The Americans have retained the Presidents Cup with a 19-15 victory over the Internationals at Royal Melbourne, halving the singles on the final day as they continued their dominance of a competition they have now won seven times from nine attempts.

Greg Norman's Internationals started the week favourites to pick up just their second win in an event that started in 1994, having thrashed the Americans 20 ½-11 ½ at the same venue back in 1998 while the 2003 tournament was shared in South Africa.

But Fred Couples' team grabbed the lead on the opening day and after going further ahead on a marathon Saturday in miserable conditions, slammed the door shut on Sunday with Tiger Woods' 4 and 3 win over Victorian Aaron Baddeley sealing the triumph.

By winning the first four matches on Sunday thanks to Ryo Ishikawa, Charl Schwartzel, KT Kim and Geoff Ogilvy, the Internationals gave themselves some hope of fighting back from their 13-9 overnight deficit.

But having claimed the first of five points they needed on the final day through Hunter Mahan, who completed a horror week for wayward Queenslander Jason Day with a 5 and 3 win, subsequent victories from David Toms, Nick Watney, Jim Furyk and Woods proved decisive.

Queenslander Adam Scott and South African Retief Goosen were the other International winners on Sunday, Scott downing Phil Mickelson 2 and 1 and Goosen a 1-up winner over Matt Kuchar, before Steve Stricker wrapped up the final match against South Korean YE Yang 2 and 1.

After a disappointing week playing with Baddeley, having struggled to come to terms with the famed sandbelt course, Day shot a nine-over 44 to the turn to be down by five and never got closer than three as Mahan took the first point of the day.

But after impressing as he and compatriot Yang beat Woods and Dustin Johnson on Saturday, Kim repeated the dose when he bolted to a 3-up lead after seven holes and then survived a fightback from Webb Simpson by winning the 17th hole en route to a 1-up win.

That was after reigning US Masters winner Schwartzel had capitalised on poor putting from Johnson to win 2 and 1 and Japanese star Ishikawa overcame dropping the 1st hole to beat Bubba Watson 3 and 2.

But Watney's 3 and 2 defeat of South Korean KJ Choi gave the USA a 15-12 lead and soon after Toms capped a 0-4 week for captain's pick Robert Allenby when he won the 13th hole for a 7 and 5 result.

Victorian Ogilvy, so desperate to help his team to victory, finished as the Internationals' leading player with a 3-1-1 record thanks to his 2-up win over Bill Haas but soon after Furyk capped his memorable 5-0 week when he beat South African Ernie Els 4 and 3.

That left the Americans needing only one more point to get home and Woods duly delivered when Baddeley couldn't hole out for the eagle at the 15th that would have kept the match alive, ending a contest in which Woods had been five under.

from pgatour.com.au