Stars & Stripes rule in Omega Mission Hills World Cup

Top Stories | Professional Golf, Stars, Tournaments

Haikou, China, November 27: Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland of the United States staged a battling comeback to win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup today. The Americans carded a final round foursomes score of five-under-par 67 to end an 11-year title wait for the United States since Tiger Woods and David Duval won the title in 2000 in Argentina.

Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka, who hauled themselves back into contention with a third round 61, could not rally back again and closed with a 69 at the Mission Hills Resort on Hainan Island.

The English pair of Ian Poulter and Justin Rose left it too late and had to settle for a share of second place alongside the Germans after they signed off with the day’s best score of 63.

Starting the day two shots behind overnight leader Ireland, Kuchar and Woodland got off to a great start with birdies at the first and second holes before picking up further birdies at the sixth and seventh holes to reach the turn in 32.

Despite picking up their lone bogey on the par-three 11th, the Americans came charging back strongly with further birdies on the 12 and 13 holes before making pars in the rest of the holes to complete their week with a winning total of 24-unde-par 264.

“We came here hoping to have some fun. We set a goal out to win and that’s what we came here to do. We played phenomenal, especially today.

“We got off to a hot start early, played solid on the back, and really we were not in trouble in the back at all. It was a good day,” said Woodland.

Kuchar, who is the third highest ranked player in the field this week, credited Woodland for a winning partnership.

“When I got selected to represent the United States in the World Cup, I chose Gary Woodland, thinking that he would team up well with me. I have no doubt that he was the best player in the field,” said the world number 10.

“For me, it was a lot of riding his coattails, trying to keep encouraging him to keep it going, because he played some great golf. And I’m fortunate and really, really excited that I picked him,” added Kucher.

Meanwhile Germany were left to rue a missed chance on the par-four 16th as that would have tipped the advantage back to them.

Having reached the turn in 34 after two birdies on the second and ninth holes, Kaymer felt that they could have narrowed the Americans’ lead to one if they had birdied the 16th hole.

“I was a little frustrated about today because we had good chances and I missed a lot. 16 was a big, big chance for us to put the Americans under pressure. They would have seen our score on 17 when they walked up to the green, they would have seen we are only one shot behind them,” said the world number four.

England, rated as one of the pre-tournament favourites, could only reflect on what could have been after they uncharacteristically failed to take advantage of the low scoring fourballs format, posting 66 and 68 in the first and third rounds.

“I felt like today was a bit about coming out and playing for pride. You always have pride when you are playing for your country but it was about restoring in individual pride for ourselves, really. Both fourballs days were uncharacteristic for us, and today was fun,” said Rose.

“We were a little subdued last night. It was disappointing to shoot four-under par in fourballs, and to go and shoot nine-under par today and actually leave shots on the golf course sounds very silly to say, but it’s the fact,” added Poulter

Final round scores

264 –USA (Gary WOODLAND & Matt KUCHAR) 64-70-63-67

266 –GERMANY (Alex CEJKA & Martin KAYMER) 65-71-61-69

266 –ENGLAND (Justin ROSE & Ian POULTER) 66-69-68-63

267 –IRELAND (Graeme McDOWELL & Rory McILROY) 63-68-64-72

267 –AUSTRALIA (Brendan JONES & Richard GREEN) 61-70-67-69

267 –NETHERLANDS (Robert-Jan DERKSEN & Joost LUITEN) 64-71-64-68

267 –SCOTLAND (Stephen GALLACHER & Martin LAIRD) 63-69-69-66

268 –WALES (Rhys DAVIES & Jamie DONALDSON) 67-69-65-67

269 –KOREA (KIM Hyung-sung & PARK Sung-joon) 66-71-64-68

269 –SPAIN (Alvaro QUIROS & Miguel Angel JIMENEZ) 65-69-68-67

270 –ZIMBABWE (Brendon DE JONGE & Bruce MCDONALD) 66-70-67-67