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The United States of America continued their dominance of the Presidents Cup, defeating a plucky International side 18½-15½ at Muirfield Village in Ohio.

Fred Couples’ men took a 14-8 lead into Sunday’s concluding singles session and required only four points to seal a fifth consecutive victory in the Ryder Cup style event.

However, the International side, led by Nick Price, refused to go down without a fight and, when they won six of the first nine matches on Sunday, an unlikely ‘Medinah-esque’ comeback appeared as though it might be on the cards.

Jason Day got the ball rolling with a 6&4 annihilation of Brandt Snedeker, before Hunter Mahan restored the USA’s lead with a 3&2 win over Hideki Matsuyama.

PGA champion Jason Dufner then defeated Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge 4&3 to put the US within two points of yet another Presidents Cup victory. Canada’s Graham De Laet edged to a one-hole victory over Jordan Spieth to keep the contest going but when Zach Johnson defeated Branden Grace 4&2, the writing appeared to be on the wall.

“The USA has now won eight of the ten stagings of the Presidents Cup and, for captain Fred Couples, it was a third consecutive victory at the helm.”

Nonetheless, the International side hung in there, with Adam Scott recording a 2&1 win over Bill Haas. Ernie Els then scraped past Steve Stricker by one hole and when Marc Leishman beat Matt Kuchar and Charl Schwartzel put Keegan Bradley to the sword, the stage was set for a grandstand finish.

In the end, though, it was left to world No.1 Tiger Woods to see the Americans over the line, as he had done in the previous two editions of the Presidents Cup. The 14-time major winner, dogged by back pain for most of the final day, held off South Africa’s Richard Sterne to win one-up, with two matches still on the course, Webb Simpson and Louis Oosthuizen finishing all-square, with Angel Cabrera defeating Phil Mickelson one-up.

The victory means that the USA has now won eight of the ten stagings of the Presidents Cup and, for captain Fred Couples, it was a third consecutive victory at the helm of the US Presidents Cup side.

“I’m very proud of the way the guys played,” said Couples. “So many putts were made and very few poor shots were hit. I get we have won this thing several times. I also get that there’s another team competition that we haven’t won that many times in the last, probably 20 years, so it’s really not that fun to be on the losing side.”

Match-winner Woods added: “To have the opportunity to win the Presidents Cup for Freddie and all the guys on the team, it means a lot to me, and to be able to have trust in the guys and be able to go out there and earn a point, it means a lot.”

• Presidents Cup, 2015

The 2015 Presidents Cup will take place at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea.

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

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