US captain Fred Couples paid tribute to his heavyweight trio of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker after his team won the Presidents Cup for a sixth time against the Internationals Sunday. Woods, Mickelson and Stricker – the leading three players in the world – went a combined 13-1-1 for the week as the US coasted to victory by 19-½ points to 14-1/2. Top-ranked Woods went a perfect 5-0-0, only the third player to do so in the biennial competition, while he and Stricker became the first partnership to win all four matches in the same week. “It was a fun thing to have Tiger and Steve beat up on everybody because I wanted Tiger to win every match,” Couples told a news conference at Harding Park Golf Course after the competition's closing ceremony. “That was important to our team. Every tournament Tiger plays, everyone wants to know what he's shooting and where he's at, and the Presidents Cup is no different. “So for him and Steve to win every match, we basically shut their team down from saying: ‘Hey, we have them where we want them.' We won every time and that was a big boost to us.” Woods earned his fifth point of the week by crushing South Korean Yang Yong-eun 6&5 in the last-day singles, his birdie putt on the 13th green clinching the trophy for his team. Left-hander Mickelson beat South African Retief Goosen 2&1 after winning twice and halving once with three different partners in foursomes and fourball matches. “Phil and AK (Anthony Kim) played well at Ryder Cup, so we tried that,” Couples said. “And then Phil and Sean (O'Hair) hooked up.” Basketball great Michael Jordan, appointed as an honorary assistant by Couples, applauded Mickelson for lifting O'Hair's confidence after the duo posted one win and a half. “Phil Mickelson was able to take guys who had not really been successful on certain days and gave them confidence to rebound and get back to their game form,” Jordan said. “That, to me, symbolizes what a team is all about.” Couples, a former world No. 1 whose only major victory came at the 1992 Masters, rated his successful Presidents Cup captaincy as the high point of his career. “It was the week of my life, way better than any golf tournament,” said Couples, a veteran of four Presidents Cups as a player. “It was that much fun. “Would I do it again? Hell, yeah, I would do it again. Would I be picked again? I have no idea, but I certainly wouldn't turn it down.” __
