Americans Flip a Medinah Sunday for an 11th Straight Cup

The United States turned a 10.5-7.5 hole into a 17-13 Presidents Cup win on Sunday at Medinah, taking a record 9.5 singles points for an 11th straight title. Jacob Bridgeman, a rookie, holed a 3-foot par putt on the 18th to beat Min Woo Lee 1 up and lock the 15.5 points the home side needed.

Fourteen years after Europe stole a Ryder Cup on this property, Brandt Snedeker’s team stole a Sunday of its own. The Internationals had led on American soil heading into singles for the first time in the event’s history. Then the board went red, and it stayed there.

How the U.S. Took 9.5 Singles Points at Medinah

The Americans won nine of 12 singles matches and halved another. That 9.5 to 2.5 singles session is the largest Sunday haul in Presidents Cup history, and it turned a three-point deficit into a four-point win. Cameron Young set the tone against Ryo Hisatsune. Justin Thomas blew past Corey Conners, 5 and 3. Scottie Scheffler, Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele never trailed.

SUNDAY SINGLES AT MEDINAH

Collin Morikawa was 1 down on the 15th green, with Matsuyama inside 4 feet for birdie, when he buried a 30-foot birdie of his own. Matsuyama missed. Morikawa won 1 up with a par on 18. “No. 15 was the pivotal moment. That’s match play right there in a nutshell,” Morikawa said.

Cantlay holed from just inside 60 feet on the par-3 16th against Adam Scott and closed him out 2 and 1. A fan yelled during Nico Echavarria’s backswing, and the Colombian’s ball sailed right. Scheffler barked at the spectator, then missed a birdie putt and conceded a 30-foot par. He still won 2 and 1.

When five matches were still on the course, the United States led in three and two were tied. Ogilvy’s side needed three points from those five. It did not get them. Bridgeman, 1 down with three to play, won the last hole with par. The Americans on the 18th green pulled on Chicago Cubs “W” flags.

The Internationals Swept Friday and Still Lost Sunday

Geoff Ogilvy’s team had earned the lead. Thursday four-ball went 3-2 to the United States. Friday foursomes went 5-0 the other way, and the Internationals led 7-3, their biggest gap after two sessions since the only year they have won this cup. Saturday morning four-ball trimmed it. Saturday afternoon foursomes split 2-2. Sunday still opened with the visitors in front.

HOW THE WEEK TILTED

1. Thursday, Sept. 24: Four-ball, five matches. United States 3, Internationals 2. USA leads 3-2.
2. Friday, Sept. 25: Foursomes, five matches. Internationals sweep 5-0. Internationals lead 7-3.
3. Saturday a.m., Sept. 26: Four-ball, four matches. United States 2.5, Internationals 1.5. Internationals lead 8.5-5.5.
4. Saturday p.m., Sept. 26: Foursomes split 2-2. Internationals take a 10.5-7.5 lead into singles, the first such lead on American soil.
5. Sunday, Sept. 27: Singles, 12 matches. United States 9.5, Internationals 2.5. Final 17-13.

Snedeker had spent Saturday night blaming his own pairings. He told reporters he had not put his players in the best spots. Tom Kim finished the week 4-1-0, the most points on either side. Si Woo Kim was 3-2-0. Min Woo Lee, Corey Conners and Nick Taylor had carried the foursomes. None of that showed up in the singles math. The United States needed eight Sunday points to win outright and collected 9.5. The Internationals needed five and got 2.5.

Snedeker Had Already Lost a Medinah Sunday

Snedeker was on Davis Love III’s 2012 Ryder Cup team here, the one that took a 10-6 lead into singles and watched Europe leave with a 14.5-13.5 win. Paul Lawrie beat him 5 and 3 that afternoon. Martin Kaymer’s par putt on 18 against Steve Stricker kept the cup in European hands. Snedeker put that week in his players’ heads on Saturday night.

I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah has a history of funny things happening. Sure enough, they went out and played their tails off today. I’m so damn proud of those guys.

Brandt Snedeker, U.S. captain, after Sunday singles

Keegan Bradley, who captained the Americans at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black and came up short on that Sunday, was on the 18th green when Bridgeman finished. Snedeker jumped up and lifted him. Assistant captain Jim Furyk, who will lead the U.S. side in Ireland next year, said the group “finished it off like I’ve never seen before.” Thomas, who had been 0-3 in Presidents Cup singles before Sunday, finally got one and moved his career cup record to 12-4-3.

President Donald Trump, the honorary chairman, was on the first tee for the 12 singles matches and stayed for the trophy, as he had at Liberty National in 2017. “It’s going to be a very interesting game of golf,” he said before the opening tee shots. The clip of him handing Snedeker the cup moved faster after the round than the Friday 5-0 that had made the rally necessary.

Ogilvy’s Firm Rebuilt the Course They Led On

The No. 3 course that hosted 2012 is not the course that hosted this cup. OCM, the Australian firm of Ogilvy, Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead, rebuilt it in 2023 and 2024, clearing trees, moving greens, and tying new holes to Lake Kadijah. Matches started on the members’ fifth hole so the water would still be in play late. Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, walked a routing his own shop had drawn, 26 miles west of the Chicago Loop, with a three-point lead on Saturday night. Sunday did not care who had designed the bunkers.

WHAT OCM CHANGED ON NO. 3

• Fairways: Short grass fairways doubled from 29 acres to 58.
• Bunkers: The count rose from 70 to 117, with sand area doubled to 204,000 square feet.
• Greens: Average putting surface grew more than 40 percent, from 6,000 square feet to 8,600.
• Rough: It dropped to about a third of the old total, 48 acres, after tree work and fairway expansion.

Ogilvy did not hide from the singles problem. He said the afternoon sat “right on a knife edge for a massive part of the day,” and that a couple of putts at the right time would have kept the crowd quieter. The putts did not drop. The noise did not stay out of it.

Look, it’s a very difficult thing to beat the U.S. in singles in the U.S. They’re great players, and the crowd came out for them. They get a bit of red on the board, and the noise gets loud.

Geoff Ogilvy, International captain, after the 17-13 defeat

Snedeker’s Three Rookies All Won on Sunday

Snedeker used six captain’s picks. Three of them, Chris Gotterup, Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun, had never played a Presidents Cup or a Ryder Cup. All three won their singles matches. Gotterup finished the week 3-1-0. Bridgeman was 1-2-0 and still delivered the cup. Koivun was the only unbeaten player on either team, 2-0-1.

THE THREE ROOKIES ON SUNDAY

• Chris Gotterup: Beat Christiaan Bezuidenhout 1 up and posted 3-1-0 for the week, sharing the U.S. points lead with Scheffler and Young.
• Jacob Bridgeman: Lost both foursomes with Russell Henley, then won the 18th with par for a 1-up victory and the clinching point.
• Jackson Koivun: Trailed Si Woo Kim by two through 10 holes, won five of the last eight, and closed 2 up after a pure approach on 18 that made him twirl the iron.

Koivun is 21, the youngest U.S. player since Jordan Spieth, and he left Auburn in June after NCAA titles in 2024 and 2026 and three straight SEC individual crowns. He won the 3M Open in his third start as a pro. Snedeker had called the pick a big Sunday assignment against Kim, the Internationals’ top-ranked player. “I thought he brought everything and more,” Snedeker said. “The kid is special. He’s different.” Gotterup and Koivun combined to go 5-1-1. Henley, a veteran, was 0-2-1. Clark was 1-4-0.

Kingston Heath Is Next, After Ireland

The series record is now United States 14-1-1 in 16 editions. The Internationals’ only outright win remains 1998 at Royal Melbourne, 20.5-11.5. They tied 17-17 at Fancourt in 2003 and have not held the cup since. Scott has now played 12 of these, matching Phil Mickelson’s appearance record, and has still never been on a winning side. He went 1-3-0 at Medinah. Hideki Matsuyama, in his seventh cup, lost 1 up to Morikawa after a week of 2-2-0.

THE CUP’S LONG MATH

• American streak: 11 straight wins since 2005, counting the 2003 retain after the tie.

Only International title: Royal Melbourne, 1998, still the lone outright loss on the U.S. ledger.

• Next Presidents Cup: The 2028 Presidents Cup at Kingston Heath in Melbourne, the event’s fourth visit to that city.
• 2030 host: Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, already on the published venue list.

Furyk will have several of these same names in Ireland for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor on Sept. 17-19, with Luke Donald again captaining Europe. That is a different opponent and a road course. Ogilvy’s players regroup for Kingston Heath, a Sandbelt test on their own side of the world, two years after a week in which they led in Chicago and still left without the cup.

Snedeker said a record in singles does not happen without a special group. His group got 9.5 points on a Sunday that Medinah has now written twice, once in European blue and once in American red. The Internationals had the lead, the redesign, and the first U.S.-soil Saturday night in 32 years of this event. They did not have an answer for 12 Americans, one at a time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Points Does a Team Need to Win the Presidents Cup?

A team needs 15.5 of the 30 available points to win outright. The week is built from five Thursday four-ball matches, five Friday foursomes, four Saturday four-ball and four Saturday foursomes, then 12 singles. If the score finishes 15-15, the defending champion keeps the cup, which is how the United States retained it after the 17-17 tie in 2003.

What Is the All-Time Presidents Cup Record?

The United States leads 14-1-1 after Medinah. The Internationals’ only outright victory is still Peter Thomson’s 20.5-11.5 win at Royal Melbourne in 1998, later nicknamed the Massacre in Melbourne, when Shigeki Maruyama went 5-0-0. Every other decided cup has gone to the Americans, including 18.5-11.5 at Royal Montreal in 2024.

What Happened in the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah?

Europe, captained by José María Olazábal, trailed 10-6 after two days and won 8.5 of 12 singles for a 14.5-13.5 victory. Martin Kaymer beat Steve Stricker 1 up with a par putt on 18 to retain the cup, and Francesco Molinari halved with Tiger Woods in the last match to win it outright. Paul Lawrie’s 5 and 3 win over Snedeker was the most lopsided result of that Sunday.

How Many Presidents Cups Has Adam Scott Played Without Winning?

Scott has played all 12 editions since his 2003 debut, tying Mickelson’s appearance record, and has zero wins and one tie. He holds the International career points mark, 23 entering this week, and dropped to 5-6 in singles after Cantlay beat him 2 and 1. His closest brush remains that 2003 playoff night in South Africa, when captains agreed to share the cup.

When Is the Next Presidents Cup After Medinah?

Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne will host in 2028, the fourth Presidents Cup in that city after Royal Melbourne in 1998, 2011 and 2019. The PGA Tour has also listed Bellerive for 2030 and a return to Melbourne in 2040 under a long-term deal with Visit Victoria. Kingston Heath is a Dan Soutar design with Alister Mackenzie bunkering from 1926.