Tiger Woods leads US team to Presidents Cup victory after Americans overcome two-point deficit
Tiger Woods revealed there will be “conversations” with the US Ryder Cup committee about him taking over as captain for the 2022 match, but as the tears rolled down his cheeks and, yes, the celebratory drinks poured down his throat, it was obvious he was looking no further than America’s victory party on their private jet home on Sunday night.
Some might it find it strange that Captain Woods and his team were in such high spirits following their 16-14 win over the Internationals at Royal Melbourne. After all, this was their ninth successive triumph in the Presidents Cup and with an average world ranking of 12.16 compared to the 40.75 of their opponents, this was surely no more than an expected achievement.
However, Woods’s men were forced to come back from a 10-8 deficit going into the final day and did so courtesy of winning eight of the 12 matches in that singles session.
Woods, the first playing-captain in 25 years, put himself out first and gave Abraham Ancer the latest lesson of “careful what you wish for”. The young Mexican had signalled his wish to face Woods, but inevitably went the same way as past Tiger baiters in Stephen Ames, Vijay Singh and Rory Sabbatini going down 3&2 to a near faultless Woods.
“Abe wanted it - he got it,” Woods said, acknowledging his own feat in being the only player on either team to win all of his matches.
From there it was one of those afternoons to which Ryder Cup fans have become well-accustomed, as the momentum lurched one way and then the other, with calculators and agonised faces being the order of the action. A draw seemed possible and even at one stage probable, but when Matt Kuchar, who had earlier been three down, took a one-up lead against South Africa Louis Oosthuizen with only the 18th to play, it was confirmed in anti-climactic fashion.
The US had won again and so the fist-pumping, high-fiving and blubbing began, with Woods looking just as emotional as he had at Augusta in April in the midst of his Masters resurrection. “I’ve cried in pretty much every Cup we’ve won,” Woods said. “Any time you have moments where you’re able to do something that is bigger than us as an individual, is so much more meaningful and so much more special. My guys and I, we did it - together.”
For his part, Els looked utterly crestfallen. Not only had he, yet again, have to search for solace in the fact he had come second to Woods, but, in truth so much had appeared in favour of his Internationals coming in.
First, there was the magnificent Royal Melbourne course, the sand-belt gem that was meant to suit the home side. Then there was the jet lag suffered by the Americans as they arrived on Monday and still looked walking zombies by Thursday’s first day as they fell behind 4-1. And then there was Patrick Reed.
If ever there was a villain to unite a unit believing they were fighting the good fight, it was Reed. The week before, he had been pulled up for blatantly improving his lie in the Hero World Challenge, but he remained unrepentant. The opponents stepped forward to criticise the 2018 Masters champion and so the Australian galleries took their cue, reining heckles down on the man who likes to call himself Captain America.
By Saturday, his caddie had been banned for an altercation with a fan and with Reed having lost each of his three matches in the company of Webb Simpson, Sunday was set up for further ignominy. Yet Reed revelled in the atmosphere, winning six of his first seven holes, before lasting home 4&2.
It would be wrong to say that Reed recovered his cape, as the “cheating” accusations will stick for sometime yet. But he ultimately rewarded his captain’s faith in handing him a wildcard and now there will be a clamour for Woods not only to resume the role in Charlotte in 2021 but also to lead the team in Rome as the US try to win their first away Ryder Cup match in 29 years. “We will have a conversation [about that], but not right now,” Woods said. “We are going to enjoy this moment."
