AMERICA WIN WORLD CUP
The United States won the Golf World Cup after a final round of 67 was enough for Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland to capture the title by two strokes from Germany and England.
Starting the foursomes two behind overnight leaders Ireland, Kuchar and Woodland carded six birdies and a bogey at the Mission Hills Resort on Hainan Island to finish 24 under par and lift the trophy for a 24th time.
England enjoyed a strong finish to the tournament as Ian Poulter and Justin Rose returned a 63 that featured an eagle, eight birdies and a bogey to end 22 under, tied for second with Germany, who posted a 69.
Irish duo Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, meanwhile, could only produce an even-par 72 as they missed out on the last day for the second consecutive time after finishing runners-up to Italy in 2009, their score of 21 under par leaving them in a tie for fourth with Scotland, Holland and Australia.
After ending America's 11-year wait for the title following Tiger Woods and David Duval's victory in 2000, Kuchar told reporters: "When I got selected to represent the United States in the World Cup, I also got to choose my partner, and I knew it was going to be a great honour to come here to play for the United States, and I thought that if I picked the right partner, I'd have a real shot at winning the title.
"And I chose Gary Woodland, thinking that he would team up well with me, we would have the best shot of winning this title, and he played fantastic this week.
"I have no doubt that he was the best player in the field, and for me, it was a lot of riding his coattails, trying to keep encouraging him to keep it going, because he played some great golf.
"And I'm fortunate and really, really excited that I picked him."
Woodland added: "We played phenomenal, especially today.
"It's a tough format, and both of us picked each other up when the other one got in trouble and to go out and shoot, I don't know what we shot today, we got off to a hot start early, played solid on the back and really we were not in trouble in the back at all. It was a good day."
Birdies at the first and second set the Americans on their way as they assumed the lead on the front nine and, after picking up further shots at the sixth and seventh, Kuchar and Woodland had established a strong position by the turn.
Ireland, by contrast, began poorly with a bogey at the first and although McIlroy and McDowell recovered with two birdies, another dropped shot at the sixth again set them back.
However, a birdie at the 10th allied with a bogey at the 11th for the Americans saw the two tied at the top.
That was as good as it got for Ireland, though, as Kuchar and Woodland went on to sink crucial birdies at the 12th and 13th that eventually proved enough for them to triumph.
McDowell and McIlroy, on the other hand, faded as bogeys at the 12th and 15th followed and a birdie at the 16th was only good enough for them to finish fourth.
"We just didn't have it out there today," said McDowell. "We didn't make anything.
"We had two of probably the best breaks we had all year on the two par fives and we made six off both of them. That was really just the story of the day.
"We knew what we had to do today.
"Our target was to go and shoot four under par and that's exactly what we needed to do. We just couldn't get it done."
Poulter and Rose produced the round of the day as they followed up four birdies over the front nine with four more coming back alongside an eagle and a bogey but just fell short of a remarkable comeback and had to settle for second alongside Germany at 22 under.
"I felt like today was a bit about coming out and playing for pride," said Rose.
"You always have pride when you are playing for your country but it was about restoring individual pride for ourselves really.
"Both fourball days were uncharacteristic for us and today was fun. We gelled and finally got the right rhythm and right intensity and I think when we do get that, we match up really, really well."
Poulter added: "Yesterday was disappointing to shoot four under par in fourball and to go and shoot nine under par in foursomes is crazy."
Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka carded a 61 yesterday but only picked up three birdies in their closing 69 to share second place.
Martin Laird and Stephen Gallacher signed for a 66 containing eight birdies and two bogeys as they ended in a four-way tiefor fourth on 21 under, while Rhys Davies and Jamie Donaldson picked up five birdies to finish fifth, four shots behind the United States.
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