U.S. team captain Tiger Woods (top row, second left) and his teammates pose with the Presidents Cup after their win over the International Team on the final day of the Presidents Cup golf tournament in Melbourne on Dec. 15, 2019.SIMON BAKER/AFP/Getty Images
The emotions poured out of Tiger Woods, just like they did at Augusta National in the spring, except this felt different.
The Masters was for him.
This was for 11 players – at times his teammates, always under his captaincy – who delivered another American victory in the Presidents Cup and a moment that nearly brought Woods to tears. And when the decisive point was on the board Sunday at Royal Melbourne, Woods celebrated with everyone he could find by hugging them hard enough to take the breath out of them.
“Any time you have moments where you’re able to do something that is bigger than us as an individual, it’s so much more meaningful and so much more special,” he said.
The Americans felt the same way.
Trailing for the first time in 16 years, they followed his lead. Woods, the first playing captain in 25 years, went out in the first of 12 singles matches and outlasted Abraham Ancer to set the Presidents Cup record by winning his 27th match.
It also set the tone for his team.
Patrick Reed, winless in three matches and heckled so badly for his rules violation last week in the Bahamas that his caddie shoved a spectator and was kept from working the final day, was six-up through seven holes. Dustin Johnson, playing for the first time since the Tour Championship because of knee surgery, was four-up through seven holes.
Perhaps most inspiring was Tony Finau in the second match. He was four-down to Hideki Matsuyama through 10 holes when Finau won the next four and earned a half-point that put even more pressure on the International team.
Matt Kuchar delivered the winning point without even winning his match. His five-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole assured the Americans the half-point they needed to win for the eighth straight time.
The last two matches ended in halves for a 16-14 score. The Americans tied a Presidents Cup record with an 8-4 margin in singles, the largest since the first event in 1994.
It was crushing for the Internationals, hoping to end two decades without a victory.
Woods was appointed captain of the U.S. team in March of 2018, and suggested he might be a playing captain, which he later said was a joke.
And then he won the Masters, his 15th major and first in 11 years, to cap off a comeback from injury made even more meaningful by the hugs he shared with family and those who never left his side.
Two weeks before he filled out his team with four captain’s picks, Woods won in Japan for his 82nd career victory, leaving him no choice but to be the first captain to pick himself.
He was the only player to go undefeated at Royal Melbourne, winning twice with Justin Thomas and on his own ball against Ancer, one of seven rookies for the Internationals.
The International team at least kept it close, unlike two years ago at Liberty National, when it was one putt away from being eliminated on Saturday.
Even with so much American red on the scoreboards, the Internationals still had a chance in the final hour. Matsuyama lost a one-up lead with a three-putt from 25 feet that led to the halve with Finau. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., had a 15-foot birdie putt to beat Bryson DeChambeau on the 18th hole, but had to settle for a halve when he missed on the high side.
Louis Oosthuizen lost a three-up lead at the turn against Kuchar, who caught up on the 15th hole and set off the celebration two holes later. Their matched ended in a halve.
At the closing ceremony, the Internationals stood with their arms crossed. The frustration was evident, even among the seven rookies.
The Americans now lead the series 11-1-1, the only International victory coming at Royal Melbourne in 1998.