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The U.S. team mobs captain Brandt Snedeker after a dominating comeback (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
MEDINAH, Ill. — The consternation, the soul-searching, the head-scratching decisions will have to live in the background for now.
The U.S. Presidents Cup team undoubtedly has issues moving toward Ireland and the Ryder Cup next year but there was no denying Sunday’s singles dominance at Medinah Country Club, where the Americans started the day on the verge of an epic defeat and ended up cruising to a decisive victory.
In a different kind of “Miracle at Medinah” from the one that went against the U.S. at the 2012 Ryder Cup, the Americans put forth a dominant performance by winning 9½ of 12 singles points to erase a three-point deficit and win by four.
The 17-13 victory was the 11th straight in a lopsided series that with the U.S. running its all-time record to 14-1-1.
“I knew these guys were special,” said U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker. “I knew they were close. I saw it last year at the Ryder Cup, how hard those guys fought for Keegan (Bradley) on Sunday. I was just trying to get them to fight for me the same way. Super proud of them, man. Super proud of all these guys.”
Also in today’s DD …
Tom Kim checks out early to seek military exemption with Asian gold
This week in golf: Matt Fitzpatrick cruises in France
About Charley Hull’s new hair color
Snedeker pointed a finger at himself on Saturday night in a raw leadership assessment, questioning some of his own decisions that put the U.S. team in a 10½-7½ hole through three days of team play. Some of those recurring issues will need to be studied a bit more in coming days and weeks as needing 8 of 12 points in singles to win the Presidents Cup is not typically going to be a productive strategy.
Bradley was part of his assistant crew at Medinah as was Jim Furyk, who will be the captain next year for the U.S. Ryder Cup team in Ireland. Best not to let an unlikely final-day eruption mask some of the inadequacies that continue to haunt the U.S. team.
Among the bright spots for the Americans was 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun, and it was perhaps fitting that one of Snedeker’s controversial captain’s picks got a key victory on Sunday over one of the International team’s top stars, Si Woo Kim. Or that another pick, veteran Justin Thomas, went out early and thumped Canada’s Corey Conners, 5 and 3.
On the other side, it was a bitter defeat for an International squad that has put considerable thought and inspiration behind an effort to change the narrative despite its debilitating lack of comparative depth.
Captain Geoff Ogilvy’s team seemed to push all the right strategic buttons, buoyed by a 5-0 foursomes record on Friday and holding its own through two sessions Saturday to emerge with a 10½-7½ lead. But the issue of depth facilitated by not being allowed to pick quality players who left for LIV Golf did the International side no favors on Sunday.
“Obviously pretty disappointed,” said Oglivy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion and an Australian who could very well captain the International side again in 2028 at Kingston Heath in Melbourne. “We had a pretty good Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We put ourselves in a really good position (Sunday). I thought we had some pretty good matchups out there, and I thought we did all that stuff pretty well.
“It was just one of those days; it just felt like it was sort of right on a knife edge for a massive part of the day. If you hole a couple of putts at the right time and get a bit more yellow on the board at the right time, the momentum, and the crowd sort of stays out of it a little bit. Just sort of started drifting away for us in the last few hours.
“Pretty disappointed, but pretty impressed with this group of guys. They were pretty committed to this this week. They all put in. The spirit in the room is great. The energy is amazing. They’re all incredibly motivated to come back in ’28 and do it again. We gave it a good crack. We nearly got there, but pretty disappointed for sure.”
Ogilvy lamented how difficult it is to beat the Americans at singles while playing in the U.S. It’s actually difficult, anywhere. That is not the problem for the U.S. side.
The singles dominance on Sunday is in keeping with recent international team play. The last time the Americans lost a singles session was at the 2018 Ryder Cup. Since then, they’ve won the Sunday session six times and tied it another. Even in Ryder Cup defeats in 2023 and 2025, the Americans did not lose at singles.
Ogilvy seemingly made the right moves to get solid Sunday matchups, but a couple of his veterans let him down. It was perfectly set up for Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Si Woo Kim and Min Woo Lee to decide the outcome for him. All four lost in the seventh though 10th matches.
Matsuyama missed a 2-footer in his 1-down loss to Collin Morikawa, who rallied and won the 18th with a par. Scott never led against Patrick Cantlay but was never down more than two holes and yet was never able to tie it after the first hole. Kim led the rookie Koivun through 11 holes but could not finish him off and lost 2-up. Lee also missed a short putts on 16 and 17, allowing rookie Jacob Bridgeman to win 1-up with a par on the 18th.
“From my experiences, the environment is definitely getting tougher to play, and this was a tougher environment,” said Scott, 46, who played in his 12th consecutive Presidents Cup and posted a 1-3 record. “There are no excuses, but we’ve got to learn from that and be ready for it.
“I think as I look at the group on the whole, all these guys are going to be much better players in two years. So I like where it’s going for the International team. The American team, it’s a tough lineup. For me, playing for the week, I think I played okay, but okay doesn’t win a lot of points against an American team.”
That U.S. team deserved to revel in victory Sunday night. They were heavily favored, were beaten badly on Friday and dug a big hole to climb out of on the final day. The 17-13 score may be viewed down the road as another yawner when it was hardly that.
“I’m tired of hearing how these guys aren’t close. I’m tired of hearing how we can’t play team golf. Guys just proved it right then and there,” Snedeker said on TV afterwards, brushing over the fact his team trailed the “team” portion by three points.
“This team is going to be a problem in Ireland. A problem.”
It is best for the U.S. brass not to go to sleep on this result and start providing bulletin-board material before trying to end a nearly four-decade road losing streak in the Ryder Cup. This was far from easy and there is plenty to learn from, even in victory. That is good to keep that in mind amid the celebration.
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Tom Kim did all he could for International cause by winning four points (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Tom Kim checks out early after doing his part
Tom Kim didn’t hang around long enough to suffer disappointment with his teammates. The International team’s leading points earner with a 4-1 record left Medinah late Sunday afternoon and headed for Japan to compete for his native South Korea in the Asian Games.
“I’m excited to go back to Asia. I haven't been to Asia for so long, so I’m excited to go back home and see some friends and hopefully have a good week,” Kim said after his 3-and-2 victory over U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark in the second match moved the International team to within four points of winning with 10 matches still undecided.
The Associated Press first reported on Saturday that Kim would make a quick exit after playing in the second match of the day. South Korean law requires most able-bodied men to perform 18 to 21 months of military service by the time they turn 28. Special exemptions are granted for athletes and artists who excel in certain kinds of international competitions tied to national prestige. For a golfer, that means any medal at the Olympics or a gold medal at the Asian Games.
Kim, 24, would be eligible for an exemption should he win gold at the Asian Games. He missed out on reaching the Olympics podium in Paris and he’ll be 26 when the next Olympics are held at Riviera in Los Angeles.
So he’ll go for gold in Japan at the Asian games after a standout performance in the Presidents Cup.
“This is probably my best Presidents Cup yet. I think this was one of the hardest ones,” Kim said. “The crowd definitely enjoyed picking on me a little bit. It was great. The fans of Chicago were so amazing. It’s a really cool sports city, and they really showed up for the U.S. this week.
“I’m very honored to be a part of the week, and I’m very grateful. But I’m glad that I did my best for my team, and four points this week hopefully goes a long way.”
“The Kims make an incredible pair,” Ogilvy said Sunday. “They’re fun to watch. They bring so much energy to this team. And they’re very reliable and they win us a lot of points. We love having them on our side.”
It didn’t go quite far enough.
This week in golf …
FedEx Open de France: Despite 12 consecutive pars to start that let his five-shot 54-hole lead get squeezed to just two, Matt Fitzpatrick prevailed by three shots over Angel Hidalgo at Le Golf National on the DP World Tour. Hidalgo locked up a spot in the 2027 Open at St. Andrews for his runner-up finish via the Open Qualifying Series.
Walmart NW Arkansas Championship: After a pair of 63s lifted her to a five-shot lead, Japan’s Yuna Nishimura closed with a 5-under 66 to win her maiden LPGA Tour title in wire-to-wire fashion in the 54-hole event at Pinnacle CC. Nishimura is the LPGA’s third first-time winner of 2026.
Charley Hull’s darker hair has turned some heads in LPGA circles (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Greetings from the new brunette
A few weeks before the Solheim Cup, England’s Charley Hull showed up at the LPGA’s FM Championship with her normally blonde hair dyed brown. It was a shocking change for one of the most recognizable stars in women’s golf.
After one of the rounds at last week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Hull explained the abrupt change and outlined its long-term prospects.
