Another Presidents Cup is upon us and plenty of the same storylines are emerging. The most notable, of course: what will it take for the Internationals to finally win this thing?
The record has been repeatedly reported. The U.S. leads the all-time battle 13-1-1 and has won the last 10 Presidents Cups. Three players on the U.S. side were not even born the last — and only — time the Internationals won, in 1998.
Plenty of golf media’s biggest voices have already opined about the future of the Presidents Cup, including how it may not exist at all in the for-profit future of the PGA Tour or why an International victory would actually be the worst thing for this biennial event, halting any kind of progress on change.
Alas, the event is already scheduled for two more iterations at minimum, with the 2028 edition taking place in Australia before it returns to the U.S. in 2030 at Bellerive, a major venue just outside St. Louis.
Regardless of the future of this competition, balls are very nearly in the air for 2026 and, for now, it’s 0-0. Coming into the week, it sounds like this particular International core is as tight-knit and motivated as any in history.
A good start.
“I think the spirit of this group is really strong. I think we're more together than we've ever been. We've had a lot of sort of together moments this year more than normal. The chat group is as active as it's ever been. They just seem to be in really good spirits. They've been very excited to get here for quite a long time. I don't know, it's just a good-feeling group,” said International captain Geoff Ogilvy.
“I think the time is right.”
The winning formula could start from the top as well, as Ogilvy knows Medinah Country Club better than literally anyone on the planet — because he helped design it.
Medinah’s No. 3, a multi-time major championship venue, underwent an aggressive and robust re-working over the last couple of years and this week marks the grand unveiling. There are new holes, a new routing and plenty of other changes (there are now 117 bunkers, up from 70, and the average green size increased by 40 per cent).
The previous iteration of the course hosted a miraculous team comeback — appropriately dubbed the Miracle at Medinah — when the European side roared back from a 10-6 deficit in Sunday singles at the 2012 Ryder Cup.
After this week, Medinah will be the only golf course in the world that has hosted a PGA Championship, U.S. Open, Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Despite the fact the Americans will get to set up the course in their preferred way as the host nation, Ogilvy will likely know everything about their set-up choices before even they do.
Trickle-down golf course knowledge and good vibes across the board are starting points, but at the end of the day, better golf will be what rules the day. Ogilvy pointed to how despite the final score being awfully lopsided towards the U.S. at Royal Montreal two years ago, the Internationals actually ended up winning more individual holes over the course of four days than the Americans.
“That's a sign that you're playing good enough golf,” Ogilvy said. “The boys know we're close. As I said, they're super excited about this tournament.”
Individually as well, the stars will need to be the stars. It’s looking tough on paper as the Americans are led by the FedEx Cup champ and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (the average world rank of the American team is just a touch over 15, while it’s a touch over 50 for the Internationals), but momentum helps as well.
Veteran Adam Scott, now playing his 12th Presidents Cup, has notched top-20 finishes in his last five starts around the world including a tie for second at the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour just last week. Then there’s Ryan Fox, a rookie on the team that has won three times in the last 17 months — including his maiden major title at The Open Championship in July. And of course, there's the squad’s top-ranked golfer in Si Woo Kim plus his running mate Tom Kim. The energy is undeniable and the play is solid (Si Woo led the PGA Tour in strokes gained: approach this season and finished inside the top 10 in basically half of his starts), but that will need to translate into points on the board — and quickly.
The Canadian crew is well represented with Corey Conners, playing his third Presidents Cup, along with Nick Taylor, finally making his debut at age 38. No one would be disappointed to see have the Presidents Cup come down to Taylor's match Sunday.
“If he had a putt to win the Cup for us, I would be very pleased for that on Sunday,” Scott said about the Canadian.
So, there are (many) things that need to go right for the Internationals to finally tilt this trophy come Sunday night. The future of the Presidents Cup is murky, but at present, the International squad has belief in itself and opportunity. For now, that’s more than enough, especially at a place where one miracle has already come true.
“I feel like we've got a great group to be able to do something special like that this week,” Fox said. “That's certainly one of the motivating factors, but we've got a few going on there.
“Hopefully we can pull off something special this week.”
The matches for the opening day of the Presidents Cup are confirmed.
Unlike the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup captains get to pick who is matched up against who. The International side had the first pick after American captain Brandt Snedeker deferred the pick to Geoff Ogilvy, the International captain.
The International side was down 0-5 after Thursday in Royal Montreal in 2026 but stormed back to a 5-5 draw after a spectacular Friday, and Ogilvy said he had a fairly simple goal for 2026.
“Better than Thursday last time would be good,” Ogilvy said. “Look, we would love to be in front, obviously. Have a winning session. I think every team on every side would always like to win a session. I mean, that's the job tomorrow is to win a session.”
Here are the matches for the opening day of the 2026 Presidents Cup, with the American teams listed first.
Canadian Nick Taylor, and Presidents Cup rookie, will sit out on the opening day.
12:35 p.m. ET – Scottie Scheffler/Sam Burns vs. Min Woo Lee/Sungjae Im
12:53 p.m. – Cameron Young/Xander Schauffele vs. Hideki Matsuyama/Ryo Hisatsune
1:11 p.m. – Justin Thomas/Jackson Koivun vs. Corey Conners/Nico Echavarria
1:29 p.m. – Wyndham Clark/Collin Morikawa vs. Ryan Fox/Adam Scott
1:47 p.m. – Chris Gotterup/Patrick Cantlay vs. Tom Kim/Si Woo Kim
6:41