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Sunday's Singles recaps
 
Match 1 Justin Leonard def. Tim Clark, 4 and 3
Leonard, one of the two U.S. Captain's Picks, rewarded Jack Nicklaus' faith in him when he polished off a standout Presidents Cup with a 4-and-3 victory over Clark. The two have similar styles and demeanors, and "it was like a couple of bulldogs going at it," Leonard said. The Texan, who had never won a singles match in three previous Presidents Cups and two Ryder Cups, did not trail in the match with South African. Leonard, who compiled a 3-1-1 record this week at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, used a pair of eagles on the back nine to pull away. The point gave the U.S. Team its first lead of the competition.

Match 2 David Toms def. Trevor Immelman, 2 and 1
Down by two after two holes, Toms bounced back to win three straight to go 2 up. Immelman, a rookie, didn't back down, though. Instead, he evened it up, winning the eighth and ninth holes. They matched birdies at the 10th, eagles at the 12th, then birdied the 13th to go 1-up. He added another at No. 15, then closed it out with a pair of pars at Nos. 16 and 17. "I had to find something, dig deep,'' said Toms, who was diagonosed with a heart problem after being carried off the course at the 84 LUMBER Classic and also had to deal with Hurricane Rita, which blew through his hometown of Shreveport. "There were a lot of ups and downs. I was looking forward to getting inside the ropes and competing.'' He promised his team a point and he delivered to make it 13-11 in favor of the U.S.

Match 3 Retief Goosen def. Tiger Woods, 2 and 1
Goosen gave the Internationals some hope when he beat the game's No. 1 player to pick up their first point of the day. The quiet South African was a putting machine Sunday, which enabled him to more than overcome an erratic driver. Woods held the edge early after a trio of birdies that began at the second hole. But Goosen took a 1-up lead with consecutive birdies on the ninth and 10th holes and never trailed again, although Woods evened the match three more times. As Woods tangled with a walnut in the rough on the 16th hole, though, Goosen hit his approach to 23 feet and made the putt to go 1 up. Woods had even more difficulty on the 17th hole, sending his drive into the bushes and having to kneel down to hit it back out into the rough. Woods wrenched his upper back on his third shot and was unable to convert the resulting 19-footer for par to give Goosen the victory. Only Shigeki Maruyama, who went 5-0 in 1998, has won more points for the Internationals. "It was a great match," said Goosen, who is 4-0-1 this week. "Between the two of us, we didn't strike the ball all that well. I just putted better than him."

Match 4 Kenny Perry def. Mark Hensby, 4 and 3
Winless throughout the first three days and using a new driver, Kenny Perry put on a brilliant display of shot-making, registering eight birdies in 15 holes and punctuating his victory with a wedge to within inches of the hole at the 15th to close out Australia's Mark Hensby. "I've been beat on so bad this week. I came out today and was ready to play. I finally got to where I could breathe," said Perry, who shot a 5-under-par 31 on the front to streak out to a 5-up advantage. His first three birdies on Nos. 3-5 were from no longer than 9 feet. Hensby managed to win two holes at Nos. 10 and 13, but Perry answered with consecutive birdies, including that brilliant wedge at the 15th, to close things out.

Match 5 Fred Couples def. Vijay Singh, 1 up
A familiar opponent produced a familiar result for Fred Couples. Trading jabs with Vijay Singh, the No. 2 player in the world, Couples drained a 21-foot birdie putt on the home hole to win his first match of the week and keep Singh winless in 2005. Nine years ago, Couples sank a long putt for birdie on the 17th hole to lock up a 2-and-1 win over Singh that gave the U.S. the Presidents Cup. The two also squared off in 1998 and halved their match. Singh, 0-2-3 this week and now 1-3-2 in singles, struggled for much of the match, making only one birdie and an eagle. Couples, who won despite making four bogeys, led 2 up through 11 holes when he birdied the eighth and 10th with a pair of 3-foot putts. Singh's tap-in eagle at No. 12 and conceded birdie at the 16th evened things until the last, where Singh, after a wayward drive, hit his approach through the green and chipped to 5 feet. Couples, putting on a similar line, then drained the winner, raising both arms skyward as the putt dove in. "It was huge," an elated Couples said. "To hole that putt -- I did it at the old 17 how many years ago against him. Eight out of 10 times he probably wins. It was a great match. This is certainly exciting for me."

Match 6 Mike Weir def. Scott Verplank, 3 and 2
It was a tough week for Mike Weir. Until Sunday, that is. All those putts and shots that weren't there earlier showed up in singles as Weir upset Verplank in the sixth match of the day. Weir, who was down by two after three holes and all square at the eighth, took the lead at the 10th, then reeled off three consecutive birdies, including a 6-footer at the 16th, to close out Verplank 3 and 2. Verplank had a chance to extend the match at the 16th, but he missed the green and his chip came up short. "I had to battle all day,'' he said.

Match 7 Jim Furyk def. Adam Scott, 3 and 2
Hurting but determined, Jim Furyk remained unbeaten in singles play at his fourth Presidents Cup with a steady 3-and-2 victory over Adam Scott. Furyk, who made six birdies, including four in the first six holes, went 3-0-2 in this year's Presidents Cup. "It's not about individuals, it's about our team," Furyk said. The American never trailed against the Aussie, who suffered his first loss this week. Furyk birdied Nos. 2-4, the first two with 6-foot putts, and his lead never dropped below two.

Match 8 Peter Lonard def. Stewart Cink, 3 and 2
It wasn't close. Really. Lonard jumped out to a 1-up start on the first hole and Cink squared it at the third. Lonard took the lead back at the fourth hole, though, and hung on. Cink kept chipping away, including a brilliant eagle at the 10th, but Lonard kept answering everything thrown at him. He birdied the 14th to go 2 up, then birdied the 16th to get the 3-and-2 win. Cink finishes 1-3-1; Lonard 2-2-0.

Match 9 Michael Campbell def. Fred Funk, 3 and 2
Campbell, who won the HSBC World Match Play Championship last weekend, was in control of this match from the outset as he made birdie on the first hole. Funk won the par-5 third but the Kiwi answered with birdies on two of the next three holes to get a cushion he wouldn't relinquish. The American chipped away at Campbell's advantage but he could never square the match again. The victory was the third for the U.S. Open champion, whose Presidents Cup record is now 4-2-2 overall.

Match 10 Davis Love III def. Nick O'Hern, 4 and 3
The clincher. When O'Hern missed a long birdie attempt at the 15th, it was all over. For him and, virtually, for the Internationals. Love birdied the first hole and never looked back as he earned the U.S. its 17th point, thus ensuring the Internationals could not win the Cup outright. Love went 2 up at the fifth hole and was 4 up by the seventh. Although O'Hern did make a few putts down the stretch -- he won the eighth and ninth holes -- Love went back up by three at No. 11 when O'Hern bogeyed. Love missed a 27-footer for birdie at the 15th, but O'Hern conceded the 11-inch par putt for Love's 4-and-3 win.

Match 11 Phil Mickelson and Angel Cabrera, Halved /
They played the only match that went past the 18th hole and the only one that ended up all square. Phil Mickelson and Angel Cabrera of Argentina waged a fierce struggle with the last five holes of regulation won outright by one or the other with birdies. Mickelson held control of the match for much of the day, leading by as much as 2 up through the ninth, but a bogey by Lefty at No. 10 got Cabrera back into the picture. Cabrera drew all square when his approach from 184 yards stopped less than 2 feet away for birdie at the 14th. Mickelson countered with a shot to within a foot at No. 15 only to watch Cabrera drain consecutive birdies at the 16th and 17th from 8 and 10 feet, consecutively, to grab his only lead of the match. Mickelson wasn't done, however, hitting a wedge to 4 feet and converting to tie it and send it on to extra holes. Both players were just off the green in two shots on the first extra hole when Chris DiMarco sank a 15-footer to beat Stuart Appleby 1 up and give the U.S. Team 18 points and the overall victory in The Presidents Cup. That relegated the Mickelson-Cabrera match to a halve.

Match 12 Chris DiMarco def. Stuart Appleby, 1 up
At the start of day, DiMarco figured his match wouldn't count; that the Americans would have The Presidents Cup locked up before match 12. He was wrong. The closest match of the day was also the clincher. The match went back and forth with DiMarco taking the lead three times and Appleby squaring it back. Appleby took the lead for the first time all day at the 16th when DiMarco drove into the bunker and eventually conceded the hole to Appleby. But he tied it back up to set the stage for the thrilling 18th and final hole. Appleby put his approach to 21 feet and DiMarco, who had 146 yards to the pin, dropped his to 15 feet. Appleby actually birdied four of the previous five holes, but missed one last birdie. DiMarco rolled his in to give the U.S. the overall victory.

 
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