U.S. beat Internationals 19 ½ – 14 ½

It was only fitting that Tiger Woods clinched the President Cup for the U.S. Team at Harding Park with his victory 6-5 over Y.E Yang. The Americans started the day with a 3 points lead over the INT’ls.Tiger’s 5th point took the U.S. total to an anreachable 17 ½ and secure the 6th Presidents Cup for the U.S. Team that remains undefeated on American soil. It was the first time Woods earned the decisive point in either the Ryder Cup or The Presidents Cup.

British Open champion Stewart Cink,after his poor performance on Saturday, had asked to start early on Sunday and brought the first point for the US beating Greg Norman’s questionable pick Adam Scott who contributed for only one point the whole week. Sean O’Hair defeated Ernie Els 6-4 and Anthony Kim dismissed Robert Allenby 5-3 in two big victories for the U.S. camp while Hunter Mahan eventually got the best of Camillo Villegas 2-1. The stage was set once more for the world #1 and he came through winning the 13th hole for a 6-5 win over Yang and taking the decisive point of the 2009 Presidents Cup. He didn’t even know it as Fred Couples came over to hug and congratulate him “Oh, perfect” Woods said “All I knew was I was trying to get my point,and I was 5 up trying to make it 6.”

It was the first time Woods and Yang played together since the South Korean was the first player to rally in the last round of a major championship(at the PGA in August) to beat the world #1. “He got me there and I figured I could get him here”said Tiger.

Phil Mickelson birdied the 17 for a 2-1 victory over Retief Goosen and in one of the early matches Justin Leonard and Mike Weir finished all square.

Vijay Singh in a gesture of camaraderie and sportsmanship conceded a 7-foot putt to halve the match with Lucas Glover and it kept the US Open champion from being shut out for the week.. “He would have made it anyway”said Singh.

Steve Stricker,who went 4-0 paired with Woods in the twosomes, lost 2-1 to Geoff Ogilvy and veteran 49-year old Kenny Perry could’t handle 18-year Ryo Ishikawa who won 2-1 in a hard-fought match.

Tim Clark made 8 birdies in 15 holes to provide one of the few bright spots for the International Team on Sunday, beating Zach Johnson 4-3. Masters champion Angel Cabrera avoided to be shut out with a 4-3 victory over Jim Furyk.

The Americans looked better on paper at the start of the competition with five of the top 10 ranked players in the world including #1 Tiger Woods,#2 Phil Mickelson and #3 Steve Stricker while the INT’ls had only one,Geoff Ogilvy at #10.

Woods and Stricker became the first partnership to win all their matches in the Presidents Cup and Woods,perfect at 5-0, joined Mark O’Meara and Shigeki Maruyama as the only players to win all five matches in this competition.

Mickelson contributed for 4 ½ points with 3 different partners and is playing some of the best golf of his career.His wife Amy surprised him as she joined him for the weekend “I didn’t thinkshe was coming up..”said Phil “It was an awesome surprise,though.” Amy is recovering from breast cancer and hadn’t travelled with Phil since THE PLAYERS Championship,a week before she was diagnosed.

The Americans big guns proved to be too much for captain Greg Norman and the International Team,they will have to work hard for the next Presidents Cup that will be held at Royal Melbourne in Australia in 2011. Norman is expected to return as International Team captain,the Americans ,meanwhile,will start qualifying next year for the Ryder Cup in Wales,a much tougher matchup for the U.S. Team.

This is the first time since 2000 that the Americans have held both Cups at the same time.

Golf continues this week with the PGA Tour Fall Series at TPC Summerlin,Las Vegas and the Champions Tour at The Woodlands CC in Texas.Check out the pairings and the betting lines at BetPhoenix.com,the golf season isn’t over yet.