SHENZHEN, China – Add the World Cup of Golf to Colin Montgomerie’s long resume.

Montgomerie and Marc Warren gave Scotland its first victory in the World Cup, defeating Americans Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum on Sunday with a par on the third hole of a playoff in southern China.

The victory at the Mission Hills Golf Club made up for Scotland’s loss last year in Barbados on the first hole of a playoff with Germany’s Bernhard Langer and Marcel Siem.

Montgomerie’s tap-in for par on the third extra hole was good enough for the Scots when Weekley missed a 15-foot attempt to save par.

“It’s been a long time for Scotland to win the World Cup, since 1953,” said Montgomerie, an eight-time European No. 1. “There was pressure to come back after a playoff loss like we did last year, which was disappointing.”

The Americans forced the playoff on the last hole of regulation in alternate-shot play when Slocum made a 5-foot birdie putt.

On the first playoff hole, Slocum missed a 7-foot birdie attempt that would have won it. Seconds before, Warren holed a 12-footer to save par. A miss would have handed the event to the Americans. On the second extra hole, both teams narrowly missed birdie attempts – Weekley from 20 feet and Warren from 12.

Weekley’s approach shot on the final playoff hole was short, and Slocum’s chip left his teammate with a difficult putt.

“Putting is the strong suit of my game, and I really didn’t have a good putting week at all,” Slocum said. “I was just due for the week to make something.”

Montgomerie chimed in, saying Slocum’s missed putt was the turning point.

Ames cashes in

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Stephen Ames chuckled about his mostly mediocre 18 holes of golf. He can laugh all the way to the bank.

With $650,000 at stake on No. 18, Ames coolly knocked his 7-foot birdie putt into the center of the cup Sunday to win the Skins Game. The only other hole he won was the first, a day earlier.

“That’s the nature of the Skins Game,” Ames said, his smile still as wide at it was when his rich putt dropped. “It’s always been the way you play at the Skins Game.

“You kind of let the other guys beat themselves up and then you sneak in there when you need to.”

Taking the title for the second year in a row, Ames finished with nine skins and $675,000 of the $1 million purse.

Five-time champion Fred Couples, playing in the 25-year-old tournament for the 14th time, also won nine skins, pocketing $325,000 to push his career earnings in the made-for-TV event to more than $4.2 million.

“Somebody’s going to birdie the 18th hole, probably, and Stephen did it to win a big, big, big skin,” Couples said. “If you win the right holes, you win money.”

Couples won three skins and $75,000 on the first day with a bunker shot into the hole for an eagle on No. 4, then picked up $250,000 with a 5-footer for birdie on No. 10 to begin the second day.

Masters champion Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich, making their Skins Game debuts, were shut out.

Each player donates 20 percent of his winnings to a charity of his choice, and Wetterich had picked Big Oak Ranch. Ames’ donation will go to the Ames Foundation, and Couples’ to California wildfires victims.

Ames, whose birdie on the opening hole of the tournament was worth $25,000, finally came up with another for the really big money 17 holes later. He stuck his 9-iron from 142 yards out close enough to the pin on No. 18 to give him a good chance, then watched the other three miss their considerably longer putts.

Johnson missed from 40 feet, Couples from 20, then Wetterich’s 10-footer slid past the left edge of the hole to give Ames his chance.

He stroked the ball firmly and right on line, then, beaming, he accepted his playing partners’ congratulations.

Realizing pars don’t win skins, each of the foursome played aggressively, and frequently wound up in trouble because of it. Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad & Tobago, didn’t even finish No. 15 after his drive sailed into bushes to the left of the fairway. Couples and Johnson each birdied to tie the hole.

Ames’ winning total was $590,000 in the tournament last year, when he clinched the title with a 3-footer for birdie worth $270,000. Couples finished second then, too, with $385,000.

The first six holes were worth $25,000 each, and Nos. 7-12 $50,000. The 13th through 17th carried a prize of $70,000 and No. 18 was worth $200,000.

In the Skins Game format, a player takes a skin by winning a hole. If the hole is tied by any of the players, the money carries over and all four remain in the hunt.