[Photo: Sarah Stier]<\/p>\n
Captains Brandt Snedeker and Geoff Ogilvy have announced their pairings for the opening session of the 2026 Presidents Cup.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday night in Chicago, the leaders of the American and International squads rolled out the 10 players from their sides that will be competing on the opening day at Medinah Country Club<\/a>. The first format is four-ball (best ball). Among the notable pairings are Justin Thomas taking breakout performer Jackson Koivun under his wing, friends Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns teaming up, and Cam Young and Xander Schauffele joining forces.<\/p>\n RELATED: Complete guide to the 2026 Presidents Cup<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJackson being a young kid, I feel like he\u2019s really kind of found his way on our team really quickly. I feel like he\u2019s handled the adjustment really well. Justin is just a natural pairing for him,\u201d Snedeker said. \u201cHe\u2019s somebody he\u2019s comfortable with. I think he\u2019ll do a great job putting his arm around him and show him how USA golf is meant to be played. I know he\u2019s excited to see him, but think we\u2019re really excited about all these match-ups and put this line-up out.\u201d<\/p>\n For the Internationals, they will be leaning on Adam Scott and Ryan Fox, with the duo of Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim hoping to provide a spark.<\/p>\n \u201cThese tournaments, I think everyone comes into these tournaments with optimism. They\u2019re very momentum-based tournaments,\u201d Ogilvy said. \u201cI mean, Montreal [two years ago] was an amazing first two days. 0-5 was a disaster for us, and then 5-0 was a big success. You could never have predicted that, where it takes a long time to get to this stage. We\u2019ve been thinking about this for a long time. So we\u2019re just excited to get going.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: \u2018It\u2019d be fantastic\u2019: Adam Scott driving Presidents Cup tilt<\/a><\/p>\n Jacob Bridgeman and Russell Henley will be the two players sidelined for the United States, while Nick Taylor and Christiaan Bezuidenhout are on the bench for the Internationals.<\/p>\n The United States has lost just once in the 32-year history of the Presidents Cup, falling in 1998 in Melbourne. The Internationals were competitive at the 2015 and 2019 matches, yet the past two have been blowouts, with the Americans winning by five points in 2022 and seven points in 2024. The Yankees are again heavy favourites<\/a> this week in Chicago thanks to the frontline power of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, Cam Young and reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark, with Russell Henley, Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns and Xander Schauffele also ranked inside the top 10 world ranking. The Internationals do have veterans in Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama and Si Woo Kim, with the man who captured the claret jug in Ryan Fox<\/a> also in the mix, yet the team\u2019s depth will be tested over the four-day competition.<\/p>\n Match 1: Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im vs Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns Match 2: Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune vs Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele
What to watch: One International pairing had to serve as sacrificial lambs for the opening of this competition, and that task seemingly falls to Sungjae Im and Min Woo Lee. Two years ago in Montreal, the duo combined for all of 1\u00bd points. Burns (3\u00bd) and Scheffler (3) each doubled that. Scheffler, the world No.1, and Burns (No.8) have been thought of as a \u201cbuddy\u201d team, but they didn\u2019t play one time together at Royal Montreal. And maybe that\u2019s because they\u2019re 0-3-1 in team international play. Crazy to think Snedeker is taking a chance here, but maybe? \u2013 Tod Leonard<\/p>\n
What to watch: This is arguably the best Thursday pairing for the Americans. In 14 career Presidents Cup matches Schauffele has scored a whopping 10 points, while Young is coming off a career year that has him No.3 in the OWGR and the Medinah set-up should be tailored to his skills. Matsuyama is a workhorse for the Internationals, but getting paired with a rookie in Hisatsune \u2013 who is good, yet doesn\u2019t do anything particularly great \u2013 against this US firepower might be too much to overcome. Managing a tie would be considered a monumental upset for the Internationals. \u2013 Joel Beall<\/p>\n