MELBOURNE, Australia — The winning point for Tiger Woods. A perfect record for Jim Furyk.
And validation for U.S. captain Fred Couples.
The Americans won the Presidents Cup as a team 19-15, avenging their worst loss ever in any cup competition 13 years ago on a Royal Melbourne course that lived up to its reputation as among golf’s greatest tests.
Yet even as they gathered around the gold trophy at the closing ceremony Sunday, it was hard to ignore the singular achievements.
Couples was criticized in some corners for picking Woods, who had fallen out of the top 50 for the first time in 15 years and had gone two years without winning. Even the International team captain, Greg Norman, said he would have taken PGA champion Keegan Bradley instead.
So perhaps it was only fitting that it was Woods who blasted out of a deep bunker on the 15th hole to within 2 feet to put away Aaron Baddeley and give the Americans the point they needed to win the Cup.
Couples was among the first to greet him, shadow boxing with the guy he called “the best player in the world forever.”
“I’m thankful that he picked me,” Woods said. “Greg is probably not happy about it after I closed out the Cup today. But it’s great to be a part of this team. I’m thankful that Freddie believed in me.”
Woods was solid for five matches, even though he was rewarded with only two points.
Furyk had his worst full season since he was a rookie, only securing a spot on the team in the final hour. He teamed with Phil Mickelson three times, Nick Watney once and was at his best by himself against Ernie Els to become only the fourth player to go 5-0 in the Presidents Cup.
