Twice victorious as a captain in the Ryder Cup, Arnold Palmer said that being selected as U.S. Team Captain for the second staging of the Presidents Cup was “a thrill that almost stands by itself."

Playing at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia in 1996 against an internationals team helmed by Peter Thomson, the U.S. managed a close win, 16.5 to 15.5, as former President George H.W. Bush looked on. Fred Couples sealed it for the U.S. with a 25-foot birdie that beat Vijay Singh and sent the U.S. team into celebrations. “If Freddie Couples hadn’t run in that monster putt on 17 to win his match and cinch the Cup for the Americans,” Palmer wrote in A Golfer’s Life, “I don’t know if my old heart could have withstood any more drama.”

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