With USA winning all but two of the 15 stagings of the Presidents Cup, the event has struggled to capture the imagination of golf fans, particularly in the last two decades.
You would have to go to back to 2003 for the last time the USA failed to win the Presidents Cup. On that occasion, the event ended in a tie as darkness forced a premature conclusion to the playoff between Ernie Els and Tiger Woods.
The Internationals have had their moments since. They were two points clear going into the singles in 2019 before Woods’ side won eight matches on Sunday at Royal Melbourne.
There was also a very brief moment in 2022 when it appeared that Trevor Immelman’s side could pull off the most unlikely victory at Quail Hollow.
But there is no question that the Internationals’ best chance of securing their first victory since 1998 came in Incheon in 2015.
How the Internationals nearly secured only their second Presidents Cup victory in 2015
The battle at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club started poorly for Nick Price’s men, with USA winning the opening session 4-1.
Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace won the Internationals’ only point on Thursday, with Patrick Reed losing in his first ever Presidents Cup match after impressing one year earlier at the Ryder Cup.
Oosthuizen and Grace became only the second pairing in Presidents Cup history to win all four of their matches together over the week. They beat Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth 4&3 on Friday as the Internationals closed the gap to just one point.
The spoils were shared on Saturday, with both sessions ending 2-2. Spieth joined the South African pair in being the only players to contribute two points on the penultimate day.
Sang-moon Bae and Hideki Matsuyama beat Jimmy Walker and Chris Kirk 6&5 on Saturday afternoon. While no-one won by a bigger margin over the week, it would be another match involving Bae which would grab many of the headlines.
Price certainly felt a fairytale ending was possible, with Bae sent out in the anchor match in the Sunday singles. The world number 88 was the only South Korean on the team.
His opponent would be USA captain Jay Haas’ son Bill Haas. The 2011 FedEx Cup winner was still awaiting his first victory of the week.
Agony for Sang-moon Bae as Bill Haas holds his nerve in Incheon
Remarkably, despite never falling behind, USA also never opened up a lead of more than two points on Sunday.
And when Grace won his fifth point of the week in the penultimate match with Matt Kuchar, the score was tied at 14.5-14.5.
It all came down to Bae’s match with Haas, with the latter 1 up heading onto the 18th.
It proved to be an agonising conclusion for Bae, as he got his chip shot on the final hole all wrong. He could only sink towards the ground with his head in his hands as his ball mercilessly rolled back down towards him.
Shortly afterwards, Bae conceded Haas’ putt and the Americans had secured yet another victory in the event.
Only Grace and Oosthuizen contributed more points to the Internationals than Bae. However, at the crucial moment, the occasion seemed to get to the 29-year-old.
Despite the loss, it seemed that there was reason for huge optimism about the side they were building.
However, with USA winning the next four events by an average of 5.5 points, it seems that Geoff Ogilvy has got his work cut out as thoughts start to turn to Medinah in 2026.