2026 Presidents Cup - Saturday

Not sure what Europe's secret sauce is, but this is a pairing that needs to be invested in

is this the future of American team golf? Many are asking. Feels like Chris Gotterup would say yes.

Tom Kim's chip almost rolling back into his divot...

Been there.

Sometimes you just need to see it

Not to be the Ryder Cup prognosticator guy based off the P-Cup, but the vibes for Young/Gotterup have been so, so good. Might’ve found a hopeful longterm pairing here.

Chicago... the soccer city?!

Was that Steve Bartman in the crowd?

Shot 3.

Shot 4.

Jackson Koivun Carries His Mentor to Half of a Point

The purpose of the Jackson Koivun-Justin Thomas pairing was to make Koivun comfortable. Thomas is a seasoned veteran and has a strong relationship with Koivun, who has said JT is a player he looks up to.

But on Saturday morning, it was Koivun doing the leading.

The American duo took on Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im in the first fourballs pairing of the morning session. Koivun made four birdies over his first 11 holes, helping the Americans charge out to a 2-up lead. Thomas, on the other hand, might as well have been a standard bearer for almost the entirety of the match.

JT hit his opening tee shot off the out-of-bounds fence down the left side of No. 1, then proceeded to miss five of his next seven fairways. On No. 16, the Americans clung to just a one-up lead. Koivun had a 15-foot par attempt while JT stood over a chip shot from just short of the green. Thomas' chip came up short before rolling back down the slope and into the water, emblematic of his performance the entire day. He made just one birdie in the match.

Koivun, however, met the moment. He was far from perfect and battled his swing throughout the day, but he did just enough to keep his team in the match and eek out a halve while his partner was mostly in his pocket.

Despite some loose shots and a couple of burned edges, Koivun remained stoic throughout the match. He looked like a player who belongs on that stage for more than a decade to come. Jackson gave an emphatic fist-pump after burying a birdie on the first and delivered many more throughout the course of his second appearance in team competition.

Trying to nail down exactly which players are built for high-stakes match play and which aren't is a challenging task, one where the goalposts seem to shift often.

But after spending the morning walking alongside Koivun, it's clear to me he has the DNA of a player who can handle the biggest stages in golf. And I expect him to produce many more points throughout his team cup career, especially if he is paired with a solid partner.

Local dad eats lunch on suddenly free Saturday afternoon

I waited around the 17th green until the final celebrations dissipated. I watched as Brandt Snedeker went and talked to both Burns and Scheffler. I am not going to over index on just body language but Burns had several follow up questions for Snedeker about the afternoon. He put his arm around Scottie, who looked bemused with a now what do I do look for the afternoon as he happily drove off with Meredith. It did seem like they had just found out the plans for the afternoon. A major move by Snedeker to break up the pair and have Scottie be the one sitting. His birdie at 15 completely flipped that match, woke up the crowds and maybe himself, and then Burns impressively cleaned it up on 16 and 17 for the point.

It felt like the world No 1 was live and it was definitely an hour where he was as engaged and as fired up as he’s been in these team cups. The lineup cards may have been due before it really hit full roar but he goes from that explosion to the bench.

Did you know this song is actually about the western part of Virginia?

For as ugly as it looked at points, Burns and Scheffler stepped up with some big shots and putts late.

A massive point secured for the Americans to close out the four-ball session and keep it within reach.

The lineups for the afternoon session are out and they are...interesting.

No big surprises on the International side. We'll see how much gas the Kims have left in the tank, but they have been dynamite so far.

The American side is seemingly some combination of "stick-to-the-plan" pairings (esp. Cantlay-Xander, Henley-Bridgeman) and riding hot hands.

The big surprise, of course, is the absence of Scottie Scheffler. It is a bold choice from Captain Snedeker, presuming Scheffler did not ask to be left out of the afternoon session.

There is something to be said for pulling a golfer when he is clearly off. Scottie has not been very good today, but how much confidence should Snedeker have that the best player in the world isn't one of the best eight for the afternoon session?

Benching the world No. 1, despite a poor historical record in foursomes, is a bold, bold choice. The type of choice that will and should fall under scrutiny.

Saturday afternoon foursomes matches. No Scottie Scheffler for the Americans.

OCM's redesign has really injected some excitement into these par 3s around Lake Kadijah. Matching distance and line has been a consistent issue for the players this week.

The wind is definitely coming up on 16 a bit right now. The Japanese duo flummoxed by it. Made all the more pressing by Burns posting the shot of the day and nearly jarring it with the honor on the tee.

I think that’s the most emotion I’ve seen out of Scottie Scheffler off a made putt. Completely charged the scene here.

❌ Europe

❌ GB&I

(Maybe/Probably) ❌ Internationals

Is there a group Team USA can beat in a team event?

You either have the team-match-play juice or you don't. The Kims have it.

Someone in the crowd after a poor Wyndham shot: "Don't take it out on the lockers, though!"

Getting heckled at your home P Cup. Oof.

Sure, there's plenty to be concerned about right now if you're Team USA. In my humble opinion, the biggest concern is that the Internationals are about to let C Bez off the leash this afternoon.

The Canadians have fought back against annexation — Nick Taylor pours in a bomb on top of Chris Gotterup’s own birdie on 14 to keep the lead at two!

The Internationals have held the tee since the 9th hole after being four down through four. Really impressive fight from Corey Conners and Taylor to stay in it.

The current crop of U.S. golfers is undeniably bad at handling the specific psychological pressures of team match play. As an American, I don't love seeing it, but I'm glad there's still something we all recognize as a major influence on competition that analytics can't touch.

Not trying for a hot take... genuinely asking... any chance Scottie sits this afternoon? Hasn't been great, Bob.

I have my concerns about what the USGA or PGA would do to Medinah in setting it up for a strokeplay major, but this place would be perfect for a match-play Tour Championship.

I'm worried what you heard was, "Give me a lot of 'Si Woo and Tom Kim antagonizing the Chicago crowd' content." What I said was, "Give me all the 'Si Woo and Tom Kim antagonizing the Chicago crowd' content you have."

Reporting detail from our own Andy Johnson: the Internationals shuttle left the hotel downtown today at 4:15 a.m. The turnaround from late-ish Friday to Saturday 7 am start is crazy short, especially if the hotel is not across the street. They seem to be stirring a little later in the session here as we get into the back nine for these four four-ball matches.

As Austin's video below shows, Sungjae Im's tee shot on 12 landed on approximately the "x" before rolling off the fairway and nearly into the water.

If I were OCM, I think I'd rather see that ball stay up, and not just because Sungjae is on the International team. If a tee shot like this ends up in (or near) the hazard, players have a lot less incentive to challenge the right side of the fairway when the tee is back. As a result, we'll see a lot more bail-outs to the left and wedges to the middle of the green. We'd see a good number of those anyway, but what happened to Sungjae just now made it extra clear that the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

A sense of the slope on the right side of the 12th fairway:

I am a big fan of the global partners branding on the caddie bib. A nice touch 🤌

Jackson Koivun in match one.

Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking, and especially Ash Mead like to talk about George Thomas's notion of "courses within a course," where certain tees combine with certain pins to transform holes from day to day.

We're seeing a good example of this today at the ninth hole, where the front tee has been paired with a pin on the narrow front tongue of the green. Suddenly the hole has become a short, high-pressure, high-variance par 3. It's playing just 121 yards, but so far we've seen JT, Wyndham, and Morikawa miss the small target and give the hole to the Internationals.

More good stuff from OCM.

Interesting exercise that Andy proposed on podcast last night: what point total for the Internationals at the end of the day would have you feeling comfortable going into the singles session?

Small detail to watch this morning: the rough is very wet. It’s much more of a penalty than it will be this afternoon.

The balky putter of Corey Conners is rearing its head again. Misses from 9 feet and 4 feet have handed Cam and Gotterup two wins through three holes. The Canadian magic might’ve run out against some fellow northerners.

Every match is big (obviously) but I’m particularly intrigued by the first match.

Both Jackson Koivun and Justin Thomas are struggling with their ball-striking, which you can sort of get away with in fourballs.

Keep an eye on their tee shots. JT has a big two-way miss going, and Koivun doesn’t look comfortable with his swing right now. Scratching out a point despite their struggles would be huge for Team USA.

Channeling my inner-Andy here Can I say something: Sam Burns, gets talked about so often as such a great putter, but feel like so often we don't see him make the "big" putt.

It's actually unbelievable that they miss golf shots with 3 matches on the course. Someone needs to start a petition to stop this nonsense.

After Cam hit his first ball hard OB, Gotterup, who struggled on Thursday, pounded his in play with the pressure on right from the start. He was fired up and bounded off the first tee only to be shouted back to the tee by Cam, who had popped out to hit a provisional.

The lower level suite style seating around the first tee is fairly empty.

Good morning from JT

Good morning from the Land of Lincoln. It’s an absurdly early start here for the Saturday double session. But we are ready…except maybe PJ, he seemed to be scrambling about but that’s also his nature.

Here’s one thing that struck me last night as we were podcasting live after the International sweep. Data driven folks will often tell you momentum is not real, or scant, in team sports, especially football. But it’s a constant refrain at these team golf events, whether it’s within a single match or a session as a player looks at the board and sees a certain color predominate. So… last night I walked away from Medinah thinking the Americans could not have looked more listless, disinterested, overwhelmed, and beaten down. The Internationals appeared so much more invested and driven. Is that actually the case? Eh, probably not but that session gave off the strong impression. So you walk away with that but immediately look at the lineups for the next session, this Saturday morning, and struggle to see where the Internationals should be favored to get a point out of the four. That’s the appearance on paper, which runs so contra to the feeling on the ground Friday night. Does any of that actual momentum or vibe, both good — and bad on the USA side — actually carry over into the next day? I think not but we are about to find out. It’s likely that a handful of the USA players are simply not sharp and playing poorly this week. But the feeling of walking out Friday just bought in on the Intls and then immediately looking at the lineups and wanting to pick the USA in maybe every match was an interesting dynamic worth calling out and has made this specific P Cup fascinating for double session Saturday.

Here’s that lineup

Excited to watch another day of American team golf!