United States win Presidents Cup
The United States won the Presidents Cup for the ninth time in 11 editions of the event after beating the International team 15.5 to 14.5 at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea yesterday.
Bill Haas, the son of skipper Jay and a captain’s pick for the biennial event, scored the winning point by beating South Korean Bae Sangmoon two up in the last of the day’s 12 singles matches.
After 10 years of comfortable US wins, the one-point margin of victory was the narrowest since the Americans won 16.5 to 15.5 in Virginia in 1996.
An emotional US captain struggled to get through a televised interview next to the 18th green but said he had given his son a pep talk through the closing stages.
“I told him, ‘Come on, win one for your mom, your mom deserves this’,” said captain Haas. “We put him out 12th and had no idea this was going to happen. Couldn’t even have dreamt this.” World number one Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-2 to win his sixth ATP China Open title.
Nadal, 29, in his sixth singles final of 2015, missed a chance to break Djokovic at 3-2 in the opening set to level the match in Beijing.
With a fightback not materialising and the Spaniard requiring treatment on his right foot at 1-1 in the second set, the 28-year-old Serb won comfortably.
Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza beat Timea Bacsinszky in the WTA final.
Djokovic, who won his eighth title of the year in 90 minutes, said Beijing had “definitely been the most successful tournament so far in my career. The fans give me reason to come back every year.”
Nadal, who saved two championship points, said the top seed was “having one of the most memorable seasons in the history of our sport”.
Of his recent own dip in form, Nadal added: “I have been improving in every single match. All matches are good practice for me. It’s good energy for starting next season stronger.”