Americans win Presidents Cup for 7th straight time

The Americans won the Presidents Cup for the seventh straight time, and this one was no contest.

With most of the work already done, a dominant U.S. team needed only one point from the 12 singles matches Sunday. Kevin Chappell halved the opening match with Marc Leishman, and victory was assured when Daniel Berger went 3 up with three to play against Si Woo Kim.

Berger wound up winning his match, and the celebration was on.

President Donald Trump arrived at Liberty National about 45 minutes before the Americans secured the gold trophy that he was to present to them. Trump, the honorary chairman of the matches, is the first sitting president to attend on the final day and present the trophy.

“This is a juggernaut of a U.S. team,” said Nick Price, in his third and final stint of the International captain, all of them losses. “They’re an overpowering team that played some phenomenal golf. It was tough to watch, especially being on the receiving end.”

The Americans had an 11point lead going into Sunday. All that remained was the margin of victory, and to see if they could become the first team to win all five sessions in the Presidents Cup.

That was the motivation from U.S. captain Steve Stricker, and the players responded with some of their best golf.

So thorough was this beating that Chappell and Charley Hoffman could have clinched the cup Saturday evening if they had won their fourballs match. Stricker sent them out at the top of his lineup to give them a chance to finish the job. Chappell nearly did. Hoffman was beaten by Jason Day, who had gone nine straight matches without winning until a 2-and-1 victory.

Instead, the clinching match fell to Berger, who had told Sky Sports in an interview Saturday, “Our goal from the minute we got here was to crush them as bad as we can. I hope that we close them out today and we go out there tomorrow and beat them even worse.”

Berger won his match on the 17th green with the Americans who had finished gathered around and ready to start their party. Hoffman ran over and sprayed Berger with champagne, and Berger took a swig from the bottle before handing it over to Stricker for a quick guzzle.

“They came in here riding a ton of momentum and a ton of confidence,” Stricker said. “It was about getting out of their way.”

The Americans have a 10-1-1 record in the Presidents Cup. The only loss was at Royal Melbourne in 1998, which ended just 12 days before Christmas.

The matches return to Australia in two years for another pre-Christmas test for the Americans.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Sunday scoffed at “politically motivated ingrates” who had questioned his administration’s commitment to rebuilding Puerto Rico after a pulverizing hurricane and said the federal government had done “a great job with the almost impossible situation.”

Brooke Henderson leads NZ Open as rain halts final round

Brooke Henderson took a big step towards her sixth LPGA Tour title in only six holes on Sunday, but will have to resume on Monday after rain, lightning and dangerous winds disrupted the final round of the New Zealand Women’s Open.

The 20-year-old Canadian leads the tournament by four shots at 17-under par from overnight leader Belen Mozo of Spain and American Brittany Lincicome.

Play was repeatedly suspended Sunday because of adverse weather conditions and finally called for the day at 5:30 p.m. local time when a violent squall brought heavy rain and winds which sent advertising boards flying across greens.

Tour officials ruled the tournament would remain 72 holes and players will return to the Windross Farm course Monday to complete their final rounds.

Henderson was 3-under Sunday after her six holes. She birdied the second, fourth and fifth holes to move past the faltering Mozo, who was 2-over after six holes when a trying day finally ended.

Lincicome was 2-under after six holes, with birdies at the second and fifth, and loomed as Henderson’s most likely challenger Monday.

Mozo, who led the tournament by five shots after the second round and by one entering the final round, struggled on the greens Sunday and had bogeys on her first and sixth holes to concede the lead to Henderson.

Norway’s Nicole Broch Larsen and China’s Jing Yan are tied for fourth place at 12-under after nine and seven holes respectively. Australia’s Su Oh was next at 11-under through nine holes while Hee Young Park of South Korea and Thidapa Swannapura of Thailand share seventh place at 10-under.

Hometown favorite Lydia Ko was 1-under after nine holes and tied for ninth place at 9-under, eight shots off Henderson’s lead.

Tournament organizers and LPGA officials were aware of the threatening forecast for Sunday and made provision by bringing forward tee times, hoping to avoid the worst of the weather, which was expected to hit late afternoon.

The first players were off at 7:40 a.m. and the leaders had just teed off at 10 a.m. when rain and standing water forced play to be suspended for the first time.

Players returned to the course at 12:28 p.m. and almost two hours of play were possible before play was suspended again because of the threat of lightning. Play resumed at 4:55 p.m. but had only continued about 20 minutes before the final, fierce squall spread across the course bringing lashing rain, gale force winds and bitterly cold conditions.

LPGA Tour rules official Bo Ream said organizers considered all possibilities before deciding to continue as a 72-hole event.

“We’ve talked with our partners and looked at various options,” Ream said. “We’ve decided we’re going to go 72 holes.”