DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) -- Nobody figured that Tiger Woods, bad back and all, would have to hit a meaningful shot on Sunday at the Presidents Cup.
The International side made sure he had to.
Woods took the lead over the unheralded Richard Sterne with a par at the 16th hole and then had to lag a long birdie putt to within a foot to clinch the United States' fifth consecutive Presidents Cup victory, 18 1/2-15 1/2 over the International side.
Teeing off ninth in the U.S. order in singles, it was Woods who supplied the clincher for the third time in a row in the biennial international competition against a team comprised of players from everywhere in the world except Europe.
A strong finish in foursomes that were concluded early on Sunday morning gave the Americans an overwhelming 14-8 lead. They needed to win just 3 1/2 of the 12 singles matches in order to run their record to 8-1-1 all-time in the event.
Yet for at least a little while in between storm fronts on Sunday, it appeared the International team might just duplicate the final-day turnaround engineered by the European Ryder Cup team against the Americans a year ago.
'We were walking around and I must have asked 500 times, how are we getting this fourth (clinching) point? Where is the fourth point coming from?'' U.S. captain Fred Couples said. ''At no given time was I a nervous wreck, but it was nice when Tiger two-putted that last green to get the 18th point.''
An emotional Nick Price, the International captain, had praised his team's hard work and togetherness before the singles began, but also expressed regrets at the ''tall order'' ahead
''They feel pretty bad right now,'' he said of his players. ''They have played their tails off this week. It's disappointing to go into singles with a 6-point deficit.''
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