Haas grabs crucial point as US wins Presidents Cup
Print Edition
The final hour when both teams thought they had it won. The clutch putt that turned a rookie into the hero.
The Presidents Cup, packed with raw emotion and endless nerves, was unlike any other over the last 10 years.
Except for the outcome.
The Americans won for the sixth straight time yesterday when Chris Kirk made a 15-foot birdie putt to win his match in a stunning turnaround on the final hole, and Bill Haas provided a storybook ending with the winning point for his team and for his father in Incheon.
“A moment I’ll never forget,” US captain Jay Haas said, so choked up when it ended that he couldn’t speak.
Haas used a captain’s pick on his son, sent him off in the 12th and final singles match at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea and then saw Bill Haas hit all the right shots to hold off Bae Sang-moon for a 2-up victory.
The 15.5-14.5 margin was the slimmest since the famous tie in South Africa in 2003. Not since 2005 has the event been decided by the final match.
The final session was not without its share of heartbreak.
Anirban Lahiri, the first player from India to make the International team, battled Kirk shot-for-shot over the final hour holes and looked like a winner when he played a delicate pitch to perfection on the par-5 18th and had 4 feet for birdie. Kirk’s chip ran 15 feet by. Based on the status of other matches still on the course, it looked like the International team would finally emerge a winner.
And then Kirk made his putt on the final turn, and one of the most stoic players on the PGA Tour unleashed a fist pump.
Moments later, Lahiri missed. His putt caught the right edge of the cup and spun out, and he dropped his putter over his back in disbelief. “I have to give credit to Chris for making that putt,” Lahiri said. “These things are scripted, I guess, and I wasn’t in the script this time.”
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