USA won the golf World Cup after a final round of 67 was enough for Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland to take the title by two shots – from Germany and England.
Kuchar and Woodland, starting the foursomes two behind the overnight leaders Ireland, had six birdies and a bogey at the Mission Hills course on Hainan Island to finish 24-under par and take the trophy to the US for a 24th time.
England enjoyed a strong finish as Ian Poulter and Justin Rose returned a 63 that featured an eagle, eight birdies and a bogey, to end 22-under, tied for second with Germany, who shot a 69.
The Irish pair, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, could only produce an even-par 72 as they missed out on day four for the second consecutive time, after finishing runners-up to Italy in 2009. Their score of 21-under left them in a tie for fourth with Scotland, Holland and Australia.
After ending the USA's 11-year wait for the title following Tiger Woods and David Duval's victory in 2000, Kuchar said: "When I got selected to represent the United States I also got to choose my partner, and I knew it was going to be a great honour to come here to play for the United States. I thought that if I picked the right partner I'd have a real shot at winning the title.
"And I chose Gary Woodland, thinking that he would team up well with me, we would have the best shot of winning this title, and he played fantastic this week.
"I have no doubt that he was the best player in the field and for me it was a lot of riding his coat-tails, trying to keep encouraging him to keep it going, because he played some great golf.
"And I'm fortunate and really, really excited that I picked him."
Woodland added: "We played phenomenal, especially today. It's a tough format, and both of us picked each other up when the other one got in trouble. We got off to a hot start early, played solid on the back and really we were not in trouble in the back [nine] at all. It was a good day."
Birdies at the 1st and 2nd set the Americans on their way as they assumed the lead and after picking up further shots at the 6th and 7th, Kuchar and Woodland had established a strong position by the turn.
Ireland, by contrast, began poorly with a bogey at the 1st and although McIlroy and McDowell recovered with two birdies, another dropped shot at the 6th again set them back. However, a birdie at the 10th allied with a bogey at the 11th for the Americans saw the two tied at the top.
That was as good as it got for Ireland, though, as Kuchar and Woodland went on to sink birdies at the 12th and 13th that proved enough for them to triumph.
McDowell and McIlroy, on the other hand, faded as bogeys at the 12th and 15th followed and a birdie at the 16th was only good enough for them to finish tied for fourth. "We just didn't have it out there today," said McDowell. "We didn't make anything.
"We had two of probably the best breaks we had all year on the two par fives and we made six off both of them. That was really just the story of the day.
"We knew what we had to do. Our target was to go and shoot four-under par and that's exactly what we needed to do. We just couldn't get it done."
Poulter and Rose produced the round of the day as they followed up four birdies on the front nine with four more coming back, alongside an eagle and a bogey, but just fell short of a remarkable comeback and had to settle for second alongside Germany at 22-under.
"I felt like today was a bit about coming out and playing for pride," said Rose. "You always have pride when you are playing for your country but it was about restoring individual pride for ourselves, really.
"Both fourball days were uncharacteristic for us and today was fun. We gelled and finally got the right rhythm and right intensity and I think when we do get that, we match up really, really well."
Poulter added: "Saturday was disappointing to shoot four-under par in fourball and to go and shoot nine-under par in foursomes is crazy."
Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka shot a 61 on Saturday but only picked up three birdies in their closing 69 to share second place.
Scotland's Martin Laird and Stephen Gallacher signed for a 66 containing eight birdies and two bogeys as they ended in a four-way tie for fourth on 21-under, while Rhys Davies and Jamie Donaldson of Wales picked up five birdies to finish fifth, four shots behind the United States.
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