For a moment on the final day of the Presidents Cup, Adam Scott and his International team dared to dream.

While a win against the highly-ranked American team slipped away relatively early during the singles on Sunday, the prospect of an improbable tie loomed large late until Tiger Woods managed to finish off South African Richard Sterne on the 18th green.

His 1-up victory at Muirfield Village was enough for the Americans to clinch the Presidents Cup for an eighth time in 10 attempts, with the hosts winning 18.5 to 15.5.

Having returned to the course early on Sunday to complete a pivotal foursomes session delayed by bad weather, the Internationals imploded.

They had a lead in all five matches at a time on Saturday afternoon, but ended up winning just one, losing three and scratching out a half.

“We were all a little down in the room this morning after the finish of the team matches,” captain Nick Price admitted.

It put the Internationals in a deep hole, six points down at 14 to 8 and ensuring it would take 10 wins from the 12 singles matches to win.

Price’s team fought tooth and nail but managed seven wins.

There were only three matches left in play when Woods closed the deal and the Internationals needed them all.

The way it panned out, if Sterne could have mustered something special and Louis Oosthuizen found a way to win in hypothetical extra holes against Webb Simpson, it could have materialised.

The US needed just four, and that’s all they got.

“For a little while there I thought we just might do it,” Scott said.

“Our rally this week in a couple of the sessions, and particularly today, showed how much fight we’ve all got in us.

“We all wanted this badly and we kept it very interesting today.”

Scott, as the highest ranked International player, fashioned a 2-2-1 record, while countryman Marc Leishman stepped up late on Sunday to beat Matt Kuchar and improve his debut record to 2-2-0.

Jason Day, a local and member at Muirfield was the pick of the Australians, combining well with Canadian standout International player Graham DeLaet to go 3-1-1.

Day posted the first singles point on Sunday with a crushing 6 and 4 win over Brandt Snedeker to start the surge.

“We had them thinking there for a second and they were all smiles a few hours earlier,” Day said.

“We played well, they just played better than us.

“I knew it would take a big push from the Internationals to win but I just wanted to finish my second Presidents Cup with a bang.

“I just wish it was a little bit closer.”