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By Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator

MONTREAL, Canada -- Gary Player couldn't hold back his tears.

Captain Gary Player is as popular with the fans as he is with his International Team players. (Levy/WireImage)

His team lost the seventh edition of The Presidents Cup, but that's not why he brushed the tears away. They glistened in the eyes of the little guy with the big heart as he listened to fellow team captain -- and good friend -- Jack Nicklaus.

During the closing ceremonies, Nicklaus paid tribute to Player, the Black Knight and the captain of the International Team that fought valiantly but couldn't find its miracle on Sunday. Player made it clear on Saturday that he expected this to be his last time in the captain's seat and got choked up with emotion and pride as he perhaps bid adieu to the biennial competition.

"We can hold our heads very high today. At least we created a lot of excitement out there," Player later said. "...I'm proud of my team. They are a wonderful lot of young men and they are going to great heights and do a lot of things in the future and I'll be watching them and cheering them on."

Needing to keep the U.S. Team from earning just three points out of 12 on Sunday, it would have been the stuff that sports movies are made of if Player's squad had rallied for a victory. They took seven points -- the most they've won in Singles in the history of the Presidents Cup -- but fell to the Americans 14.5 to 19.5.

"It was only going to be a miracle for us to win this thing," Ernie Els said. "But I think the guys played really well today. As Gary mentioned, we're 7-5 in this session. We won both Four-Ball sessions. The only thing, we got trounced in the Foursomes session.

"We were talking about, it's almost like a (cricket) match. You have your sessions, and we just had two bad ones," he explained. "They scored about a thousand runs against us in those two, if you know, take it into a cricket match [terms]. But I think we did okay today. The guys showed a lot of guts today and played well."

The International Team went on a points roller coaster ride at the Presidents Cup. After earning just 0.5 points in its first day, some were left wondering if it would even be necessary to play Sunday's Singles matches or if the International Team could pack up and go home if Friday and Saturday were equally as dismal.

But the International Team had something to say about that, taking 4 1/2 points to the U.S.'s 1 1/2 in the Four-Ball competition on Friday. In fact, the Internationals earned a respectable seven points in the Four-Ball and seven in the Singles, so if it hadn't been for their 10.5 to 0.5 record in the two Foursomes sessions, the 2007 Presidents Cup might have been a different story.

"Maybe we didn't play to our full potential, but you know, we played some good golf. You've got to hand it to the U.S., they played very well. You know, it's a tough format. I mean, if you take the Foursomes out of it, if we lose the Foursomes 3-2 or 4-2, we almost won the Presidents Cup," Nick O'Hern said.

"I think there should be four matches of Four-Ball next time," he joked.

The mood in the post-round interview room was more somber for the Internationals than the victorious Americans, but the members of the International squad hadn't lost their sense of humor. Like impish schoolboys, at times they cracked each other up with whispered comments and some good-natured teasing.

"I was the second match out. I was playing behind Rory (Sabbatini). They were playing quite slow," Els said, as Sabbatini -- who is known for his quick style of play -- hid his head and chuckled.

When Vijay Singh -- who has now played in every Presidents Cup round ever conducted -- was asked about being disappointed that the Internationals moved to one win, five losses and one tie in the series, he held up his consolation medal with a grin.

"I've got more of these than anybody else out there."

He couldn't explain why his team fell short yet again, but Singh did suggest that they might need to play practice rounds of Foursomes together to become more comfortable in the format. Plus, Singh said being friends with the members of the American Team breeds familiarity instead of contempt, so it's hard to create the "us vs. them" mentality that's often found in the Ryder Cup.

"You know, when [the Unites States] plays against the European side, they don't even know half the side, how they play, how they interact," Singh said. "Our game, when we play our best, it's better than theirs, most of theirs anyway. I don't know, I cannot pick it out. I cannot point a finger on what's going on, but I think they are just very comfortable with our presence."

And Els said the International Team might fare better in the future if it were played more often on soil that was foreign to the U.S. Team and supportive of the International squad.

"The two that we did well in were way south. One was in Australia and the other one was in South Africa," he said. "You know, you've got to read something into that. We're the International Team."

"I think South Africa and Australia would be the best place [to play]," Singh added. "We have more players from Australia and South Africa, so I think the next ... Presidents Cup, should be away from America, should be either in Australia or South Africa.

"And Gary [Player should] set up the golf course."

Singh went on to say that Player's speech before the final round motivated his team to win as many Singles points as they did.

"I think he gave one of the most inspirational speeches that I've ever heard. It worked for a lot of us, but not ... some of us, it didn't kind of work," Singh -- who lost 5 and 4 in his match against Phil Mickelson -- said wryly.

"I think we had everything going, but we just were too far behind. It's disappointing not to win, but you know, we'd like to do it the next time. Hopefully I'm in the team in two year's time, and maybe we can do it in San Francisco," he added. "I think that's our goal and hopefully Gary is our captain again and we can do it for him again."