Protesters are already lining the streets near Medinah Country Club, and the Secret Service is bracing for more before President Donald Trump even sets foot on the grounds. Trump will attend the Presidents Cup on Sunday, September 27, 2026, for the final-round singles matches, marking his first visit to the Chicago area since his 2024 reelection. That alone has triggered one of the tightest security operations local, state, and federal agencies have mounted for a presidential appearance this year.
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This marks Trump’s second turn at this tournament, a role he first held in 2017 at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey, where he became the first sitting president to attend the matches on the final day. Nine years later, the return trip lands amid a far more charged backdrop than that low-key trophy presentation. Chicago itself has a track record of greeting Trump this way: his only prior visit to the city as president, an October 2019 stop for a police chiefs’ conference, drew thousands of protesters downtown, and a 2016 campaign rally in the city was scrapped altogether after clashes broke out between his supporters and demonstrators outside the venue.
“It’s a dangerous world, and the Secret Service takes every threat seriously. So, the Secret Service will go out and investigate every threat that is reported,” said Derek Mayer, U.S. Secret Service Chicago Special Agent in Charge, per ABC7.
As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, roughly 100 protesters gathered near the Medinah Country Club in DuPage County on the morning of September 24.
The rally began after 9:30 a.m., with demonstrators voicing opposition to the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics and concerns about inflation.
The PGA Tour announced last month that Trump would attend the Presidents Cup, which began Thursday. The tournament features 24 of the world’s top golfers, with 12 representing Team USA and 12 representing the international team, excluding Europe.
Trump will serve as the event’s honorary chairman. But Chicago residents, whose reactions come after Operation Midway Blitz was launched last year, are already making their feelings clear about him.
At the protest, one person was spotted wearing only an Eagle mascot head and Speedos and holding a picket sign.
“Stop Trump before he strips everything away,” the placard read.
“The Secret Service is going to use different types of security measures to ensure the president is safe while he is outside in an enclosed or secure bubble while he is at Medinah,” said Mayer. “The public’s going to see things that law enforcement doesn’t see. The public’s going to be able to report things that we in law enforcement may not know about.”
It’s now clear that the city’s residents are not taking Trump’s visit to the 2026 Presidents Cup in good spirits. However, that’s not the case for the participants of the tournament.
The Presidents Cup Participants Are Looking Forward to Donald Trump’s Visit
Sam Burns is coming off a win along with Scottie Scheffler, as their luck favored them on their fifth try. Burns squared the match with a birdie on the 14th after placing his approach within 2 feet. The Americans went 1-up when Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im missed par putts on the 17th, while Scheffler secured the full point with a bunker shot to tap-in range for par on the 18th.
Other than chasing the title, Burns has something more to look forward to in the finale.
“I think for me personally, anyone who’s the president of this country, I respect that position, obviously,” said Sam Burns. “I’ve actually got to spend some time with President Trump, and we’ve played golf together a few times. I think you just have a ton of respect for that position, and being an American, I think it’s very important that we do support our president, regardless of your political views.
Wyndham Clark is headed to the finale on Sunday. He, too, gets motivation to push harder and recalls a call with Trump after he won the 2023 US Open.
“It was honestly one of the coolest calls of my life. Regardless of what people think about any President at the given time, to have the most powerful man in the world to call you after you win something is pretty amazing,” Clark said. “He knew every shot. He was like this up-and-down on this hole, this up-and-down on this hole was amazing. He really said a bunch of nice things. That was definitely one of the coolest calls of my life.”
But it’s not the players that Trump will be encountering. The fans are already showing how they will give Trump’s security a hard time.