The 2026 PGA Tour season ended last month, and next year’s campaign won’t start until late January. But we are not devoid of meaningful golf in the interim, as the Presidents Cup takes place this weekend. The biennial event runs from Thursday to Sunday at Medinah Country Club west of Chicago.
This is not a PGA Tour event, and it doesn’t garner the same attention as the Ryder Cup, another biennial tournament. Still, it is an international competition that many are looking forward to, even if they don’t quite know what it is. Here is a Presidents Cup primer and the top things to know as Team USA faces the rest of the world (minus Europe).
What Is the Presidents Cup?
While the Ryder Cup is a team of American golfers facing a team of Europeans, the Presidents Cup pits the U.S. versus international golfers outside Europe. South Americans, Canadians, Australians and the like make up the International Team, and this competition is contested under a Match Play format. There are 30 points available throughout the competition, and one team needs to reach 15.5 points to win.
The Presidents Cup takes place in even-numbered years. The U.S. has dominated the competition, winning each of the last 10 editions and leading the series with a 13-1-1 record.
Course and Format
Medinah Country Club has three courses, with its most well-known, Course No. 3, hosting this event. At 7,657 yards, it is longer than all but two of the 42 courses used during the 2026 PGA Tour season. With that length comes a high slope rating and extreme difficulty, as it contains over 100 bunkers and numerous water hazards. Medinah hosted the 2012 Ryder Cup–won by Team Europe–and five major tournaments, but this will be its first Presidents Cup.
With match scoring, each of the four days of the competition features a different format. Thursday will have five best ball matches, with Friday having five alternate shot matches. On Saturday, there is a mix of the two, with four best ball and four alternate shot matches, before Sunday features 12 singles play matches. One point is awarded for each match, with a half-point awarded if the hole is halved. Even if a team reaches the 15.5 points needed for a win, they’ll continue playing all 30 of the scheduled matches.
Who’s Playing?
The USA has dominated the Presidents Cup because—to the surprise of very few—the world’s best golfers mostly reside in either America or Europe. Just four of the top 30 ranked golfers are outside the U.S. or Europe, so the Americans always field the stronger team.
This year is no different as Team USA has eight of the top 11 ranked players in the world, while the International Team’s best player is ranked 13th. Team USA features the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Cam Young, Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele, and Collin Morikawa. Meanwhile, the international squad is headlined by No. 13 Si-woo Kim, as well as Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, and Adam Scott.
Cup History
Perhaps the one advantage that Team International has is experience, as its roster has played in 132 prior Presidents Cup matches, compared with 81 matches for Team USA. Scott’s 20 Presidents Cup wins are twice as many as any American, though the Aussie’s all-time record is 20-28-6. The three most experienced foreign golfers all have sub-.500 records at this event, while the three most experienced Americans—Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay—all have winning records.
But Scheffler, the World No. 1, has historically struggled at team events, both this competition and the Ryder Cup. The 2026 FedEx Cup champion is 3-5-1 at the Presidents Cup as he’ll compete at Medinah for the first time.
Presidents Cup Records
With Adam Scott making his 12th appearance at this event, he ties Phil Mickelson for the most all-time. By playing in two matches, Scott (54) will leapfrog Mickelson (55) for the most matches at this competition, and the Australian’s 23 Presidents Cup points currently rank third, behind Mickelson (32.5) and Tiger Woods (27).
There are seven rookies making their Presidents Cup debuts: three Americans and four Internationals. The youngest player in the competition is 21-year-old American Jackson Koivun, who was the two-time National College Player of the Year, turned pro in June, and won his first PGA Tournament in just his third start in July. Koivun’s world ranking didn’t make him an automatic qualifier for Team USA, but he was chosen as a captain’s pick, making him the second-youngest USA player in Presidents Cup history, behind only 20-year-old Jordan Spieth (2013).
