The 2026 Presidents Cup is finally here, and Medinah Country Club opened its gates on Thursday with the hype to match. This time, Captain Brandt Snedeker’s team opened the week with five four-ball matches against Geoff Ogilvy’s international team.
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For Team USA, this week is about more than defending a trophy. The Americans are hunting their 14th Presidents Cup victory, and history says they usually get it done. This venue also adds some drama. Medinah is hosting the Presidents Cup for the first time, but it’s also the same course where the U.S. lost a 10-6 lead going into the final day of the 2012 Ryder Cup. The collapse is famously known as the Miracle of Medinah. Even the setup this year carries a twist because the course was redesigned in 2024. With that background, here’s how Team USA opened its campaign in round one.
The Pairings: Who Snedeker Sent Out
Match 1: Scottie Scheffler & Sam Burns vs. Min Woo Lee & Sungjae Im
Match 2: Cameron Young & Xander Schauffele vs. Hideki Matsuyama & Ryo Hisatsune
Match 3: Justin Thomas & Jackson Koivun vs. Corey Conners & Nico Echavarria
Match 4: Wyndham Clark & Collin Morikawa vs. Ryan Fox & Adam Scott
Match 5: Chris Gotterup & Patrick Cantlay vs. Tom Kim & Si Woo Kim
Thursday Four-Ball Matches
Match 1: Scottie Scheffler & Sam Burns
On the front nine, Scottie Scheffler and his close friend Sam Burns took an early lead for their team. Scheffler carded a birdie on the par-4 1st to give the U.S. 1 UP. Notably, the first hole is usually known as the 5th hole at the Medinah.
On the 2nd, Min Woo Lee carded a 50-foot birdie to give Internationals a strong start. Almost quickly, Sam Burns made a birdie of his own, keeping Scheffler’s hot start alive. Lee’s partner, Sungjae Im, matched Scheffler’s birdie on the fourth hole, keeping Team USA 1 UP. But soon enough, Im carded a birdie on the fifth hole to tie the match. Team USA could not take the lead for the last four holes on the front nine after that.
Match one stayed as tight through the turn until Sungjae Im’s birdie on the 13th finally gave Internationals their first lead of the day. But right through that crack, Sam Burns answered immediately. He stuck a 173-yard approach to a 3-foot birdie on the 14th to square things back up. The match held level until the 17th, when Americans were gifted that hole when Im missed a birdie shot. Scheffler then had to save par from the bunker on the 18th to seal a one-up win.
Match 2: Cameron Young & Xander Schauffele
Starting on the front nine, the Internationals made a rough start. Hideki Matsuyama made a bogey on the first hole, and the hole was halved. His playing partner, Ryo Hisatsune, missed a birdie on the par-4 second. Cameron Young quickly picked up the advantage as he carded a birdie putt, giving the U.S. a 1-UP. On the third hole, Hisatsune neutralized the advantage with a birdie on the third hole. From there, both teams carded birdies on the fourth and fifth holes, keeping each other from an advantage.
The eighth hole, however, turned the front nine. Young’s ball found the water, and Xander Schauffele missed a six-foot par putt, giving International the lead. Matsuyama then carded another birdie on the par-3 ninth, pushing the U.S. to 2 down.
The Internationals held their two-up cushion through most of the back nine, and Matsuyama sealed it in style, draining a birdie on the 17th to close out the match three and one. It handed the U.S. its first defeat of the day.
Match 3: Justin Thomas & Jackson Koivun
For the 3rd Match, both sides got a steady start with pars on the first two holes. Justin Thomas saved his par on the first from a greenside bunker, and the second hole was tied too. Jackson Koivun for Team USA made the first birdie on the par-5 third, giving the team a 1-UP. Then on the fourth hole, both Nico Echavarria and Thomas made birdie, keeping the U.S. still up by 1.
Thomas moved the lead for the USA forward by carding another beautiful birdie, pushing the USA to 2-UP. Soon enough, Koivun proved to be the captain’s pick, as he too added a birdie on the par-5 sixth, turning the US up by 3.
The eighth and ninth holes were a tie, so the US carried the lead into the back nine.
Thomas and Koivun carried their two-hole cushion into the back nine and never let the international close the gap. Highlights were when Thomas took over, holing on the 14th and the 15th to make back-to-back birdies. That surge also extended their lead to four with three holes to play. Naturally, they closed out comfortably, 4 and 3 victory to open the U.S. account for the week.
Match 4: Wyndham Clark & Collin Morikawa
Match 4 was probably the best one for Team USA. Wyndham Clark set the tone early by rolling in a birdie on the first hole to get a fast start. That momentum pushed to the second hole, where the U.S. still held the lead. For the internationals, Adam Scott tried to take a look at the eagle on the par-5 third but couldn’t get the drop. Here, Clark’s birdie kept the U.S. team ahead. Wyndham Clark again stole the show with another birdie on the fourth hole, pushing the lead for the U.S. team by two.
The real highlight of the match, however, came on the eighth, where Clark drained an 18-footer for birdie to push the lead out to three, matching the biggest of the morning session. His partner Collin Morikawa had already chipped in with a birdie on the par-5 sixth to help build that cushion. Ryan Fox also found one answer for the International with a tidy birdie on the par-3 seventh, but it wasn’t enough to slow the Americans down. The ninth was tied, and Clark and Morikawa carried a three-up lead into the back nine.
Wyndham Clark and Morikawa were hot on their lead as they carried a three-hole advantage through the turn. While Ryan Fox’s birdie on the 13th briefly trimmed the lead to two, it kept the internationals within reach. Morikawa answered on the par-3 16th, nearly acing with a tee shot that settled to tap-in range for birdie. And that sealed it. Clark, who led all players on Thursday in strokes gained putting, helped close out a 3-and-2 win.
Match 5: Chris Gotterup & Patrick Cantlay
On the front nine, Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay got a shaky start for Americans. Neither Gotterup nor Cantlay made par on the first, and the Kims went one up. Moreover, Si Woo Kim hit his tee shot out of bounds on the second, but Tom Kim rolled in a 13-foot birdie to make it two up. The Americans only got the lead on the fourth, where Chris Gotterup won with a birdie. Cantlay then squared the match with a 12-foot birdie on the par-five sixth. Si Woo Kim tried to answer on the par-four seventh with a birdie from four feet. Overall, the eighth and ninth were a tie, so Internationals led that match by one at the turn.
For the fifth pairing, the Kims pulled away on the back nine. Si Woo Kim’s birdie on the 14th stretched the lead to three, and Tom Kim finished it with a birdie on the 16th, closing out a 3-and-2 win for the Internationals.
As the dust settled at Medinah, Team USA closed out Thursday with a 3-2 edge, a lead built on nerve as much as firepower. Scheffler, who has spent his career chasing a smoother record in the colors of his country, put it simply after the round.
“We just did our best to stay in it. I feel like both teams got off to a pretty hot start today, and we cooled off a little bit after that.” He also called Burns’ approach on the 14th “a really big moment for us as a team.”
That said, Friday now brings foursomes and a 3-2 lead on the table that will turn into something much bigger by Sunday.