Americans get it done early, clinch Presidents Cup title

The United States team clinched the only point it needed to win the 12th Presidents Cup with halves on two of the first four holes Sunday afternoon.

The U.S. went on to post a 19-11 victory in the biennial event, which was being contested at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J.

The Americans entered Sunday’s 12 matches with a 14 1/2-3 1/2 points lead and needed only one point, either with a win or two halves to clinch the Cup for the seventh straight time. They also won it for the 10th time in 12 editions of this completion, which was first played in 1994.

The United States team got a half-point closer when Kevin Chappell halved the lead match of the day with Australia’s Marc Leishman.

The International Team, which was made up of players not from Europe, staved off elimination when Jason Day of Australia beat Charley Hoffman 2 and 1 in the day’s second match.

Then Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama beat Justin Thomas 3 and 1 in the third match of singles play to delay the inevitable for at least 15 more minutes.

Berger officially won the deciding point for the Americans when, already 3 up on South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, he halved the 15th hole, guaranteeing at least a half in the match. Berger ended up winning the match 2 and 1.

The International Team finally got on track in the final day, winning 4 1/2 of the possible five points immediately after Berger had clinched the Cup for the Americans.

During that stretch, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa beat Matt Kuchar, 1 up; Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa beat Patrick Reed, 1 up; Adam Scott of Australia easily handled Brooks Koepka 3 and 2; and Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela outlasted Jordan Spieth 2 and 1 in a battle between two golfers who played collegiately at the University of Texas.

Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson had the only other wins of the day for the Americans, trouncing Emiliano Grillo of Argentina 6 and 4, and Adam Hadwin of Canada, 2 and 1, respectively.

Two other matches — between Dustin Johnson and Branden Grace of South Africa, and Kevin Kisner and Anirban Lahiri of India — were halved.

The 2019 Presidents Cup will be held at Royal Melbourne in Australia.

NOTES: The 11-point lead by the U.S. Team heading into Sunday’s singles matches surpassed the previous record of nine points; the International Team led by nine points in 1998 and ended up beating the U.S. Team 20 1/2-11 1/2 when the competition offered 32 points. … The largest overall margin of victory in Presidents Cup history after all sessions is 11 points, when the U.S. defeated the International team 21 1/2-10 1/2 in 2000. … Since 2007, the U.S. Team leads the International Team in foursomes (alternate shot) play 45-17 and in four-ball (best ball) play 33-29.