Sport

Couples hero of US victory

FRED COUPLES sank a dramatic 40-foot birdie putt to defeat Vijay Singh two and one in Gainsville, Virgina yesterday and allow…

Mon Sept 16 1996 - 01:00

FRED COUPLES sank a dramatic 40-foot birdie putt to defeat Vijay Singh two and one in Gainsville, Virgina yesterday and allow the United States to retain the Presidents Cup by the slimmest of margins.

Couples rolled in the pressure-packed putt on the 17th hole and Singh missed from 15 feet to end the deciding match and give the United States a dramatic 16 1/2-15 1/2 victory over the International team.

"Having it come down to me and Vijay was enough pressure for me to handle for the rest of the year," Couples said. "I knew we needed to win. There was so much tension going on out there. It was some match."

The US team won 20-12 in 1994 in the inaugural edition of the match-play event between US and non-European teams. The Internationals took four consecutive matches - that they had to win - to pull even and set up the dramatic finish between Couples and Singh.

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"That was tremendous," said US captain Arnold Palmer, whose team shared the 12 final-day singles matches.

Frank Nobilo sank a 15-foot birdie to defeat British Open champion Tom Lehman 3 and 2. Nobilo won the final five holes, rallying from 2 down while knowing the US team was one victory away from keeping the Cup.

Seconds later, Pavin missed a birdie putt and lost 3 and 1 to Greg Norman, squaring the overall score at 15 1/2-15 1/2 to set up the dramatic finish. Norman won the final three holes. None between him and Pavin were halved on the back nine.

Australia's Steve Elkington sank a 20-foot birdie on the final hole to beat Just in Leonard I up and South Africa's Ernie Els beat Phil Mickelson three and two. Leonard hit back-to-back birdies to force Elkington to the 18th hole.

Another US key was Mark O'Meara's one-up triumph over Nick Price. Price birdied the 16th and sank a tricky 10-foot birdie on the 17th to come from three down to dormie one, but the comeback failed when he missed a 15-foot birdie bid on the 18th hole.

O'Meara won all five of his matches in the event and hit a chip from deep rough on the 18th hole on Saturday in an alternate stroke pairs match to complete a full-point US victory. Without that half-point swing, the US team and Internationals would have finished 16-16 and had a one-on-one sudden-death shoot-out to decide the Cup.