U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker credited U.S. President Donald Trump for inspiring the Americans to a thrilling Presidents Cup comeback victory over the International Team.
An 11th straight victory for the USA came after big surges on the back nine by two-time major champion Collin Morikawa and 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun.
And despite being outplayed for three days in the team golf format, the USA dominated the singles to claw back a three-point deficit and win 17-13.
Captain Snedeker then praised Trump for his impact, having seen the President welcome his players on the first tee at Medinah with the home fans creating a raucous atmosphere.
“All these guys fought for each other, fought for this country, fought for this team,” Snedeker said. “And one last shout to Donald Trump, President Trump.
“He told me I was going to bring some energy today for you guys, you guys need it, and I told him if we did this, he gets all the credit. Thank you, President Trump.”
Cameron Young and Justin Thomas set the tone early. Scottie Scheffler took down Nico Echavarria with a show of pure sportsmanship when a spectator disrupted the Colombian's swing. Patrick Cantlay had another moment, as he always seem to do in this competition, holing a birdie putt from just inside 60 feet on the par-3 16th against hard-luck Adam Scott.
Five matches remained on the course — the Americans were 1 up in three of them, the other two were all square. All the Internationals had to do was find three points from them. The Americans simply refused to budge.
Koivun was 2 down through 10 holes to the Internationals' top performer this week, Si Woo Kim, when he won three straight holes to flip the color to American red on the board. The kid drilled his tee shot on the 18th, and twirled his iron when he knew the approach was pure. He wound up with a 2-up victory, and then it was a matter of time.
The clinching point came from Jacob Bridgeman, who rolled in a 3-foot par putt on the 18th green for a 1-up victory over Min Woo lee, assuring the Americans the 15 1/2 points they needed.
AP contributed to this report
