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US President Donald Trump says he’s dedicating the Presidents Cup golf trophy to the people of Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida still recovering from recent hurricane devastation.
Earlier he had dismissed those he calls ‘politically motivated ingrates’ who’ve questioned his administration’s commitment to rebuilding Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
The president spent much of the weekend at his New Jersey golf club and then attended the international golf competition near New York City.
President Trump presented the trophy to Team USA, the first sitting president to present the tournament’s winning team with a trophy. The president said the players were ‘a tremendous group of folks’ and called them ‘great champions’.
He showed up about an hour after the final match was underway on Sunday. Had he shown up much later, he might have missed the start of a long celebration for an American team that rarely had it this easy.
This really was over before it started. “Honestly, it was really weird being out there today, knowing there was no chance of losing,” Dustin Johnson said after going unbeaten in five matches. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like playing golf with my buddies. We were going to win no matter what.”
The Americans so thoroughly defeated and demoralised the International team that they needed just one point from 12 singles matches to win the gold trophy. Daniel Berger delivered the cup-clinching moment in the fourth match.
The final score was 19-11, the seventh straight victory for the Americans. They extended their dominance to 10-1-1 in this contest, if it can even be called that. “This is a juggernaut of a US team,” said Nick Price, in his third and final stint of the International captain, all of them losses. “They’re an overpowering team that played some phenomenal golf. It was tough to watch, especially being on the receiving end.”
The only consolation was keeping the Americans from a record rout. Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas each won their first point of the week as the International team won the singles session. That kept the Americans from becoming the first team to win every session in this event.
No matter. All they really wanted was the cup, and the only difference this year was who gave it to them. President Trump became the first sitting president to attend the final day of the Presidents Cup.
“They came in here riding a ton of momentum and a ton of confidence,” Stricker said. “It was about getting out of their way.”
So thorough was this beating that Hoffman and Kevin Chappell could have clinched the cup on Saturday evening if they had won their fourballs match.
The International team has not won since 1998 at Royal Melbourne. It looked as though it was turning the corner two years ago in South Korea when the Presidents Cup came down to the final two matches in a thriller. This was a snoozer. They have to wait two years to try again at Royal Melbourne.
