“The team was patient and focused,” said USA captain Steve Smyers. “They didn’t get ahead of themselves. It’s fun to watch the team bond together and interact with each other so well. They are serious about it. They are dedicated.”

According to Smyers, the second round served as the key moment when they pulled off a 22-stroke turnaround on the 18-hole leaders from Argentina. It helped the fourth-place USA catapult from a 10-stroke deficit to take a 12-stroke lead. “We turned it around in the second round,” added Smyers. “And we got a tremendous momentum boost by keeping the lead in the third round.”

The USA, which swept the competition categories in Canada in 2007, also won the women’s team competition, with a record-low score of 583. Argentina won the men’s competition. “Winning as a team is so good,” said the USA’s Jennifer Song, who won the 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. “You can never be happier than winning as a team. It takes so much effort.” For the USA, Song, Nathan Smith and Peter Uihlein - the latter two were members of the 2009 USA Walker Cup Match Team - each shot 72; Jessica Korda added a 75.

In the overall competition, Argentina was able to narrow a 14-stroke USA third-round lead to 10 strokes but finished at 1170 with a quartet of junior players, 15-year-olds Victoria Tanco and Manuela Carbajo Re and 17-year-olds Emiliano Grillo and Tomas Cocha.

“We got out of the general tournament with those bad rounds on the second day,” said Argentine captain Miguel Leeson.  “Emiliano had a great tournament. The USA was just steady and it was very difficult to get it back against those players.” Canada had won of the two of the past three ‘Copa’ competitions.

In the men’s event, Argentina and the USA entered the final day tied for the lead. The Argentines (570) pulled ahead for the gold medal over the USA (575) and Canada (578) in second and third place, respectively.

In the women’s competition, the USA was led by a strong final 36 holes from Song, who was the low amateur at the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open.  She posted rounds of 68-72 in the final two days. At 583, the Americans were ahead of Colombia (593) and Argentina (600), respectively. The low individual scorers were Argentina’s Grillo for the men at 7-under-par 279, and Andrea Jun of Paraguay and Jennifer Murcia of Colombia for the women at 1-over-par 289. Olivos Golf Club played at par 71 for the men and par 72 for the women. HONORED GUEST – Roberto de Vicenzo,  86, Argentina’s first great international star, attended the final round  of the Copa de las Americas. The 1989 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame lives in the southern part of Buenos Aires.  De Vicenzo won the 1967 British Open and the inaugural U.S. Senior Open Championship in 1980. In 1970, he was presented the USGA’s highest prize, the Bob Jones Award.

URUGUAY’S DETERMINATION – Alvaro Vargas and Santiago Huisman of Uruguay were not going to miss the 2010 Copa de las Americas. To keep expenses down, they drove nearly 950 miles around the Uruguay and Argentine coastline of the Rio de la Plata to reach Buenos Aires in approximately 10 hours. They are staying in an apartment of friends. While their scores keep them in the bottom of the field, they are the personification of the Olympic ideal of participation over success.