The Yanks were dandy - and went home richer.
John Daly played the home of golf for the first time and went home with a winners' check for $150,000.Fred Couples rediscovered the consistency that had deserted him and wound up tying a record.
Payne Stewart lost twice in one day, yet was captain of the winning team.
It was a rewarding Dunhill Cup for the American team.
Daly, Couples and Stewart teamed up Sunday to beat defending champion England 2-1 in the final of the $1.5 million tournament at St Andrews. They collected the winners' prize of $450,000.
Stewart scored a 74 to lose by four to Mark James in the opening game of the final. But Couples came up with a 68 to beat Nick Faldo by one and Daly was third man home with a 70 that beat Peter Baker by three.
"I'm extremely proud of my team," said Stewart, the United States captain who also lost his semifinal game to Sweden's Jesper Parnevik.
"I didn't play that well and I'm thankful I had John Daly and Fred Couples on my team. I'm excited about having the United States name on the trophy again."
The U.S. has won the trophy only once before, when Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange beat Japan in 1989.
Couples also joined Calcavecchia in the tournament's record books, tying his countryman's lowest total for five rounds played.
"It was a great week for me," said Couples, who shot 71, 70, 69, 67 and 68 in four days. "I got back to knowing when I went out on the tee that I was going to get a good score."
Daly's famed big hitting proved to be a factor when he had the wind behind him on the first three days as he drove greens other players would find out of reach.
On Sunday's almost windless day, however, he played patient, steady golf, especially when he was ahead.
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At San Antonio, Jay Haas and Bob Lohr kept trading shots in the stretch run at the Texas Open.
First it was Haas, breaking a tie for the lead with a 45-50 foot birdie putt on the 16th hole.
Moments later, it was Lohr, vaulting back into the lead with a sand wedge shot from 85 yards that found the cup for an eagle-2 on the 17th.
And then, after completing a bogey-free, 7-under-par 64 and holding a one-shot lead, Lohr stood by the 18th green at the Oak Hills Country Club and watched as Haas lined up a downhill, cross-grain 20-foot birdie putt to tie and force a playoff.
"He's going to make it," Lohr told his wife. "He's 20 under par and you don't get to 20 under par missing putts."
He was right.
Haas, who had a good read on Tom Lehman's longer putt on the same line, made the birdie, matched Lohr's 64, tied him at the end of regulation play at 263, 21 under par, and set up a sudden death playoff.
After both birdied the first extra hole, a par-5, Haas won on the second with a 10-foot putt for his third birdie in a row and fourth in five holes.
"I thought I was going to have to birdie 'til dark to win," Haas said after securing his second title in this tournament and the ninth of a 17-season PGA Tour career.
Dan Forsman and Tom Lehman, who shared the third-round lead with Haas and Lohr, each dropped back with a 70 and were tied at 269 with Gil Morgan, Mike Standly, Marco Dawson and David Edwards.
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At Rancho Murieta, Calif., George Archer sank a 3-foot birdie putt on the final hole to defeat Bob Charles and Chi Chi Rodriguez by a stroke.
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At Naples, Fla., Dottie Mochrie shot par-72 and took advantage of a final-hole mistake by Donna Andrews for a two-shot victory in the World Championship of Women's Golf.