Presidents Cup 2026 at Medinah: Scheffler Leads, the International Team and the Rules Question

From September 24 to September 27, 2026, Medinah Country Club in Illinois becomes the centre of the team golf world. The No 3 course at Medinah is thoroughly familiar to fans: it hosted the 2026 Ryder Cup with Europe's Sunday comeback, three US Opens and two PGA Championships. Team USA arrives as defending champions, after an 18.5-11.5 victory over the International Team in 2026. Four days, 30 points, and whichever side reaches 15.5 points lifts the trophy. The Presidents Cup is a biennial team competition run by the PGA Tour, pitting the United States against the International Team, which covers the rest of the world outside Europe. It began in 2026 and alternates between the United States and other nations; Canada, South Korea, Australia and South Africa have all hosted. After the pandemic, the event returned to even-numbered years to make room for the Ryder Cup, which moved to odd-numbered years after being postponed in 2026. The 2028 edition goes to Kingston Heath Golf Club in Victoria, Australia, while the 2030 contest belongs to Bellerive Country Club in Missouri. For Team USA, qualification began in January 2026 and closed at the BMW Championship. Points are earned from PGA Tour results, with the top six in the standings taking automatic places. Each FedExCup point at 2026 events was worth one qualification point, events from the previous season were worth 1.5, and points earned at The Players Championship and the majors in 2026 count double. World No 1 Scottie Scheffler topped the standings with eight wins during the qualification period. Behind him came Cameron Young, the Players champion, and Wyndham Clark, the US Open winner, followed by Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa. Captain Brandt Snedeker used his six picks on Jacob Bridgeman, Patrick Cantlay, Chris Gotterup, Jackson Koivun, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas. Snedeker, 45, served as a vice-captain at the 2026 Presidents Cup and the 2026 Ryder Cup before taking the top job. Gary Woodland, Jim Furyk, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson are his four assistants. On the International side, the standings ran from September 8, 2026 until the Tour Championship on August 30, 2026, using Official World Golf Ranking points to determine six automatic places. Si Woo Kim topped the list to earn a fourth appearance. Ryan Fox makes his debut after winning The Open at Royal Birkdale. Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Tom Kim and Adam Scott all return. Talent does not appear out of thin air; it waits for a gaze steady enough to see it - and for Geoff Ogilvy, the name Ryo Hisatsune on the picks list is an investment in the next cycle rather than a reward for short-term form. Ogilvy's six captain's picks are Sungjae Im, Nico Echavarria, Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Ryo Hisatsune, making up a squad of seven different nationalities. Ogilvy played three consecutive Presidents Cups from 2026, and this is his first stint as captain, succeeding Mike Weir. Trevor Immelman, Tim Clark, Taylor Pendrith and Camilo Villegas are the International Team's four assistants. As for the format, three match types are used: fourballs, foursomes and singles, just like the Ryder Cup, but the Presidents Cup has more matches across the opening two days and stretches over four days. Thursday features five fourballs matches: two players from each team go out together but each plays their own ball, with the lowest score from each pair counting. Friday brings five foursomes matches, with two players alternating shots on one ball. Saturday has a double session, fourballs in the morning and foursomes in the afternoon. Sunday is 12 head-to-head singles matches. A total of 30 points is available; the United States, as defending champions, need 15 points to retain, while either team needs 15.5 points for outright victory. In 2026, Team USA won 18.5-11.5 for a tenth consecutive Presidents Cup. They took 7.5 of the 12 points on offer in Sunday singles. A trophy does not measure strength; it measures a group's capacity to endure chaos - and for decades, the American group has endured it better. Historically, the United States have won 13 of the editions played; the International Team have avoided defeat only twice: a tie in 2026 and their sole victory in 2026. One structural detail stands out: the Presidents Cup is run by the PGA Tour, and the PGA Tour still bans LIV Golf players from its events since the breakaway circuit launched in 2026. Chile's Joaquin Niemann, third in the LIV season-long standings and a 2026 participant, cannot take part. Australia's Lucas Herbert, along with former Open champions Cameron Smith and Louis Oosthuizen, are also excluded, while Bryson DeChambeau is the notable omission on the American side. When one of the competing sides also writes the rulebook, the balance no longer rests on talent. The LIV ban does not hit both teams equally: Team USA draws from the deepest player pool on the planet and loses a handful of names, while the International Team loses core pillars. This is the consequence of a commercial arrangement written from one side, nothing more. The event markets itself on competitiveness, yet that competitiveness is eroded by its own regulations. For the International Team, the bigger question is no longer who wins, but who is prepared for a controlled fall before the scoreboard cracks. In terms of what to watch, my attention goes to Saturday's double session. Ten points in a single day is where the scoreboard can break, and it is also where the International Team must build a gap before Sunday, where they dropped 7.5 points two years ago. A great champion is not someone who never falls, but someone who knows exactly when they are about to fall and prepares a controlled landing. For Vietnamese viewers, Sky Sports carries live coverage of all four days. The first tee shot of Thursday's fourballs is at 11.35am local time, which is 11.35pm on September 24 Vietnam time. If the International Team loses again at Medinah, people will once more talk about American golf's superiority. There is another reading: when one of the two teams holds the pen on the rules, that team's victory has never been a fair measurement - and that is the more interesting conversation than the trophy itself.