Tiger Woods wins singles match to finish Presidents Cup undefeated

If anyone questioned U.S. Captain Tiger Woods’ selection of himself as a captain’s pick for this year’s Presidents Cup team, those doubts have now proved to be completely unfounded, as Woods won all three of the matches he played — including an impressive 3&2 singles victory in the first match of the singles session against the International team’s MVP, Abraham Ancer.

Woods never trailed in his match against Ancer, and though Ancer hung in admirably through the first nine holes, evening the match three different times, and getting back to 1-down as late as the 13th hole, three straight birdies from Woods on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 — capped by a lengthy drained putt by Woods to close the door on the match on No. 16 —  sealed Woods’ victory.

The Woods/Ancer match was an important tone-setting start on a tense final day in Melbourne, Australia. The U.S. team faced a two-point deficit with 12 matches left in singles, and history has been on the side of the leading team on Sunday, as no team has ever come back to win after trailing heading into singles.

Woods’ performance seemed to justify his decision to rest all day on Saturday, and with his victory, he surpassed Phil Mickelson’s mark of 26 career Presidents Cup matches won to become the winningest American, with 27. Before Sunday, Woods won his previous two points with Justin Thomas in Thursday’s four-ball and Friday’s foursomes sessions.

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