The United States won the Presidents Cup for the first time on foreign soil, beating the Internationals by 19.5 points to 14.5 at a sun-drenched Royal Montreal Golf Club.

Needing only three points from the 12 offer in the last-day singles, the Americans clinched the trophy for the fifth time in seven editions when Stewart Cink crushed Australian Nick O'Hern 6&4 in the eighth match.

Left-hander O'Hern missed a birdie attempt from 28 feet on the 14th green to keep the match alive before conceding Cink his own birdie putt from five feet.

"I'm very happy to do it," a beaming Cink said after setting the tone for the day with a blistering five-bidie start.

"We came into this week with a little score to settle in the international golf arena and I think we showed everybody we can play again."

Cink's win earned the Americans their first team title on foreign soil since they clinched the 1993 Ryder Cup at The Belfry.

Three-times major winner Phil Mickelson earned the first point of the day for the US with a 5&4 crushing of Vijay Singh in the third match out on a sun-drenched day at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

Scott Verplank followed suit with a 2&1 victory over South Africa's Rory Sabbatini in the top match, coming from one down after 11 holes with birdies at the 12th, 16th and 17th.

Although South African Ernie Els put the first blue number on the board for the Internationals by beating Lucas Glover two up, Cink sealed the trophy with his runaway win shortly after.

Tiger Woods had a chance to hole the winning putt for the US in his high-profile contest with local favourite Mike Weir of Canada but missed his birdie attempt from 11 feet on the 17th green.

One down at that point, Weir rolled in a 10-footer to birdie the 17th and level the match before sealing a one-up victory over Woods at the last where the world number one ran up a bogey-five.

"He's the best there is and I had to play my absolute best today to beat him," said crowd favourite Weir, who had led Woods by three after 10 holes before going one down with two to play.

"It was a heck of a match, really. I got up early and he stormed back and I was able to hit some good shots coming down the end."

Inspired by Weir and the huge galleries following his duel with Woods, the Internationals won seven matches.

Argentina's Angel Cabrera beat Woody Austin 2&1, South Korea's K.J Choi won 3&2 against Hunter Mahan and Australian Adam Scott reeled off seven birdies to beat Masters champion Zach Johnson 2&1.

Australia's Geoff Ogilvy edged a close battle with Steve Stricker one up and twice US Open winner Retief Goosen of South Africa came from two down to Jim Furyk to win 2&1.

"We've squeezed it out but the guys played well," said US captain Jack Nicklaus. "Scott Verplank was my rock, winning four matches this week, and both Phil and Stewart played great. That's what we needed."

"We had a monumental hill to climb but our guys can hold their heads high after winning more singles matches today," said Internationals captain Gary Player.

"We made a match of it but congratulations to America; they played extremely well and deserved to win."

Reuters