Every two years America’s 12 best golfers enjoy a benefit tournament. It is called the Presidents Cup, where they basically take on the rest of the world apart from Europe. And every two years they stroll to victory. They have won the past 10 editions and in 15 attempts The Internationals have managed a solitary victory.
And I cannot see any way that Geoff Ogilvy’s team are going to change the outcome this time around. He is surely leading his team to the slaughter. It didn’t help his cause that he was unable to pick Jason Day because he knew that the Australian’s back would not stand up to four days of competition.
Last time out, the USA were captained by Jim Furyk, who led them to an overwhelming 18½ to 11½ win in Montreal. Team International have only won the event once, back in 1998 while the only other non-American win came in 2003 when the event was tied.
Unlike the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup is held over four days. The format has chopped and changed over the years.
Thursday’s opening day will see five fourball matches held before five foursomes matches take place on Friday. On Saturday, the teams face four fourball matches in the morning and another four foursomes matches in the afternoon. And Sunday concludes with 12 singles matches.
A total of 30 points are up for grabs with a team needing 15½ points to win the cup.
(Image Credit: Rolex/Chris Turvey)
The captains for the event were confirmed in April 2025 with Brandt Snedeker skippering the USA and Ogilvy in charge of the Internationals.
Snedeker won the Myrtle Beach Classic in May and was the FedExCup champion in 2012. He was on the US team for their disastrous Medinah defeat that year, scoring just one point and being beaten by Paul Lawrie 5&3 on Sunday.
Ogilvy, meanwhile, was the US Open champion in 2006 and has three World Golf Championship titles. He also played in four Presidents Cups.
Both teams include six automatic qualifiers plus six captain’s picks. The American qualifiers were confirmed following the BMW Championship in mid-August with Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa making the team outright.
Snedeker then announced his picks on September 1 with rookies Chris Gotterup and Jacob Bridgeman joining Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay. Jackson Koivun was also handed a surprise selection.
Notables who missed out were Ryan Gerard, JJ Spaun and Ben Griffin, and the inclusion of Cantlay has also rightly raised some eyebrows.
Bridgeman and Koivun are the first players to make a Presidents Cup team after competing in the Junior Presidents Cup. Bridgeman competed at Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey in the inaugural event in 2017, while Koivun competed at Myers Park Country Club in Charlotte in 2022.
For the Internationals, much will depend on the form of Si Woo Kim and Open champion Ryan Fox. Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Tom Kim and Adam Scott were the other automatic qualifiers. Corey Conners, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune, Nick Taylor, Sungjae Im and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were Ogilvy's picks. In total, seven countries will represent the International Team in 2026: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea.
There was no place for LIV golfers Joaquin Niemann and Lucas Herbert, both of whom would certainly have strengthened Ogilvy’s hand. There was also no place for Aldrich Potgieter, the big-hitting but highly erratic South African.
The Course:
Medinah is a brutal par 72 measuring 7,564 yards. Several holes wrap around Lake Kadijah which will provide drama early on and down the stretch. The course has been revamped in recent years with larger greens, more complex bunkering and wider fairways as well as broad areas of long fescue rough.
How to Watch:
Thursday, September 24, Sky Sports Golf, 5.30pm; Friday, September 25, Sky Sports Golf, 5.30pm; Sunday, September 26, Sky Sports Golf, midday; Sunday, September 27, Sky Sports Golf, 4pm.
Form Guide:
An American team led by world number one Scottie Scheffler looks utterly unbeatable The truth is that this is a pretty weak-looking Internationals team.
Prediction:
USA 18 Internationals 12.
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