Sea Island, Nov 24: Eduardo Romero of Argentina held the destiny of the match in his hands when he reached the final hole one up on Scott Hoch, knowing that the Rest of the World required just one point to wrest the trophy from the USA for the first time. But Hoch dug deep and eagled the 15th, the first three of the week at that hole- and got up and down from a greenside bunker for a half at the 17th. Romero, the 2002 Barclays Scottish Open champion, missed the green and took a bogey five, leaving Hoch with the luxury of two putts to squeeze a half from a game he looked like losing when two down with four to play. That half point was sufficient to guarantee a six and half, five and a half win for the USA in the singles and ensured that the UBS Cup would stay in United States hands for the third successive year, It fell on the shoulders of Romero and Hoch and victory seemed within the Rest of the World's grasp when Romero led by two holes with four to play. At the last, Hoch was on the green in two but Romero pushed his approach and the ball ran down to the foot of the bank to the right of the green. His chip to 12 feet left him with a putt to claim the Cup but it missed and Hoch Palmer lifted the trophy which remains in the United States and said during the prize ceremony that the President's Cup also finishing also in a draw in South Africa was a proof that Americans were not dominating golf as they used to be. Final scores (United States first): Match 1 Arnold Palmer v Tony Jacklin wins the match by 1 Hole Match 2 Curtis Strange v Nick Faldo wins the match by 2 Holes Match 3 Tom Watson Match v Colin Montgomerie - match halved Match 4 Hale Irwin wins match by 7 & 5 v Bernhard Langer Match 5 Bruce Lietzke wins the match 6 & 5 v Barry Lane Match 6 Craig Stadler v Des Smyth wins the match by 1 Hole Match 7 Mark O'Meara wins the match 6 & 5 v Ian Woosnam Match 8 Rocco Mediate v Bill Longmuir wins the match by 1 Hole Match 9 Raymond Floyd v Rodger Davis - match Halved Match 10 Brad Faxon wins the match 2 & 1 Carl Mason Match 11 Hal Sutton wins the match 2 & 1 v Vicente Fernandez Match 12 Scott Hoch v Eduardo Romero - match halved Overall points USA 12 Rest of the World 12


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