By Charles Payne
The U.S. World Cup of Golf hosted by the elite Men’s Golf Association (MGA) in Springfield, OH ended with a flurry after three of the top players in the world arrived in Ohio.
In the team match play final, reigning World No. 1 Justin Thomas fired six birdies en route to a 6 and 5 victory over Scotland’s Martin Laird.
Thomas leads the Player of the Year voting after tallying 20 points in the first three rounds.
Joining Thomas and Laird in the winning team was 2017 Masters champion Patrick Reed.
Reed birdied the final two holes to preserve the win.
Thomas’ new teammate Bryson DeChambeau settled for fourth place with a defeat at the hands of Sweden’s Alexander Bjork.
In the other final at Warren National, the U.S. again captured the event for the seventh consecutive year when duo Pat Perez and Martin Laird defeated Scotland’s Russell Knox and John Parry by four strokes.
Perez leads the Player of the Year voting with 14 points, one ahead of Nick Watney. Laird sits fifth with 11 points.
Laird opened the event with a pair of wins, including one over Sergio Garcia. Laird went on to claim matches over players such as Zach Johnson, Johnson Wagner, Jason Day, Brandt Snedeker, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, and Rickie Fowler.
Having pared the final hole to win the first match of the day, Watson reeled off a four-hole win over Mickelson.
In the second of the three round-robin matches, Watson dropped his second straight match, this time to Spieth.
Pagan birdied the first hole of his match against Parry to leave the Victorian trailing by just one shot.
The Czech Republic won two of the three other matches for its second consecutive win. The Czechs did not suffer a defeat in the event.
Overall, the American team won the event by a commanding nine-shot margin of 196 to 140.
USA victories in singles were made possible by a total of 45 points. Only four countries: Scotland (three), China (two), and Ireland (one) tallied more wins than the U.S.
Fowler topped the standings with 15 points. Simmons and Reed each totaled nine points.
The U.S. is the tournament winners for the seventh time in nine appearances.
USA World Cup of Golf Schedule (all times EST)
Feb. 24, 6 a.m. – USA v. Ireland
Feb. 24, 8 a.m. – USA v. Scotland
Feb. 24, 9 a.m. – USA v. China
Feb. 24, 11 a.m. – USA v. France
Feb. 24, 1 p.m. – USA v. Japan
Feb. 25, 1 p.m. – United States v. Britain
Feb. 25, 3 p.m. – United States v. Ireland
Feb. 26, 1 p.m. – United States v. Scotland
Feb. 26, 3 p.m. – United States v. United States
Feb. 27, 10 a.m. – USA v. Australia
Feb. 27, 1 p.m. – United States v. Sweden
Feb. 27, 1 p.m. – United States v. Belgium
Feb. 28, 9 a.m. – United States v. Japan
Feb. 28, 11 a.m. – United States v. Australia
Feb. 28, 2 p.m. – United States v. Belgium
Feb. 28, 3 p.m. – USA v. Scotland
Feb. 28, 4 p.m. – Australia v. Japan
Mar. 1, 9 a.m. – United States v. Japan
Mar. 1, 11 a.m. – United States v. Scotland
Mar. 1, 1 p.m. – United States v. Ireland
Mar. 1, 3 p.m. – United States v. Scotland
Mar. 1, 4 p.m. – USA v. Australia
Mar. 2, 9 a.m. – Belgium v. France
Mar. 2, 12 p.m. – United States v. Britain
Mar. 2, 3 p.m. – United States v. Canada
Mar. 2, 3 p.m. – Scotland v. China
Mar. 2, 4 p.m. – USA v. United States
Mar. 3, 9 a.m. – USA v. Japan
Mar. 3, 1 p.m. – United States v. Scotland
Mar. 3, 3 p.m. – United States v. Belgium
Mar.
