IT WAS in the gloom of a cool October Sunday five years ago when Tiger Woods stood to the back of the 18th green at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club and watched his American teammates celebrate a Presidents Cup win over the International Team.

TWO years after Tiger Woods and Ernie Els staged an unresolved tension-packed twilight play-off duel in South Africa, someone might finally take sole possession of the Presidents Cup this weekend.

Jack Nicklaus has been appointed captain of the US team for the second time in the past three Presidents Cups.