The 16th Presidents Cup tees off Thursday on the No. 3 Course at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago.
It's the first time Medinah Country Club has hosted the event, which pits 12 U.S. golfers against 12 international players from everywhere in the world except Europe.
World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler is among seven U.S. golfers who are ranked in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Si Woo Kim (14th in the world) and Ryan Fox (22nd) are the highest-ranked golfers on the International team.
The Americans have dominated the competition, winning 10 straight times and losing only once in the first 15 matches. The U.S. won 18.5-11.5 at Royal Montreal Golf Club two years ago.
Brandt Snedeker is leading the U.S. team, while Australia's Geoff Ogilvy is the International team captain.
"I think trying to figure out the secret sauce, if you will, of why the success has been this way is the hardest question we're trying to answer," Snedeker said Tuesday. "Every team is different. The makeup of every team is different. The bonding in every team is different. So trying to navigate that is really, really difficult."
Player under the most pressure from each team?
Mark Schlabach: Former U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson famously said, "You just don't leave JT at home," and that still rings true after Justin Thomas failed to win this past season. He had two top-10 finishes in 17 starts, trying for eighth in the Players Championship and for fourth in the PGA Championship.
Thomas, 33, had a microdisectomy procedure on his back in November. He struggled with his irons and putter at times, ranking 107th on tour in approach (-.115) and 87th on the greens (-.015). He was No. 1 around the greens (.627) and still possesses one of the most creative short games in the world.
Thomas has been "Captain America" as much as any golfer on the U.S. team. He has a 19-9-4 record in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. He has earned 11 points in three Presidents Cup appearances, going 6-0-0 in four-ball (best ball) matches and 4-0-2 in foursomes (alternate shot).
Thomas' only blemish is a 0-3-0 record in singles in the Presidents Cup. He fell to Si Woo Kim (1 up in 2022), Cameron Smith (2 and 1 in 2019) and Hideki Matsuyama (3 and 1 in 2017).
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Thomas posted a winning score of 25 under in the 2019 BMW Championship at Medinah, defeating Patrick Cantlay by three strokes. The No. 3 Course was overhauled by Ogilvy's firm in 2023-24.
Paolo Uggetti: If the International team is going to have any semblance of a shot at upsetting the Americans at home this week, Si Woo Kim is going to have to be a force to be reckoned with. He is undoubtedly the team's best player and has quietly had a very good PGA Tour season.
Despite zero wins, Kim has racked up 11 top-10 finishes this year and he tops the tour in strokes gained: approach. It's probably not a great sign that he hasn't been able to get over the hump and notch a PGA Tour win since the 2023 Sony Open, but as we saw over the past two Presidents Cups, match play seems to bring something out of Kim.
Though he was a captain's pick and didn't directly qualify at both Quail Hollow in 2022 and Royal Montreal in 2024, Kim posted a 5-3 record in matches. That might not seem like the greatest mark, but in both cases, the International team lost the event by a considerable margin, making Kim one of the few players who had positive contributions.
If nothing else, we know Kim will bring the energy -- win or lose. How could we ever forget the fact that he famously resorted to the Steph Curry "night night" celebration two years ago when he chipped in to tie a match against Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay on the 16th hole (a match that Schauffele and Cantlay would win on No. 18).
Rookies to watch from each team?
Schlabach: PGA Tour rookie Jackson Koivun, 21, is the second-youngest U.S. golfer in Presidents Cup history. Only Jordan Spieth, who was 20 when he competed in the 2013 Presidents Cup, was younger.
Koivun was one of Snedeker's six captain's picks and it was clearly a choice made with an eye on future international team competitions. Koivun was ranked 48th in the U.S. Presidents Cup points standings, and he's the lowest-ranked golfer to ever be selected with a captain's pick.
The former Auburn star won the 3M Open in just his third start as a pro on July 26. He tied for 23rd in the U.S. Open and qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs in only five starts, which tied Tiger Woods for the fewest. Koivun tied for fifth in last week's Biltmore Championship Asheville, so his form is still trending.
In 30 rounds, Koivun had a 68.75 adjusted scoring average, which would have ranked just behind Scheffler. He's already considered one of the better putters on tour.
Koivun and Thomas have put aside their Iron Bowl rivalry (Thomas played at Alabama) this week. They played a practice round together Tuesday and could play together in matches.
"He's looked up to Justin for a long time, and Justin has taken him under his wing long before this process started," Snedeker said. "That was kind of a surprise to me. I didn't realize those relationships existed and that's super important, super exciting for us. Now, when Jackson walks in a room, he's got a couple of friendly faces that he knows, and that makes the transition so much easier."
Uggetti: On the international side, the crop of rookies is quite a unique one. There's a 24-year-old in Ryo Hisatsune and then three players in their 30s who are debuting in this event -- Ryan Fox, Nico Echavarria and Nick Taylor.
Of those, I am most intrigued by the 39-year-old Fox. His performance at the Open was sublime, especially on Sunday, and I'm really fascinated to see what he can bring to a team match play competition given it's not a format we've really seen him play before. I could see how a player like Fox, who plays quick and is a grinder, could excel in this kind of situation and be a pain to play against if you're one of the Americans.
To be competitive in this event, the internationals need at least one, if not more, of these rookies to be a revelation. I think Fox has the best shot.
Player on each team you think could make headlines this week?
Schlabach: It's time for Scheffler to perform well in a team event. For all he has done in professional golf -- winning 22 times on the PGA Tour, capturing four majors and being ranked No. 1 in the world for a whopping 175 weeks -- the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup have been his kryptonite for some reason.
In three Ryder Cups and two Presidents Cups, Scheffler has a combined 6-11-4 record. In the latter, he's 2-0-1 in four-ball matches, 1-3-1 in foursomes and 0-2-0 in singles. Scheffler went 1-4-0 in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York, where the U.S. team needed him more than ever in a 15-13 loss.
Scheffler's performance has to change, and I'm guessing it will at Medinah Country Club this week. Scheffler's competitiveness and game are too good for the struggles to continue. He won in two of his three starts in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, so Snedeker has to feel good about his superstar's form.
"I think Scottie Scheffler being Scottie Scheffler is the most important thing for us as a team," Snedeker said. "We can't ask him to do more than he can do. He can only deliver five points at his best, if he goes out and plays unbelievable. We just want Scottie to go out there and be comfortable and go out there and have fun and be the Scottie Scheffler he is every week."
Uggetti: Despite not having a winning record over two Presidents Cup appearances, Tom Kim seems to always be the center of some kind of attention. Whether you find that to be grating or endearing probably depends on your mileage for the kind of pesky villain role that Kim seems to be adopting at this event.
In Montreal, Kim made headlines by going back and forth with his friend Scheffler during their match and then walking to the next tee before the Americans were done putting at one point. On the broadcast, Paul McGinley called the move "disrespectful." Later in the week, Kim claimed that Cantlay and Schauffele had been cursing at both him and Si Woo Kim during their match, calling it poor sportsmanship. Kim would later apologize to U.S. captain Jim Furyk and Schauffele for his comments.
I wouldn't put it past Kim to make some noise -- good or bad -- this week once again.
Give me your prediction for the week -- winner and final score?
Schlabach: United States wins 17-13
I think the International squad is better than it has been, and it put up an admirable fight at Royal Montreal Golf Club two years ago. After the Americans swept the opening fourball matches for a 5-0 lead, the International team rallied to do the same in foursomes the next day. In the end, however, the U.S. team had too much firepower. The Americans won six of eight matches on Saturday and then 7.5 points in singles to run away with another lopsided victory. It will be more of the same this time.
Uggetti: United States wins 16.5-13.5
On paper, this should be another blowout for the Americans, but for some reason, I see it being closer than the previous cups have been. Part of that is the golf course. A renovated Medinah No. 3 (by International captain Oglivy's architecture firm, no less) is set up to be one of the more interesting venues this event has had in recent years. It appears it's a far more strategic golf course than it was previously for the Ryder Cup in 2012 and I think, in this case, that benefits the International squad, just not enough to actually pull off the upset.