For three days the International team looked like it had finally found the formula. Then Sunday happened. The United States won 9½ of the 12 singles points at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago to turn a three-point deficit into a 17–13 victory in the 2026 Presidents Cup. It is the Americans’ 11th consecutive Presidents Cup, and it moves their all-time record in the event to 14 wins, one loss and one tie.
Photo: Dan Perry, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
How the International Team Built a Lead
Thursday’s opening fourballs went to the United States, 3–2. Friday turned the week around. The International team won all five foursomes matches, a sweep that gave Geoff Ogilvy’s side a 7–3 lead and put Brandt Snedeker’s Americans on the back foot for the first time in years.
Saturday was split more evenly. The US edged the morning fourballs 2½–1½ and the afternoon foursomes were shared 2–2, which left the International team 10½–7½ ahead going into the singles. According to the PGA Tour’s Sunday recap, it was the first time the Internationals had led going into Sunday singles of a Presidents Cup played on American soil.
Tom Kim was the week’s standout. He paired with Si Woo Kim through the team sessions and finished with four points from five matches, the best record on either side.
Sunday Singles: The American Comeback
Snedeker’s lineup delivered almost everywhere. Cameron Young beat Ryo Hisatsune 3&2 early, Justin Thomas routed Corey Conners 5&3, and Scottie Scheffler closed out Nico Echavarría 2&1. The International team’s only singles wins came from Tom Kim, who beat Wyndham Clark 3&2, and Sungjae Im, who beat Sam Burns 3&1.
The rest were tight, and they all went one way. Chris Gotterup and Collin Morikawa each won 1 up, against Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Hideki Matsuyama. Patrick Cantlay beat Adam Scott 2&1, Xander Schauffele beat Ryan Fox 2&1, and Jackson Koivun beat Si Woo Kim 2 up. Koivun finished as the only player on either team to go through the week unbeaten. Russell Henley halved with Nick Taylor.
Jacob Bridgeman secured the Cup. His match with Min Woo Lee went to the 18th green, where he closed it out 1 up.
Ogilvy’s Course, Ogilvy’s Team
The strangest subplot of the week was the golf course. Medinah’s Course No. 3 was rebuilt between 2022 and 2024 by OCM Golf, the Australian design firm of Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead. That meant the International captain was leading his team around a course he had redesigned.
The old par-3 13th over Lake Kadijah in 2008, before the trees came out. Photo: Dan Perry, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
OCM took the course’s famous tree-lined corridors and remade them in the style of the Melbourne sandbelt, the stretch of heathland that produced Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne. Fairway acreage doubled from 29 to 58 acres, the bunker count rose from 70 to 117, and greens grew by more than 40 percent. Three new holes bring Lake Kadijah into play in new ways, and the matches started on what is normally the 5th hole so that the lakeside par 3s fell in the stretch where matches are usually decided.
For the Presidents Cup the course was set up at 7,548 yards and par 70.
What It Means for Both Teams
For the United States, it keeps an extraordinary streak alive. The Americans have now won every Presidents Cup since 2005, and this one will stand out because they were behind for most of the week.
For the International team, it is a painful near miss. Their only win remains the 1998 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, and they are still waiting for a first victory on American soil. The play across the first three days, and the Kims’ partnership in particular, suggests the gap is closing, even if the scoreboard says otherwise.
Can You Play Medinah?
Not easily. Medinah Country Club is a private club, and Course No. 3 is available only as a member’s guest. The club has also hosted three US Opens, two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup, and the full history is on our Medinah course page. For championship venues that sell public tee times, browse the best golf courses in North America.