Americans rally to win Presidents Cup

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Sunday, September 27, 2026

It wasn’t an upset, the American comeback victory to win the 16th Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club, but it wasn’t completely expected either.

The U.S. team had to surmount a three-point deficit by the foggy dawn’s early light, had to finally play well on the back nine, and had to hope the International squad finally missed some clutch putts.

All of that happened, and a little bit more, to enable the Americans to score a 17-13 victory by winning 9.5 of Sunday’s dozen available points.

The outcome did something else. It confirmed that 21-year-old Jackson Koivun is not only a compelling character, but a formidable player. His 2 up victory over Si Woo Kim didn’t clinch the Cup – credit Jacob Bridgeman’s 1 up win over Min Woo Lee 19 minutes later for that – but it set up the outcome and confirmed American captain Brandt Snedeker’s faith in him.

Koivun, one of the six players Snedeker picked for his side, was the only undefeated American (3-0) this week, and displayed a calm demeanor down the stretch when many in the gallery of some 30,000 roaming about Course No. 3 were losing their marbles.

“It’s just been such a cool learning experience,” said Koivun, who made his debut as a professional at the John Deere Classic in July and won shortly thereafter. “I had some goals coming out but for it to come this quickly is definitely shocking.”

The comeback came about thanks to a series of quick starts – in five of the matches, the U.S. never gave up the lead – and rallies in a couple of others.

“These guys never lost faith,” Snedeker said. “Medinah has a history of crazy things happening. I’m proud of Koivun – we put him in a tough spot and he came through. The kid’s special. He’s different.”

So were the Americans on Sunday, playing with verve throughout the lineup.

“Today we were told, ‘Go out and finish your business,’ ” Collin Morikawa said after his 1 up victory over Hideki Matsuyama. Morikawa did with a 30-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole to square his match. Matsuyama’s bogey at the last set the margin.

By and large, the Americans did. And criticism Snedeker received – and some self-criticism – played a part in the motivation.

“We love Sneds,” Xander Schauffele said. “He wears his heart on his sleeve. We knew where he was mentally all week, and we played hard for him today. That's all we could do, regardless of the outcome. I think every one of us took it personally, and we played our asses off.”

The International side felt it. They briefly led in four matches at one point Sunday, and then things turned.

“We were on a knife edge all day,” International captain Geoff Ogilvy said. “We gave it a good crack. It’s tough to beat the U.S. in singles on U.S. soil. Things just drifted the wrong way. And the crowd got involved, as it should.”

In on case, too involved. Among those with misplaced marbles was a lout who yelled in Nico Echavarria’s backswing on the 14th tee, causing him to mis-hit his shot. Echavarria glared at the spectator, as did Scottie Scheffler. At the green, in a position to win the hole, Scheffler conceded Echavarria’s 32-foot par putt and then sank his own putt to halve the hole, a sportsmanlike gesture of the first order.

“There’s no place in our game for that,” Scheffler told NBC after his 2 and 1 victory.

“It didn't happen just once,” Echavarria said. “It was a tough environment. Yeah, it's unfortunate that in some way the crowds can affect performance like that. But we have the No. 1 player in the world who's a class act. I wasn't expecting for him to give me that putt for par, and he did, and we tied the hole.”

The drift was strong. Only Tom Kim (3 and 2 over Wyndham Clark) and Sungjae Im (3 and 1 over Sam Burns) won matches for the Internationals. By the time Nick Taylor came back to salvage a half-point with Russell Henley, the Cup had been lost.

However, the dramatics of the final day, and the Internationals’ strong showing for the second and third days, should quell the argument that the Presidents Cup is a competition whose time has passed. Plus, with the amount of corporate sales and the large weekend crowds, it’s a money-maker, and the PGA Tour isn’t opposed to making a profit.

It took 2 hours 27 minutes from the moment Cameron Young scored the day’s first victory for the Americans by sinking a 30-footer to Bridgeman closing out Lee at the last to win the Cup. In between, there was a near-ace by Patrick Cantlay on the 13th hole, in his 2 and 1 victory over Adam Scott, and a 57-footer by Cantlay for a deuce on the 16th to go Dormie 2.

The birdies finally came for the U.S. team on the back nine, 14 of them in all on a Medinah layout that was both set up tough and, with browning greens a week after the last significant rain, finally played relatively firm and fast, the way Ogilvy envisioned it when he and his cohorts rebuilt the course in a $25 million renovation.

And overall, the Americans played it better than his players.

Around Medinah

The U.S. leads the all-time series 14-1-1, with 10 straight triumphs. … President Donald Trump spent the day at Medinah, greeting the American players on the first tee and then participating in the trophy presentation after shaking the hand of every player on each side, and engaging in a long conversation with Snedeker. … The teams shook hands in an impromptu Stanley Cup-style line during the awards ceremony. … Security was increased for the Trump visit, visibly around the first tee grandstand, where fans had to go through an additional set of metal detectors, and more subtly on the rest of the grounds. There were additional uniformed officers and military out and about. … The 17th Presidents Cup will be at Kingston Heath in Australia in two years.

– Tim Cronin

Presidents Cup – Internationals lead by 3 entering singles

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Saturday, September 26, 2026

O Canada!

If not for Corey Conners and Nick Taylor, the International squad would only have a one-point lead entering Sunday’s final round of the 16th Presidents Cup.

However, Conners and Taylor, 3-down to Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman through 10 holes in the afternoon’s alternate shot competition at Medinah Country Club, rallied by winning four of the next five holes and hung on for a 1-up margin to set the difference at three points – 10.5-7.5 – entering Sunday’s dozen singles matches.

To lift the big bowl, the Americans will have to win eight of the 12 matches to get to 16 points. The Internationals need only win five matches to get to 15.5 points to win the trophy for only the second time. Unlike the Ryder, Solheim, Walker and Curtis cups, a 15-15 tie means the teams would share it rather than the U.S. reataining it.

“The boys hung tough and sort of weathered the storm if you like and started making a few putts,” International captain Geoff Ogilvy said. “To get 2-2 in that session was a really good result for us.

“The thing that's really nice and makes me proud of my team is how well they've played the last five, six holes, the last couple of putts, especially today. These are not easy things to close out when all your teammates turn up and the crowds get bigger and bigger on the last few holes.”

The U.S. has scored 7.5 or more points in singles in six of the previous 15 Presidents Cups, including 2024 at Royal Montreal, when they romped 18.5-11.5.

Whoever win on Sunday won’t consider it a romp but a rumble.

“Yeah, it's going to take a team effort,” American captain Brandt Snedeker said. “I think we're going to try to get our guys out there that are ready to handle it. They're playing well. Get this crowd going. But as I said, it's just one point per match.”

The Americans, up in all four afternoon matches through the sixth hole, squandered two of those points, silencing the often-boisterous galley of about 30,000. 

Conners and Taylor won the par-4 11th hole with a par, took the par-4 12th with Taylor’s 12-foor birdie putt, won the par-4 14th to square the match when Henley missed a 5-footer for par, and took the lead when Taylor sank a 20-inch putt and Bridgeman’s 66-foot attempt at a miracle par ran four feet by. Conners sank a 6-footer at the last to lock up the point.

“It was a pretty straight putt, just get it rolling, and felt good to see that one go in,” Conners said.

“For Corey to hole a putt like that on the last and Min Woo and Foxy winning going away -- they were really struggling and they were having a tough match, and they played really well toward the end,” Ogilvy said. “That's what a captain wants to see.”

Ogilvy was right. The other International win was also a come-from-behind affair. Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee lost the first two holes, were 1-down through six, then won five of the next nine en route to a 3 and 2 triumph.

“I felt like I started terribly, and he was right there on my back cheering me on,” said Fox, the British Open champion from New Zealand. “It's okay. We turned it around, which is awesome.”

Henley and Bridgeman had won the first three holes with a birdie-bogey-par combination while Connors and Taylor played like Medinah members, opening 5-6-6. Once they found their game, it was the Americans who were on the ropes.

The U.S. team won a pair of matches in the afternoon, with Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup subduing Adam Scott and Sungjae Im 6 and 4, and Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele knocking off Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim 2 and 1, the first loss for the Kim-Kim combo in four sessions.

For Gotterup and Young, it was the second win of the day as a team. Gotterup had lost a match on Thursday, and Young was 0-2.

“I didn't think we needed much motivation,” Gotterup said of Saturday’s plan. “Obviously we played well this morning. They said we're sending you guys back out there and get ready to go. We had a half hour to go get ready. We both went and grabbed something to eat and went right back to the 1st tee.”

Sometimes, no plan is the best plan.

Sunday pairings

U.S. player listed first, matches start approximately 11:05 a.m.

Cameron Young vs. Ryo Hisatsune

Wyndham Clark vs. Tom Kim

Justin Thomas vs. Corey Conners

Scottie Scheffler vs. Nick Echavarria

Sam Burns vs. Sungjae Im

Chris Gotterup vs. Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Collin Morikawa vs. Hideki Matsuyama

Patrick Cantlay vs. Adam Scott

Jackson Koivun vs. Si Woo Kim

Jacob Bridgeman vs. Min Woo Lee

Russell Henley vs. Nick Taylor

Xander Schaufele vs. Ryan Fox

Americans were morning glories

For a while Saturday morning, it appeared the American Presidents Cup team would wipe out the lead the International squad had built on Friday, and do so before lunch.

It didn’t quite happen. Led by Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, the International squad grabbed 1.5 of the four available points and held an 8.5-5.5 lead halfway through the day’s play at sun-splashed Medinah. But shaving the margin from four to three points kept the U.S. in the thick of it.

With a gallery of at least 30,000 looking on, the two Kims came back from 2-down after eight holes to beat Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark 2 and 1. They won the ninth, 11th, 16th and 17th holes, the latter via Si Woo Kim’s birdie, to score a point.

A few minutes earlier Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im completed a comeback from 2-down with four holes to play to force a halve and take a half-point against Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun.

Two American teams led their matches all the way: Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young scored a 2 and 1 victory over the Canadian duo of Nick Taylor and Corey Conners, and Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns turned back Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune by a like 2 and 1 margin.

Late in that match, American captain Brandt Snedeker announced the pairings for the afternoon alternate shot competition, and world No. 1 Scheffler was not among the eight U.S. players. Burns was paired with Clark instead against Ryan Fox and Lee in the day’s final pairing.

Around Medinah

The only Internationals triumph to date was at Royal Melbourne in Australia in 1998, a 20.5-11.5 win wit a couple more points available. Peter Thomson, an Australian legend, was the International captain. Frank Nobilo, working for Golf Channel this week, went 2-2 in the matches. … NBC’s Sunday coverage begins at 11 a.m. CT.

– Tim Cronin

Presidents Cup – Assessing Medinah's renovation

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Justin Thomas started it all.

Had he not fired a gaudy 61 in the third round of the 2019 BMW Championship – 11-under-par and centerpiece of a record-breaking total of 25-under 263 – to break the day-old record of 63 posted by Hideki Matsuyama, which itself wiped out the 20-year old mark of Skip Kendall set in the 1999 PGA Championship, the Medinah No. 3 course being played in this week’s Presidents Cup would not exist.

The players would still be playing the Tom Bendelow course tweaked by Roger Packard and then Rees Jones beginning in the mid-1980s. The one Hale Irwin captured the 1990 U.S. Open on. The one Tiger Woods scored a pair of PGA Championship victories on. The one the Europeans stormed back to win the 2012 Ryder Cup on.

The one Medinah members regularly bashed their heads in on.

But there was Thomas, late on a Saturday afternoon on a course softened by Friday rains, paying no attention to the 7,504-yard stretching of the layout and scoring birdies on the first five holes, and a pair of eagles along the way, including a hole-out from the fairway on the treacherous par-4 16th – may it rest in pieces – painting a 61 on the scoreboard. Like Picasso or like someone who spray-paints box cars. Take your pick.

Watching Thomas wrap up his 61 from near the 18th green, a Medinah member standing nearby made a prediction.

“They’ll bring the bulldozers in now,” he intoned, not altogether pleased at the notion.

He was right. This version of No. 3 – No. 3.7 in computer-program parlance – is radically changed, with six new holes at the end of the line, created by the troika of Geoff Ogilvy – captain  of the International team cavorting here this week – Mike Cocking and Ashly Mead, three Australians whose redesign so captivated the membership during the COVID-19 pandemic they got the assignment before even setting foot on Medinah’s turf.

Much of their renovation is unquestionably delightful. The notion of applying the Aussie Sand Belt look to a Midwestern parkland course worked, from the addition of fescue, eliminating some trees, plus an out-of-bounds fence on three holes to create room for maintenance crews to move about without disturbing member play. Thomas, of all people, had to play a shot – make that two shots – lefty from next to the fence this week. He barely advanced the first shot but made better contact on the second.

Ogilvy said his group wanted to make it harder for the pros and easier for members. One member, North Carolina golf team member (and Medinah member) Grant Rosich, fired a 61 from the member tees shortly after it opened last year, so mission accomplished, it appears.

That split-rail fence signifying out-of-bounds on what are usually the fifth, sixth and seventh holes – Nos. 1, 2 and 3 this week – has made players on the tees nervous. Fewer trees mean broader vistas, and the fescue is thoughtfully placed. One must really be off-line to be in it.

Changing out the final six holes for a new group of six came about largely for two reasons: To once again fix the 18th hole, and to eliminate having three par-3 holes play across the creek that leads to Lake Kadijah, which splits most of No. 3 from the rest of the property.

Now, a par-4 and a pair of par-3s cross the agua, in different directions. But the two problems could have been solved more easily, more inexpensively, and with a nod to Medinah’s rich history for no extra charge.

Rather than build six new holes, two new holes would have sufficed. A new par-3 17th, going east from the hilltop 16th green and along the ridge line once used by a par-3 on Bendelow’s old layout, would have replaced the par-3 17th adjacent to Medinah Road that Packard came up with. Build that and one of the three par-3s crossing the creek is omitted.

Next, do what Ogilvy and Co. did. Build a new tee for the 18th hole on the south side of the steam. The OCM version played 494 yards on Thursday, using a fairway largely from the old Bendelow layout. In our plan, you could have used the fairway Packard built to the left of the Bendelow fairway, or regrassed the Bendelow fairway, or both. In any case, the green would remain just short of the famous flagpole, which is astride the center line of the clubhouse and effectively signifies the heart of the club.

That’s it. Two new holes, plus the Sand Belt look Ogilvy and Co. so effectively brought from Melbourne. The cost? Probably no more than $10 million compared to the $25 million the club spent. The site fee of $6 million the PGA Tour is paying the club for this week would have paid for more than half the renovation, instead of around 25 percent.

The nod to history? One of the unchanged holes would have been the par-3 13th (originally the 17th), where Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw, among others, saw U.S. Open hopes go a’glimmering. No extra charge.

Instead, Medinah has a pastiche of a golf course, some Bendelow, some Jones, some Ogilvy. At least, until they change it again.

– Tim Cronin

Presidents Cup – The Internationals hang tough

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Saturday, September 26, 2026

For a while Saturday morning, it appeared the American Presidents Cup team would wipe out the lead the International squad had built on Friday, and do so before lunch.

It didn’t happen. Led by Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, the International squad grabbed 1.5 of the four available points and held an 8.5-5.5 lead halfway through the day’s play at sun-splashed Medinah Country Club.

With a gallery of at least 30,000 looking on, the two Kims came back from 2-down after eight holes to beat Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark 2 and 1. They won the ninth, 11th, 16th and 17th holes, the latter via Si Woo Kim’s birdie, to score a point.

A few minutes earlier Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im completed a comeback from 2-down with four holes to play to force a halve and take a half-point against Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun.

Two American teams led their matches all the way: Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young scored a 2 and 1 victory over the Canadian duo of Nick Taylor and Corey Conners, and Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns turned back Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune by a like 2 and 1 margin.

Late in that match, American captain Brandt Snedeker announced the pairings for the afternoon alternate shot competition, and world No. 1 Scheffler was not among the eight U.S. players. Burns was paired with Clark instead against Ryan Fox and Lee in the day’s final pairing, set to start at 1:57 p.m.

Other afternoon matchups: Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffle (U.S.) vs. the Kims at 1:15 p.m., Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman (U.S.) vs. Team Canada – Conners and Taylor – at 1:29 p.m., and Young and Gotterup (U.S.) vs. Adam Scott and Im at 1:43 p.m. 

Television coverage continues on NBC.

– Tim Cronin

Presidents Cup – Orange crush

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Friday, September 25, 2026

Now what’s all this fuss about the Presidents Cup needing a revamp or going coed or being put out to pasture?

All that happened Friday at Medinah Country Club is a rally that turned the scoreboards International orange. The only thing missing after the Internationals’ 5-0 alternate shot rout of the American team on a soft afternoon was the Tennessee band playing “Rocky Top.” 

The visitors from everywhere but Europe rose to the occasion, and thus hold a 7-3 advantage going into Saturday, when eight matches, half best-ball and half alternate shot, will be played.

Take a bow, Nick Taylor, for a splendid third shot to 14 inches on the 18th hole to help lock up your and Corey Conners’ win over snakebit Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns – after Mr. Taylor’s shanked tee shot into Medinah’s still formidable forest. Burns won’t sleep well after his 18-foot birdie putt to halve the match and grab a half-point edged the cup.

“I would say maybe I bailed myself out after that drive,” Taylor said. “Yeah, when it mattered most, it was nice to hit a close one in there and apply the pressure back to them.”

Great going, Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee, for your back-to-back birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to erase the lead of Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark – the only lead any American team had past the fourth hole on Friday – and forge one of your own en route to a 1-up victory.

Fist pumps also go to Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama (3 and 2 winners over Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman), Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (3 and 2 winners over Justin Thomas and Cameron Young) and Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim (4 and 3 winners over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele). Job well done, one and all, to keep the Presidents Cup vibrant.

Clark said after Thursday’s proceedings, in which the Americans took a 3-2 lead, that the crowd wasn’t as loud as he’d hoped. Friday, as the scoreboard glowed orange, came the sound of silence.

“We just wanted to come win the session,” International captain Geoff Ogilvy said. “They were all in a really good frame of mind, but you would never imagine doing five sets. We did it in Montreal (in second day alternate shot play), so maybe it's a pattern now. We never mentioned that, but the boys played really well. They all got off to a great start. We've seen in these events. When you get a lot of your team up on the leaderboards, some momentum, and it inspires all the groups.”

Unlike 2012 on these lush and friendly confines, when the Europeans rallied on the final day to heist the Ryder Cup, the Americans have two days and 20 matches to regain their senses. It might take that long.

“I feel terrible for the guys because I know they grinded out there and gave me everything they had today, and it wasn't meant to be,” said U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker, wearing a Bears cap. “That being said, there's still 20 points out there. There's a lot of golf left to play. See a few putts go in, and we'll have some fun over the weekend.”

Around Medinah

This is the first lead for the International team after two sessions since 2019, when it led 6.5-3.5. The U.S. rallied to win the Cup 16-14. … The unrelated Kims are 2-0 so far. … Saturday’s action starts bright and early at 7 a.m. … A likely visit by President Trump on Sunday means fans should arrive earlier than originally planned to deal with more stringent security.

– Tim Cronin