2013 Presidents Cup: Tiger Woods clinches USA win over International team at Muirfield Village

These international team cup competitions are great for providing a brand new library of golfers celebrating awkwardly with each other. There were plenty of those cringe-inducing impromptu reactions last week at the Presidents Cup, but there were also a couple cool photos that came out of the week.

First, there was that shot at the opening ceremonies, with Phil, Tiger, and Duf lounging in their bespoke finery. Then, after they’d locked up their fifth straight Presidents Cup, a few of the team’s stars came together for this shot in the clubhouse:

How about Team USA’s 18.5-15.5 drubbing of its International counterparts in what had to be one of the most exciting finishes to a golf tournament ever seen on tape delay?

What a week! Muirfield Village provided a full slate of entertainment -- from Tiger Woods throwing his back out just to give captain Fred Couples a lovely parting gift for his third straight less-than-nail-biting win against another overmatched contingent of global players from almost everywhere but Europe; to a furry woodland creature hanging out in Davis Love III’s pocket and on Tiger’s neck; awkward throwback handshakes and other geeky celebratory rituals; Phil Mickelson’s wife helping Tiger’s sweetie out of a rut; and even a streaker to thank Freddie for all those years of service.

Tiger Woods’ nagging back pain kicked up again Sunday during his Presidents Cup-winning singles match with Richard Sterne and it’s a good thing for captain Fred Couples that Johnny Miller was not quarterbacking America’s team.

Woods, who has battled a bad back since August, gasped, “Ah!” and grabbed at the pain after slicing his approach shot to the par-5 15th with the ball above his feet from the left side of the fairway. Grimacing as he walked gingerly toward the green, Woods had, prior to the stroke with a fairway metal, bent over and tended to what appeared to be tightness somewhere in his spine.

The weird thing about the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup is that they’re often decided early on Sunday with plenty of matches still out on the course. Each time, however, the players finish out these matches that don’t mean anything in the larger picture.

On Sunday, the Singles session went far too long before the American team secured the 18th and clinching point. Tiger Woods, playing in the ninth match of the session, eventually secured the fifth straight Presidents Cup win. For the American side, it was a sloppy finish to a rainy week where they slowly built up and extended their lead during three days of start-and-stop golf in Columbus.

It’s always more exciting with Phil Mickelson, but the below shot may be the most adventurous shot of his career. Mickelson ended with a sidehill lie behind a tree on the 14th hole at Muirfield Village.

With water looming in front of a fairway and greens that were well left, Mickelson appeared to be in jail. i’m not exactly sure what he was trying to do here, but it looks like an attempt to layup and pop it up and over the tree down the right side, with a little bit of a fade back towards the hole. The swing doesn’t look like he’s trying to make some sort of hero shot and shape it around the tree.

The United States secured a fifth straight Presidents Cup win on Sunday when Tiger Woods knocked off Richard Sterne on the 18th green to claim the winning point. The U.S. currently leads the International team, 18-14, with three more non-determinate matches still in progress.

The Internationals certainly made things interesting late Sunday, but a tie was still the best they could do thanks to a disastrous morning finish to the final Foursomes session. They cut the deficit to just four points, but the damage from all two-man games the prior three days had been done and there would be no American choke like last year at the Ryder Cup.

It’s the biggest mismatch in recent match play cup competition history, but Richard Sterne is holding his own against the No. 1 player in the world on Sunday. Tiger Woods has never led the South African through 10 holes, and at one point, Sterne even had a 1up lead over the game’s biggest superstar.

Beyond facing Woods, Sterne is now apparently dealing with optical issues. Don’t worry though, his caddy is on it (via Adam Sarson of The Score):

You wouldn’t know it from watching tape-delayed coverage on NBC, but the Sunday singles matches at the Presidents Cup are now getting to the back nine at Muirfield Village. The International side needs to win 10 of 12 matches to pull off a miraculous comeback and earn the requisite amount of points.

There’s still a long way to go, and Muirfield is getting hammered with rain again, but the match board is currently a mix of red and green. That’s not going to get it done for the International side.

Captains Nick Price and Fred Couples set up some intriguing head-to-head matchups in Sunday Singles at the Presidents Cup. The Tiger Woods vs. Richard Sterne clash, however, is not one of them. So it’s a little hard to take Couples seriously when he rationalizes it this way:

Sterne is a solid 0-3-0 in his Presidents Cup debut.

Sunday morning was a disaster for the International team at the Presidents Cup, as Team USA strung together multiple comebacks to take the final Foursomes session of the week and extend their lead to 14 to 8. The American team now only needs four of the available 12 points in Sunday singles to win their fifth straight Presidents Cup.

The American morning turnaround started again with Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, the USA’s most dynamic pairing for two years now. For the third straight session, Mickelson and Bradley staged a comeback after falling into an early hole. They were 3-down to Jason Day and Graham DeLaet yesterday, but had pulled it back to even by the time darkness hit and Foursomes were suspended.

The officials at the Presidents Cup aren’t taking any chances on Sunday, with plans to send out the first of 12 singles matches three hours earlier than their original start time. Inclement weather has hammered the Preisdents Cup on each of the first three days of competition, causing more than five hours of rain delays.

On Saturday alone, they had to finish four matches held over from Friday night, and then play two separate back-to-back five-match sessions. It was an ambitious schedule, and a midday rain delay ensured they would not finish before dark.

The Presidents Cup will play catch-up again on Sunday morning, trying to finish up four matches that were suspended Saturday night as darkness fell at Muirfield Village. There have been significant rain delays, totaling more than five hours, in each of the first three days of competition this week. The Tour was already up against it yesterday trying to finish four Foursomes matches at the crack of dawn, and then complete 10 more matches over two sessions for sun-up to sun-down golf. But a midday delay ensured things would carry over to Sunday.

The last four Foursomes matches will resume at 7:35 a.m. ET on Sunday. The last match is currently on the 10th hole, as Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods begin the back nine 1-down to the International pair of Brendon de Jonge and Ernie Els. Here’s where all four of those Saturday Foursomes matches are out on the course:

The on-the-fly nature of the Presidents Cup continues Sunday morning, with officials moving everything up three hours to try and finish up the final two sessions of the weekend. There are four more Foursomes matches to finish from Saturday, and those will all resume at 7:35 a.m. ET.

The captains will then meet at 8 a.m. and announce the order and matchups for the final 12 singles matches, the main event on Sunday at these cup events. Singles were supposed to start at Noon on NBC, but with more rain in the forecast, they are planning to send the first of the 12 matches off right around 9 a.m.

For the second straight day at the Presidents Cup, a lengthy delay prevented completion of the scheduled matches. The PGA Tour already had no margin for error at the start of the day, needing to finish up four matches from Friday and then hold 10 new matches over a morning and afternoon session. But the third straight day with rain forced another hour-plus delay, and only one of the five late Foursomes matches finished before play was called. The American team currently holes a 11.5 to 6.5 lead over the Internationals, with those four matches left to finish Sunday morning and then 12 singles matches immediately following that.

Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner, who got to sit out the morning Four-ball session, rolled to a 4&3 win against Richard Sterne and Marc Leishman. Dufner and Johnson struggled out of the gate, falling in a two-down hole before switching the momentum with a crucial win on No. 8. It was part of a streak in which they won six of eight holes to dramatically flip things from 2-down to theh 4-up, 4&3 win.