Bill Haas repaid the faith put in him by his father to score the winning point for the United States in a thrilling Presidents Cup victory over the Internationals Sunday.
Jay Haas had made his son one of his captain’s picks for the biennial competition and placed him in the bottom match in the concluding singles at Incheon in South Korea.
With the scores tied at 14 and a half points apiece and playing local hero Sangmoon Bae, Haas dug deep to clinch a two-up victory on the final green.
Haas, told by his father “to win it for your Mom” produced a series of clutch shots under intense pressure and it was finally Bae who wilted, fluffing a chip on to the 18th to effectively give his relieved opponent and the Americans victory.
“That was the hardest position I’ve (been in) on the golf course in my career,” Haas said.
His father, choking back tears, said it had been sheer coincidence that his son was to prove the U.S. hero.
“When we put (Bill) out 12th, we had no idea that was going to happen … I’m just proud of all of them. Couldn’t even have dreamt this. I just feel happy for the guys.”
The United States had led by a single point going into the final 12 matches, courtesy of a superb 3&2 victory for Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed over Jason Day and Charl Schwartzel in the final fourball match Saturday.
World number one Spieth, who finished the week 3-2, was beaten by inspired Australian Mark Leishman 1-up as the Internationals scented only their second win in the 21-year history of the Ryder Cup style competition.
But British Open champion Zak Johnson saw off world number two Day and Chris Kirk grabbed an unlikely victory over Anirban Lahiri when the Indian lipped out a short putt on the 18th.
South Africa’s Branden Grace then completed a triumphant week to beat Matt Kuchar 2&1 to become only the second International player to go 5-0 in the competition, the other Shigeki Maruyama in 1998.
All the attention fell on the last match, with Bae holing a testing putt on the 16th to stay one down and performing similar heroics on the 17th where he nearly found the cup from the bunker.
But Haas was making no mistakes and a fine drive then approach to the par-five 18th, which dribbled into a greenside bunker, put the pressure back on his opponent to earn a 15 1/2 – 14 1/2 victory for his team.
The United States team will next come together for the Ryder Cup against Europe in 2016 at Hazeltine, with the next Presidents Cup also on home soil in 2017.
