(Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
The United States has dominated the Presidents Cup competitions since the inaugural event outside the nation's capital in 1994.
In this year's eighth rendition the outcome was the same, though the path to victory was entirely new and exciting.
Youthful and exuberant Fred Couples took over the captaincy of the heavily favored U.S. team.
Stoic and competitive Greg Norman led the International Team whose best player, at least on paper was Geoff Ogilvy, ranked No. 10 in the world.
Couples and Norman took over as captains for golfing legends Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player respectfully and respectively.
The tradition of worldwide friendship and good sportsmanship in golf certainly continued during the four days of competition at Harding Park Golf Course, a municipal course owned and operated by the county and city of San Francisco.
Norman's leadership, making the game of golf a global one, heightened as he selected Ryo Ishikawa an 18-year-old golfing phenom from Japan as one of his two Captain picks.
Make no mistake about it, golf is going global with a new Asian Amateur Champion eligible for next year's Masters and Olympic golf in South America in 2016.
Though a champion three times this year on the Japan Golf Tour Ishikawa's emergence on the PGA TOUR was reserved with missed cuts in the Masters and Open at Turnberry and a T56 at the PGA at Hazeltine.
This week was different as he beat Kenny Perry three times in all three Presidents Cup formats and lost to Tiger Woods twice. Even though he was beaten his best memory of the week will be "playing with Tiger."
Maybe age does matter in a youthful sense when it comes to the game of golf.
Norman's other Captain's pick started off strong with a Thursday's foursomes win partnered with Ernie Els, though finished weakly with a pivotal hammering by Stewart Cink in Sunday singles competition.
That American victory in the second group out was like the rising and overwhelming tidal wave that Scott so dearly loves to surf in his native Australia. This wave would wash out any hope of an international comeback.
Scott's 1-4-0 (W-L-Tie) record for the week gives credence to the basic tenet of golf. While friendship with the captain is important, performance and results in terms of strokes recorded on the golf course has been, is, and will continue to be the overwhelming metric in golf on the world stage.
Couples' Captain picks were a similar split personality with U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover having a dismal 0-3-1 week and Hunter Mahan (2-1-1) coming through with a W against Camilo Villegas in the opening match on Sunday.
This Presidents Cup was the first in America away from the friendly confines of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, where the national team recorded four victories without a loss.
The recent Ryder Cup and long time Presidents Cup trend of American supremacy in the foursomes format where teammates alternate shots continued at the new venue.
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