5:30am: It’s been a tough year for Scottie Scheffler … as a US golf team member. Individually, Scheffler put together another sparkling season, winning three times and finishing runner-up another five enroute to the FedEx Cup title. The World No.1 has struggled mightily in the red, white and blue, however. At Bethpage Black last September, Scheffler posted a 1-4-0 record as the US slumped to an embarrassing home loss. His start at Medinah hasn’t been much better, and on Saturday, captain Brandt Snedeker made the big call to bench his biggest star for the afternoon foursomes session.
🚨❌🇺🇸 #BREAKING — U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker elects to SIT world #1 Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa & Jackson Koivun for the afternoon session.
Is this the right call? pic.twitter.com/qpxCDSyEeW
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) September 26, 2026
Despite Scheffler and Burns coming back from one down on No. 15 to win their match against Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune – aided by a long birdie putt by Scheffler on No. 15 – the four-time major winner will now get “a break” before Sunday singles. The move comes on the heels of questions about Scheffler’s fit for alternate shot, where he currently has the fourth-worst points percentage of any player who has played more than 23 cup matches (Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup). That’s all-time, including both Internationals/Europe and the US. The only players worse than Scheffler in the format are Sam Torrance, Jason Day and Robert Allenby.
Scottie Scheffler has the 4th worst points percentage of any player who has played at least 23 Cup matches in their career.
Ryder + Presidents Cup included. pic.twitter.com/t24WSaBftL
— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) September 26, 2026
“You know, I feel like Scottie’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders carrying Team USA. It’s time for us to carry him for a session,” said U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker of the decision to sit Scheffler for the afternoon. “It was tough. It’s probably why my head is still spinning. We were trying to do our best to get these guys in a good situation. I love Scottie Scheffler to death, that was a really tough decision to sit him this afternoon. But I wanted to get him some rest and wanted him to get ready to go tomorrow in singles.”
4.30am: US President Donald Trump asked if he could speak for 15 minutes ahead of the Presidents Cup singles matches on Sunday, according to a report. A Golfweek story, citing multiple sources, said Trump made the request of the PGA Tour, which manages the event. On Saturday, a tour spokesperson told Golf Digest that the tour is anticipating Trump’s presence at Medinah but had no further information.
Trump is serving as honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup for the second time, having also held the position in 2017 at Liberty National in New Jersey during his first term in office. In serving twice, he joins President Barack Obama, who was honorary chairman for 2009 and 2013.
Last year, Trump attended the first day of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Long Island with his granddaughter Kai Trump, got a mixed welcome, and did not speak publicly, other than leading the crowd in chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
A tour spokesperson told Golf Digest that the tour could only confirm that it is preparing for a possible visit by Trump. Golfweek said the White House had not returned a request for comment.
2:30am: The Kims stay undefeated this week with a comeback win! These guys are turning into absolute weapons in this tournament. The pair rallied from a two-hole deficit to defeat Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark in a match that featured significant momentum swings.
Sunday 12:30am (AEST): We have a Stephen Ames situation developing. We apologise for dragging Ames into this, who will forever be known for provoking Tiger Woods before the WGC-Match Play and proceeding to lose 9&8. But Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup are 4 UP thru 4 on Nick Taylor and Corey Conners to start Saturday’s fourball session, punctuated by Young dropping a bomb for eagle on the drivable fourth. To be fair, the Canadians didn’t talk smack (at least we’re aware of, them being polite Canadians and all) but this is not what the Internationals needed after yesterday’s stunning sweep. – Joel Beall
11:30pm: Scottie Scheffler would like to play himself off this unfortunate list. The World No.1 has been on a historic run in which he’s compiled a collection of crazy stats over the past few years. This, however, is not one of them. As Golf Digest contributor Rick Gehman notes following Friday’s tough foursomes loss on the final hole with partner Sam Burns, Scheffler has the fourth-worst points percentage of anyone who has ever played in at least 23 Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup matches:
Scottie Scheffler has the 4th worst points percentage of any player who has played at least 23 Cup matches in their career.
Ryder + Presidents Cup included. pic.twitter.com/t24WSaBftL
— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) September 26, 2026
Pretty stunning. The good news for Scottie? Even if he loses three more matches over the next two days at Medinah, he still won’t quite catch Australia’s Robert Allenby for the top/bottom spot. The bad news? If that does happen, the US team will be in a lot of trouble. – Alex Myers
Saturday 10:50pm (AEST): If this is how it’s going to be for the Americans on Saturday at the Presidents Cup, US captain Brandt Snedeker is going to need a jumbo bottle of Pepto Bismol. In the first match of the morning fourball session, Justin Thomas hit a wayward drive that stopped just inside the out-of-bound fence that has players on edge early at Medinah. Forced to hit his next shot left-handed, things didn’t go well:
But the beauty of fourballs is you have a partner in play, and Jackson Koivun bailed out Thomas. But even he did it in weird fashion, his foot slipping while hitting his approach shot, which nevertheless stopped eight feet from the hole, then rolling in the birdie. On paper, it looks like the US won the first hole just like they wanted to build momentum. But it was a roller-coaster that, if it continues, will leave Snedeker’s stomach in knots. – Ryan Herrington
11:08am: ABSOLUTE SCENES AT MEDINAH!
This is what it means:
“The job is only half-done, lads. Keep it going tomorrow!” – Internationals skipper Geoff Ogilvy, probably.
10:45am Australia’s Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee both grabbed wins as the International Team seized a four-point lead after day two of the 2026 Presidents Cup thanks to a sensational foursomes whitewash of the United States.
In a repeat of Montreal two years ago, the Internationals won all five matches in the Friday session of alternate shot play, including a first Presidents Cup point for Internationals rookie Ryan Fox.
RELATED: Watch Adam Scott instantly destroy a US heckler with a long birdie bomb at Medinah
With his putter working a treat on the firm and fast greens at Medinah, The Open champion teamed up with Lee to come from behind and score a 1-up win against a duo of major champions, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa.
The Internationals birdied 15 and 16 to turn a one-hole deficit into a one-hole lead and then benefitted from a short missed putt from the Americans on the 17th before Fox sealed the point with a four-footer for par on the closing hole.
“It was great. To get to play with Min, he’s a great mate of mine; I wanted to do something for him,” Fox said.
“Yesterday I felt like I played okay and didn’t have a couple of putts go in down the stretch, but I hit good ones, and today they went in.
“I felt really good about everything. I just told (Min Woo) to keep putting me on the green and see what happens, and he did a good job of that.”
Like all the Internationals, Fox is well aware one excellent session – they finished at a combined 24-under-par compared to the home team’s 13-under – will not be enough to end their 28-year drought against the Americans.
“There’s a lot of golf still to be played, and they’re a very, very good team, and no doubt they’re going to throw everything at us tomorrow,” the 39-year-old New Zealander said.
“(It) feels like we’ve got a lot of guys playing well, and hopefully that continues the next couple of days and we’ve got a chance to do something special.
“We’ve got a group of guys that really want to try to do that.”
Meanwhile, Scott teamed up with South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout – the 20th partner of his record-setting Presidents Cup career – to beat Cam Young and Justin Thomas 3&2.
The Internationals never surrendered the lead after making a birdie at the par-5 third hole, picking up five birdies and no bogeys to the Americans’ zero birdies and two bogeys.
“Obviously it’s an exciting day for us, but if we take something from Canada, it’s not to celebrate too hard at this point. We’re not even halfway through this tournament so there’s a long way to go, but it’s a great day for our team,” Scott said.
“I think we should embrace what happened here today and kind of look forward to tomorrow.
“From where I sit, if any of the guys were lacking belief, they should have it now going into the weekend.”
Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama took down Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman, 3&2, as Matsuyama closed it out with birdie at 16, while the Korean duo of Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim downed Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in a 4&3 drubbing that fit the vibe of the day for the Americans.
After a win on day one, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns lost to the Canadian duo of Nick Taylor and Corey Conners 1 up.
“It was an incredible day for us,” International Team Captain Geoff Ogilvy said.
“We did it in Montreal, so maybe it’s a pattern now. We never mentioned that, but the boys played really well.”
The 7-3 margin after day two matches what the Internationals achieved when they had their only Presidents Cup win at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1998.
Scott and Fox will sit out the day three morning session with Lee to resume his partnership with Sungjae Im.
Another 20 points are up for grabs across the final two days, with the first team to 15.5 points claiming the prize. – Paul Munnings
10am: The Internationals have blitzed the Americans 5-0 in the Day 2 foursomes. How good! But… if there’s something the US Presidents Cup team can hang its hat on as it trails 7-3 heading into Day 3, it’s what the Americans did at Montreal.
They overcame a Friday foursomes sweep by the Internationals by outscoring them 6-2 in Saturday’s two sessions to take a comfortable lead Since they trail by four points, 7-3, this time, they’ll need to set a strong tone early, and each captain has gone with some familiar duos.
US skipper Brandt Snedeker is sending out the three duos who prevailed in Thursday’s fourball – Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler (who are combined 1-1 here), Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa (also 1-1) and Justin Thomas (1-1) and Jackson Koivun (1-0).
Internationals captain Geoff Ogilvy has countered with the best player of this Cup so far, Hideki Matsuyama (2-0), again putting him with Ryo Hisatsune after their win Thursday. Canadians Corey Conners and Nick Taylor are fresh off their big foursomes win, as are Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim, who are 2-0.
Neither player in the fourth team for the US – Cam Young (0-2) and Chris Gotterup (0-1) has yet to win. – Todd Leonard
7.30am: Adam Scott instantly destroyed a US heckler with a long birdie bomb at Medinah. Trash talk is all part of the fun and games at team events like the Presidents Cup. During last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, it went too far, veering dangerously close to mob rule. This year at Medinah, the crowd has been a bit tamer. Too tame, in fact. After Thursday’s four-ball session, Wyndham Clark called for US fans to make more noise on Friday. One fan tried their best, sarcastically shouting “get a longer putter” as Adam Scott sent a lengthy birdie putt on its way.
The intention was sound. The trash talk was clean and timed well after impact. There was just one little problem: Adam Scott is Adam Scott.
The home crowd was giving it to Adam Scott.
He gave it right back for @INTLTeam.
📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/3zJldRSryp
— PGA Tour (@PGATour) September 25, 2026
True to the direction of traffic on Friday. Scott buried the 30-plus footer for birdie, and putter guy (plus whoever uncorked that high-pitched cackle in response) had to eat some of the quickest crow we’ve ever seen.
Ultimately this moment came down to one big tactical error. If you’re going to pick an International team member to needle, it damn well shouldn’t be Adam Scott. He’s a Masters winner. He’s aged like a fine red vintage, is married to a Swedish architect and was even voted the best-dressed player on the PGA Tour by his peers earlier this year. Simply put, there’s no real chink in Scott’s armor. He’s like Achilles with strong heels. Hack away all you want, but he’s not going down.
That will be a concern for the Americans, who have a real dog fight on their hands. Will they come up with better dirt on Scott than the length of his putter? (Stop snickering, gentleman). Will they turn up a weak link somewhere else on the International squad? They better hope so, because the way things are going, it could be yet another weekend to forget for the Americans at Medinah. – Coleman Bentley
5.30am: Adam Scott has officially become the most capped player in Presidents Cup history. The popular Aussie reached the milestone at Medinah on Friday when, paired with South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout in the foursomes, he teed it up for the 56th time in the biennial contest, moving past American legend Phil Mickelson’s previous record of 55 matches.
It is another remarkable chapter in Scott’s Presidents Cup career, which began in 2003 and has now stretched across 12 editions of the event. At 46, he is also the most experienced player ever to represent the International team in the competition, and remains the Internationals’ all-time leading point scorer. – Brad Clifton
4:30am: The Internationals seem pretty loose heading into Day 2 of the Presidents Cup.
Geoff Ogilvy’s squad trailed after Thursday, but that didn’t seem to dampen the team’s spirits. In a video captured by Sungjae Im’s caddie, Willy Wilcox, Ryan Fox showed off his pipes on the team bus heading to Medinah on Friday. In front of a sleeping Tom Kim.
Have a look and listen:
😭😭😭
Via @willwilcoxgolf on IG pic.twitter.com/pzoSMDfu1Z
— claire rogers (@kclairerogers) September 25, 2026
Nothing like singing a little Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” to stay loose. And if you happen to be an actual gambler, the Internationals’ long odds to win the Presidents Cup have now crept up to the 7-to-1 range. At least, before this video got out. – Alex Myers
9am: 2026 Presidents Cup Day 1 Scoreboard.
A strong finish by Geoff Ogilvy’s Internationals Team on Day 1 has the 2026 Presidents Cup perfectly poised for an intriguing foursomes showdown tomorrow.
Here’s a quick summary of the results from the opening day’s play:
8:45am: The US walked away from the opening session of the Presidents Cup with a 3-2 lead.
But the Internationals can take some solace in how they closed things out on Thursday. Specifically, the final swing of the day from Tom Kim on the par-3 16th hole.
Tom Kim nearly had a walk-off ace at the Presidents Cup. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XY71Us1I53
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) September 24, 2026
A walk-off ace would have been something. But the gimme birdie was enough for Kim and Si Woo Kim to close out Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay, 4 and 2. And while trailing yet again after Day 1, the Internationals one-point deficit is the closest opening session since 2013 so they shouldn’t be hanging their heads just yet. – Ryan Herrington
6am: “Let’s be savages for everybody this week!”
When US captain Brandt Snedeker uttered those words on the first tee late on Thursday morning at Medinah Country Club before the first tee shots of the 16th Presidents Cup, the first thought from this corner was, “You had two years and that’s what you came up with?” The second was, “Sheesh, read the room.”
RELATED: We asked what you’d change about the Presidents Cup. Here’s what you said
A year ago, American golf fans did become the very definition of the word savages during the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. They were “wild, untamed and brutally cruel” in going far beyond cheering for their side, instead yelling abusive things at the European players and wives. A first-tee announcer stepped down after leading a vulgar chant against Rory McIlroy and PGA of America President Don Rea Jr was ousted, in part, for downplaying the fans’ behaviour.
It was embarrassing and ugly and left a bad taste in the mouths of fans who love the tension and rewards of team competition but have no interest in rooting for a hockey fight to break out on the golf course.
That’s why this year’s Presidents Cup looked to be the palette cleanser the game needed. This particular match has always been more like watching your 8-year-old’s jujitsu class than an MMA fight. The Internationals have recorded just one victory, 28 years ago, and they just can’t muster the depth that the American squads possess.
They have enough going against them, and then Snedeker – always viewed as the aw-shucks Opie Taylor of the PGA Tour – goes for the throat on Day 1 by imploring the villagers to take to Medinah with torches.
Not really, of course, but it was just a very odd tone to set when team golf was supposed to return to some sense of civility.
The truth is that Snedeker’s plea fell mostly flat, with the loudest U-S-A! U-S-A! chants produced when a fleet of helicopters flew overhead. Everybody loves a good air show. And, truly, how can anybody get overly worked up when Carl Spackler himself, Chicago icon Bill Murray, brings out the huge and very gold Presidents Cup trophy?
[Actor Bill Murray “drinks” from the Presidents Cup at the opening ceremony. James Gilbert]
Some fans were more fired up than others. Kurt Batten had a front-row seat on the first tee and was decked out in a Stars-and-Stripes golf shirt he bought on Amazon. Batten came in from Kansas City and got passes from the CEO of his company, who is a member at Medinah, and was warned, “You better have some good patriotic clothing.”
“I’m getting a lot of compliments on it,” Batten proudly said of his shirt.
Describing himself as a big golf fan, Batten loudly cheered as the American players were introduced, but he wasn’t ragging the Internationals. He did, however, say that he thought how the fans behaved at Bethpage was just fine.
“The way it should be,” Batten said. “I just think everybody is crazy. It’s kinda like the Waste Management [in Phoenix], everybody should be allowed to go nuts and scream and yell and have a good time. It’s not like a normal golf tournament. It’s more like a hockey game.”
Matt Lowe (left) and Steve Harry dressed in U.S. colours to cheer on the US while admiring the talent of the players on the International team. (Tod Leonard)
Ironically, another fan who was actually wearing a hockey jersey had a differing opinion. Steve Harry, from the Chicago suburb of Oswego, snapped up Presidents Cup tickets as soon as they went on sale and was at Medinah on Thursday with his regular golf buddy, Matt Lowe. They stood out at the ropes at the eighth hole, with Lowe wearing flag overalls and Harry donning the USA hockey sweater of Olympics hero Jack Hughes.
The two said that when they got on the shuttle bus to the course in the morning, they felt a bit out of place as the only people with American gear on. “We thought, ‘Oh boy, we’re going to stand out like a sore thumb.’ But at the first tee one lady was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, so we’re not completely oddballs here.”
Harry said he did wonder what the atmosphere would be like coming to the Presidents Cup after Bethpage.
“I’ll be honest, it was a little embarrassing watching kind of some of the stuff that happened at Ryder Cup, in my opinion,” Harry said. “So as much as I wanted to be a team guy and support the team and be out here and cheer, I didn’t want it to be over the edge.”
🗣️ AMERICA! CHICAGO! AMERICA!
Bill Murray ignites the crowd to kick off the @PresidentsCup. pic.twitter.com/fWVtISXGQM
— PGA Tour (@PGATour) September 24, 2026
Harry believed that Midwesterners would show up in a different way this week, and that certainly appeared to be the case on Thursday in the early going. First, the crowd was sizeable – far more than two years ago at Royal Montreal – with the first hole nearly encircled with fans. As some tell it, they are pro golf-starved in Chicagoland, and beyond some LIV Golf events in the past few years, America’s third-largest city doesn’t get to see the stars very often. (The PGA Tour is looking to change that.)
Among the early groups, the gallery seemed to cheer like they do in any other PGA Tour event, with no nasty comments or yells during shots. Even the players’ wives were lightly guarded inside the ropes after someone threw a cup of beer at Rory McIlroy’s wife at Bethpage.
When the Internationals’ Ryo Hisatsune missed a short putt at the second to lose the hole, there were just a couple of obligatory groans.
“Be respectful of the players; be respectful of the game,” Harry said. “It’s like Tuesday night golf league – if somebody else makes an amazing putt, you give them a high five. We have kids and want them to grow up knowing that golf is a gentleman’s game. Root for your team, but you don’t have to be obnoxious about it. … It’s like watching Tom Kim or Min Woo Lee; they’re good players. But as much as I want to see the USA win, I don’t want to make them feel like they never want to come back here again.”
Harry said he relishes team golf and that motivated him to attend a couple of LIV events. He knows the Ryder Cup has a much larger stature in the game but enjoys the Presidents Cup as something of a warm-up events for players who could become future US team stalwarts.
The talk of the Presidents Cup going away or being replaced has run rampant of late. Some observers believe PGA Tour CEO and commissioner Brian Rolapp is looking closely at an event whose results are so one-sided that it brings long-term viability into question.
Tens of thousands of fans at Medinah and more than a million watching on TV on the weekend might differ. For better or worse, not every team event needs to look and sound like the Ryder Cup, though an International win would certainly help.
So how about just enjoying the Presidents Cup for what it is and the savages can stay home. – TOD LEONARD
FULL GOLF DIGEST PRESIDENTS CUP COVERAGE HERE
5:30am: No, you technically can’t show your partner the line in matchplay.
On the eighth hole of Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele’s Four-ball match against Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune on Thursday, Young found himself in a situation we all find ourselves in during weekend team match play games with buddies. Young was pretty much out of the hole after hitting his approach in the water, but he took his drop anyway and chipped his fourth shot to four feet, setting up a bogey putt. His partner, Schauffele, meanwhile, missed the green with his second then chipped it up to eight feet, right on the same line as Young’s bogey putt.
After some deliberation and calling in a rules official, Hisatsune told Young to pick up his mark. Normally, in weekend games, your partner would ask you “show me the line.” That’s actually not allowed, as NBC rules analyst Mark Dusbabek pointed out right after. You are technically allowed to putt out even if the putt has been conceded, except if that putt is going to aid your partner. It’s one of those rules we all break in our own money games, but it would actually get you in trouble in a legitimate Four-ball competition. According to Rule 23.6, if you putt out and show your partner the line, your score would count without penalty, put your partner’s score would not count for your side.
Schauffele, naturally, missed his eight footer, and the Internationals took the hole with a par. – Christopher Powers
5am: You rarely see a player change putters during the Presidents Cup.
The biennial matches aren’t typically the place for experimenting on the greens. But that didn’t stop Justin Thomas.
Thomas opted for a Scotty Cameron Xperimental 10.5 at Medinah, a notable switch given the stakes and the format. Matchplay leaves little margin for a flat stroke, and a new flatstick is either a spark or a gamble.
The more interesting detail is in the hosel. From the looks of it, Thomas’ version sports a flow neck rather than the jet neck, a change that alters how the face rotates through the stroke and suits a slightly different putting motion.
Whether it’s a one-week experiment or something longer-term remains to be seen. For now, JT is rolling it with something new.
[PHOTO: Ben Jared]
4am: Anthony Kim is getting a documentary.
The details are scarce, but Propagate Content has announced an upcoming documentary on the golfer. And, according to the press release, Kim is involved. “Now, after an improbable return and a victory few believed possible, Kim tells his story for the first time, on his own terms,” the press release reads. “A deeply personal journey of recovery, redemption, and the search for what comes next.” Once a PGA Tour star and a US Ryder Cup hero, Kim had his career put on hold due to a series of injuries, addiction and mental health issues. After nearly 12 years removed from pro golf, Kim returned in 2024 by joining LIV. In February, Kim won the LIV Australia event for his first victory in 16 years.
FULL GOLF DIGEST PRESIDENTS CUP COVERAGE HERE