The final day of the Presidents Cup ran the gamut of emotions, touched tragedy and farce and ended with the trophy being shared, the one thing that the organisers had promised could never happen.
To distinguish the contest from the Ryder Cup it has been extended to four days and given extra matches.
The key component was the agreement that if the match should end tied it would be decided by a sudden-death play-off.
When Davis Love III choked on his chip shot at the final hole of the final match it made the score here in South Africa 17-17 and the two best players in the world, with apologies to Vijay Singh, went to work.
In regulation play Tiger Woods had rediscovered his game to thrash Ernie Els 4 and 3.
And the local hero Els looked ashen as his name emerged from the captain's envelope (sealed at the beginning of the day) as Gary Player's pick to contest the play-off against the earlier inspired Woods.
But Woods was almost as shaken as Els and the two staggered through the 18th, first and second holes like punch-drunk boxers.
Amid unbearable tension Woods holed from 12 feet for par at the second and Els followed him in from eight feet.
At that point, with the light fading and no prospect of resuming today, because of the players' schedules and the demands of television, Player phoned the PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and said that he and the US captain Jack Nicklaus wanted to call the contest a draw.
So far, so amicable - and so un-Ryder Cup.
But Nicklaus took the phone from Player and told Finchem that in the event of a draw the US would keep the trophy they had won in 2000.
Player is 67 now but his competitive fires still burn bright and when his old adversary laid this claim to the trophy he came out fighting.
The two teams went into their respective huddles and Els was now in favour of continuing to play in the gloaming.
But eventually sense prevailed and the match and the trophy were shared.
"In the spirit of the game, my guys have agreed that we will share the Cup," said Nicklaus.
Player said: "Jack said his team would agree with the tie and we both hold the Cup."
Nicklaus added: "I have never seen two teams that played harder, played better and I could not find a team that deserved to lose.
"We agreed to share the Presidents Cup, and I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. Competition is about good will."
The outcome may have been equivocal but the one thing the organisers were looking for - a genuinely competitive match - was delivered in spades.
The players held their emotions in check for most of the day, but an incident in the match between Nick Price and Kenny Perry revealed what was going on under the surface.
Price had a putt to halve the game on the last but hit it poorly. The 46-year-old Zimbabwean broke his putter over his knee, an act so out of character that it signalled something rather significant.
The Presidents Cup is not an exhibition match any more.
Guardian Service
SINGLES
Jim Furyk bt Mike Weir (Can) 3 and 1
Charles Howell III bt Adam Scott (Aus) 5 and 4
Justin Leonard lost to KJ Choi (Kor) 4 and 2
Jerry Kelly bt Tim Clark (Rsa) 1 up
Jay Haas bt Stephen Leaney (Aus) 4 and 3
Kenny Perry bt Nick Price (Zim) 1 up
Fred Funk lost to Peter Lonard (Aus) 4 and 3
Phil Mickelson lost to Retief Goosen (Rsa) 2 and 1
David Toms lost to Vijay Singh (Fij) 4 and 3
Tiger Woods bt Ernie Els (Rsa) 4 and 3
Chris Dimarco bt Stuart Appelby (Aus) 1 up
Davis Love III halved with Robert Appelby (Aus).
The International team and United States team captains agreed to a tie and to share the Presidents Cup after bad light stopped a play-off between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els after three extra holes.
