Inspired by Weir and the huge galleries following his duel with Woods, the Internationals won five of the first 10 matches. Argentina's Angel Cabrera beat Woody Austin 2&1, South Korea's K.J Choi won 3&2 against Hunter Mahan and Australian Adam Scott reeled off seven birdies to beat Masters champion Zach Johnson 2&1. The Internationals were up in one, down in another and all square in the three matches still out on the course.
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