The Australian team of Jason Day and Adam Scott were the prohibitive favorites prior to the start of the World Cup of Golf at Royal Melbourne. They did not disappoint.

Scott was coming off two successive wins in Australia and had just won the Talisker Masters the week before on the very same Royal Melbourne golf course.

Day had a difficult start to his week with news of the deaths of his grandmother and seven other members of his family in the typhoon that had swept through the Philippines.

He shot a first round 68 and was only two shots behind the leaders, Kevin Streelman and Thomas Bjorn. Day posted 70-66-70 over the final three rounds and finished at 10-under par, two shots clear of runner-up Bjorn.

Even though Scott made a five-over par nine on his 12th hole on Thursday, he finished the round at four-over par 75. He came back to card 68-68-66, and finished in third place at seven-under par for the week.

As a team they finished at 17-under par and 10 shots better than the American team of Matt Kuchar (-6) and Streelman (-1). The Danish team of Thomas Bjorn (-8) and Thorbjorn Olesen (+3) finished tied for third place at five-under par with the Japanese team of Hideto Tanihara (-2) and Ryo Ishikawa (-3).

Day has not won on the PGA Tour since the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship. He did finish top-10 in three of the majors this year. He was third at the Masters, won by Scott. Day finished T-3 at Merion in the U.S. Open and was T-8 in the PGA Championship.

Aussies, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby and Geoff Olgilvy have been absent from winners circles on the PGA Tour over the past couple of years. Scott and Day both played well in the 2013 Presidents Cup and appear ready to assume the leadership of Australian golf.