Team USA chase a record-extending 11th consecutive Presidents Cup victory over the International Team; Brandt Snedeker captains the United States at Medinah and Geoff Ogilvy leads the Internationals; Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Who is playing in the Presidents Cup and where will it take place? Will Team USA continue their dominance? We bring you up to speed ahead of the 2026 edition, live on Sky Sports… The Presidents Cup is a biennial team competition run by the PGA Tour that sees the United States take on the International Team, which covers the rest of the world outside of Europe. The event has been played since 1994 and alternates between being held in the United States and elsewhere, with Canada, South Korea, Australia and South Africa all past host nations.
The Presidents Cup is back to even-numbered years to avoid clashing with the Ryder Cup, which moved to odd-numbered years after being postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s edition takes place from September 24-27 at Medinah Country Club in Illinois, which hosted the 2012 Ryder Cup along with the US Open and PGA Championship on multiple occasions. The 2028 edition will be held at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Victoria, Australia, while the 2030 contest goes to Bellerive Country Club in Missouri. Team USA’s qualification period began in January 2025 and ran until the BMW Championship last month, with points earned based on PGA Tour results and the top six in the standings qualifying automatically.
Every FedExCup point was worth one qualification point for all events in 2025 and 1.5 points last season, with FedExCup points earned at The Players or in majors in 2026 worth two points. World No 1 Scottie Scheffler topped the standings after winning eight times during the qualification period, with Players champion Cameron Young and US Open winner Wyndham Clark the next in the standings ahead of Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Captain Brandt Snedeker then selected Jacob Bridgeman, Patrick Cantlay, Chris Gotterup, Jackson Koivun, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas as his six picks. The International Team standings ran from September 8 until the Tour Championship on August 30, with players’ Official World Golf Ranking Points being used to determine their six automatic spots.
Si Woo Kim topped the standings to secure his fourth appearance and Ryan Fox earned a debut by winning The Open at Royal Birkdale, with Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Tom Kim and Adam Scott all returning to the International Team. Sungjae Im, Nico Echavarria, Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Ryo Hisatsune were Geoff Ogilvy’s six captain’s picks, with seven different nationalities making up the International Team. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Snedeker served as a vice-captain at the 2024 Presidents Cup and 2025 Ryder Cup before taking on the American captaincy, with the 45-year-old having Gary Woodland, Jim Furyk, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson as his assistants. Ogilvy appeared in three consecutive Presidents Cups as a player from 2007 and now takes on the captaincy for the first time, succeeding Mike Weir.
The Australian has Trevor Immelman, Tim Clark, Taylor Pendrith and Camilo Villegas as his four assistants. Team USA secured a record-extending 10th consecutive Presidents Cup victory with an 18.5-11.5 success over the International Team in the 2024 edition. The Americans won 7.5 of the 12 points on offer in the Sunday singles to continue their dominance, which has seen them win 13 of the previous Presidents Cups. A tie in the 2003 edition and a lone victory in 1998 are the only occasions to date where the International Team has avoided defeat, with the visitors coming in as underdogs once again.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Players compete in sessions of fourballs, foursomes and singles – just like Team USA does when they face Europe in the Ryder Cup – although the Presidents Cup has more matches in the opening two sessions and spreads the contest out across four days. Thursday’s play is fourballs and sees two golfers from each team compete but each player uses their own ball, with the lowest score from each pair counting towards their total in that match. Friday’s action is foursomes, containing five matches of two golfers from the United States competing against a pair from the International Team. Team members alternate between shots and each team uses one ball.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player A double session sees fourballs and fourballs played on Saturday, before all players compete in the Sunday singles and every member from the USA team plays against an International opponent in a head-to-head contest. A total of 30 points are available across the four days, with the team with the most points then claiming the trophy. Team USA need 15 points – as defending champions – to retain, while either team would need 15.5 points for victory. The Presidents Cup is run by the PGA Tour, which continues to ban LIV Golf players from competing in its events since the breakaway circuit was launched in 2022.
Joaquin Niemann of Chile finished third in the LIV Golf season-long standings and was part of the 2019 competition before leaving the PGA Tour, while Australia’s Lucas Herbert was another to have an impressive season on the circuit. Former Open champions Cameron Smith and Louis Oosthuizen are others who have previously represented the International Team but no longer can, while Bryson DeChambeau is among those unable to represent Team USA. Sky Sports will have live coverage from every session, with coverage getting under way at 5.30pm for Thursday’s fourballs ahead of the first tee shot at 5.35pm (11.35am local time). Friday’s foursomes action starts at 7pm before the first match begins at 7.05pm (1.05pm local time), while Saturday’s fourballs coverage begins at 1pm on Sky Sports+ and 5.30pm on Sky Sports Golf.
The afternoon foursomes are then live on Saturday from 7pm, with full coverage of the Sunday singles starting at 5pm on Sky Sports Golf and running until long after a winner has been crowned. The Presidents Cup is one of three events live on Sky Sports this week, with the DP World Tour’s Open de France and the LPGA Tour’s Walmart Nw Arkansas Championship – its first event since the Solheim Cup – also available to enjoy. Who will win the Presidents Cup? Watch the United States take on the International Team exclusively live on Sky Sports, with all four days live from Thursday on Sky Sports Golf.
