The best of The Presidents Cup 2009

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The Presidents Cup provided some highs, some lows and some fantastic fashion this year at Harding Park.

Another Presidents Cup victory is in the books for the U.S. Team, but there is so much more to remember from Harding Park than who won and who lost. Both teams treated the golf world to an exciting week in San Francisco, and here are just a few of the highlights from the 2009 competition ...

Best International Player
Tim Clark. Vijay Singh had the best record (2-0-3) of any International player, but Clark's performance isn't reflected in his results (2-2-1). The two losses he and Weir suffered came against Anthony Kim/Phil Mickelson on Thursday and the hard-luck defeat against Woods/Stricker on Saturday, both in Foursomes. Other than that, Clark had the shot of the day on Friday, his second shot on the 18th setting up the winning eagle as he and Singh beat major winners Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink 1 up. Then in his last two matches, Clark produced 14 birdies, including eight against a tough Zach Johnson in Singles. Greg Norman referred to Clark several teams as his "pit bull." That's as apt a description as any. Now let's see if he can carry that momentum and break through with his first PGA TOUR win.

Best U.S. Player
Tiger Woods, of course. He was the only player to win every match, just the third time that has happened in Presidents Cup history. And four of his wins were decisive; the only one he had to sweat out was the comeback win with partner Steve Stricker against Tim Clark and Mike Weir in Saturday's Foursomes. Woods made the two key shots in the last two holes to pull out that win. It was fitting that he gave the U.S. its clinching point on Sunday with a Singles win over nemesis Y.E. Yang. "That's what you expect out of your No. 1 player in the world," said International Captain Greg Norman. "You need him to step up to the plate, and sometimes he hasn't done that (in team competitions), and this time he did do it."

Best Shot
Tiger Woods' second shot at the par-5 18th in Saturday's Foursomes. Woods and Stricker were 1 down through 16 holes to Mike Weir and Tim Clark and in serious danger of being upset. But Woods rolled in a 23-foot birdie putt at the 17th to square the match, then won it with his second shot at the 18th. From 232 yards out, he landed his ball within nine feet for an eventual conceded eagle and the match. Woods would argue that his putt at No. 17 was more important than his shot at the 18th, but that last shot set up the victory and deflated the International Team.

Best Partners
Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. Four wins, no losses. They came to Harding Park wanting to play with each other, and U.S. Captain Fred Couples saw no reason to go against their wishes. Together, the world's No. 1 and 3 players ran through the competition -- only playing the 17th hole once in that defining match they survived with Mike Weir and Tim Clark. Perhaps even more impressive is that it wasn't just Tiger carrying the team. Stricker was an equal contributor, especially in Saturday's Four-Ball win over Ryo Ishikawa and Y.E. Yang. Stricker made seven of the pair's eight birdies in an incredible putting display -- two of his birdie putts were outside 31 feet. For one of the few times in his career, Woods was just along for the ride. Perhaps being paired so often during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup provided time for the two to gel.

Best Partner
This would have to go to Phil Mickelson -- hands down. He coaxed the best out of Anthony Kim in the opening Foursomes, then helped his old friend Justin Leonard forget about that missed 3-footer at the 18th hole on Thursday that had cost the Americans a win. Lastly, he took over where Michael Jordan left off with Sean O'Hair and partnered the rookie to a win and a tie. Mickelson was unbeaten in team play at 3-0-1, then he came back to win his Singles match -- putting together his best Presidents Cup performance yet.

Best Coach
Could it be anyone other than Michael Jordan? To a man, the Americans talked about what it meant to have him in the U.S. Team room and keeping them loose during practice rounds. The Americans gave him a standing ovation at the closing ceremonies, and Jordan's speech on Saturday night about teamwork was nothing short of inspiring for the Americans, who went out and won seven points in Singles, including six matches outright.

Best Rookie
This was a close one, but Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa gets the nod over Sean O'Hair. He just turned 18 years old, but he was hardly intimidated, eking out a 2-and-1 victory over Kenny Perry -- who, at 49, was the oldest man on either team -- in Singles to bring his record to 3-2-0. "He's going to be here for a long, long period of time," International Captain Greg Norman said at the closing ceremonies.

Best Captain's Pick
Ryo Ishikawa. See above.

Best Match
Given two of the men involved -- and the huge momentum boost the Internationals would have received with a win -- this has to go to Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker vs. Mike Weir and Tim Clark. America's dynamic duo was 1 down with two holes remaining in their match with the two International pit-bulls, Mike Weir and Tim Clark, when Woods turned it on. First he made a 23-footer for birdie at the 17th hole that enabled the U.S. Team to square the match when Mike Weir missed his. Then Woods uncorked a huge blast from 232 yards that settled 9 feet from the pin for what turned out to be the conceded eagle and the 1 up win. "We all know what he does, and he stepped it up when he had to here," Stricker said. "It was pretty impressive." Had Woods not turned up the fire and allowed the Internationals to win, it would have been a huge lift entering the afternoon Four-Balls.

Best Surprise
Amy Mickelson showed up at the Fairmont Hotel on Saturday evening to surprise her husband and the rest of the team. She hid in the bathroom when her husband walked into the room and pulled off the coup. "That was awesome," Mickelson said. "It was a wonderful surprise. It was so hard to not have her here, this is such an emotional week, these team events we play, and this is the first time she has not been with me, and it was difficult on both of us."

Best Move
Re-routing the holes so that Harding Park's normal three finishing holes came into play more often during matches, especially the old 18th, which became this week's signature hole as the 15th. Consequently, the new finishing holes also provided plenty of fireworks, especially the drivable par-4 17th (the old seventh) and the reachable par-5 18th (the old ninth).

Best uniform
There were no garish ones like we saw at Brookline in the 1999 Ryder Cup -- thank goodness. But the International Team's Sunday duds were exceptionally classy. The players wore golden-yellow polo shirts under dark-gray sweaters with an argyle design over half the chest.

Best unofficial uniform
The San Francisco Giants jerseys worn by the U.S. caddies during Wednesday's practice round. The idea came from U.S. Captain Fred Couples and his good friend, John Wood, who is Hunter Mahan's caddie and a Sacramento native. Wood proposed the idea to Couples three months ago. Their original idea was to have each player/caddie duo choose any Bay Area sports jersey of their choice. But when the Giants organization heard about it, they were so eager to be involved, they took care of all the jerseys. It was pretty cool to have Tiger Woods' caddie, Steve Williams, sporting a Willie Mays jersey.