The Presidents Cup descends on Chicago this week when the heavily favored Americans host the Internationals at Medinah Country Club.
It has been almost 30 years since the Americans lost their only Presidents Cup and 23 years since the last time the Internationals didn’t take an L (2003 ended in a tie). There have been a few close matches, but for the most part, the Americans overwhelm the Internationals every two years with their depth. The Americans are expected to win and win big at Medinah, but the Internationals, led by captain Geoff Ogilvy, believe they have the ingredients to keep it close and give themselves a chance to pull off a historic upset come Sunday.
Team competitions always bring drama, second-guessing and pressure, the latter of which will be everywhere this week at Medinah as the Americans try to extend their winning streak and the Internationals try to flip the script of a one-sided event.
Here are the five players facing the most pressure this week at Medinah.
Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay
Yes, Justin Thomas is seen as the emotional heartbeat of the American team room. But he also hasn’t been playing at an elite level in 2026. Thomas posted just two top-10s during the season, the last of which came at the PGA Championship in May. Since the start of June, here are Thomas’ finishes: T19, T17, T14, T50, T65, T14, T47, T16. He also ranked 107th in Strokes Gained: Approach this year and 87th in putting.
JT is on the team because he is JT and isn’t as in the wilderness as he was in 2024, when he was left off the squad. But with J.J. Spaun winning the BMW PGA Championship after being left off this team — and several young players looking for their first team start sitting at home — Thomas will be under the microscope at Medinah.
Like Thomas, Cantlay is a part of the American core, has a 10-4-0 record in the Presidents Cup and pairs well with Xander Schauffele. And like Thomas, Cantlay was highly unlikely to be left at home in favor of new blood, despite another winless season in which he was a non-factor in major championships.
However, unlike Thomas, Cantlay has shown better form of late. He ended the PGA Tour season T28-T8-T12-2-T21. Cantlay finished the season ranked third in approach and fourth in SG: Tee to Green.
He’s not under as much pressure as Thomas, but if Cantlay isn’t his normal match-play menace self and the Americans struggle, his selection over Spaun and others will come under scrutiny. If he is once again one of the Americans’ best players in a rout, it will not matter.
Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott
How much pressure can a massive underdog face? The answer is probably very little. For 90 percent of the International roster, the Presidents Cup should be an opportunity for them to play free and loose and try to do something that has only been done once since the event’s inception.
But for the International team’s best players, the pressure to play well and be the reason the Internationals have a chance to pull off a huge upset is big.
Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott are the marquee names and best players on an International team that lacks the depth of their American counterparts. Where the Americans can weather losses from Scottie Scheffler or Schauffele, it’s extremely difficult for the Internationals to stay afloat if Matsuyama and Scott struggle, which is what they have done in their Presidents Cup careers.
This will be Scott’s 12th Presidents Cup appearance, and his only winning week came in 2005. He is 20-28-6 overall and has been drummed in fourballs (5-12-4). The Internationals have asked a lot of Scott since he became a global star. They’ve asked him to be a calming presence in the team room and paired him with just about everyone under the sun. In 11 previous Presidents Cups, Scott has had 18 different partners. He has paired with Matsuyama seven times for a 2-4-1 record. He has a winning record with only three players: Retief Goosen (3-1-2), Taylor Pendrith (2-1-0) and Byeong Hun An (1-0-1).
Matsuyama has similarly struggled. He is 9-13-5 overall and is 6-12-3 in foursomes and fourballs.
If Scott and Matsuyama rack up the Ls at Medinah, that will put a lot of pressure on Si Woo Kim, Ryan Fox, Tom Kim and Min Woo Lee to keep it close and give the Internationals a chance come Sunday.
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler has been the best player in the world for four years. He has been utterly dominant in stroke-play events, yet has looked mortal in team competitions.
Scheffler made his Presidents Cup debut in 2022, so the sample size is small. Still, a 3-5-1 record in the team competition that the U.S. dominates isn’t fitting of Scheffler’s world-beating talent. Among players who have made multiple Presidents Cups and won multiple majors since 2000, Scheffler is the only one with a below .500 record. Tiger Woods went 27-15-1 in the Presidents Cup. Phil Mickelson went 26-16-13. Jordan Spieth is 13-5-1. It’s time Scheffler got his Presidents Cup boat going in that direction.
But his Presidents Cup struggles speak to a more pressing issue for American team golf as it pertains to the team competition they do not dominate: the Ryder Cup.
Where Woods, Mickelson and other American stars have thrived at the Presidents Cup, that has not been the case against the Europeans. Woods went 13-21-3, Mickelson 18-22-7 and Spieth 8-9-5. Scheffler, likewise, has not been his best against the Europeans, going 3-6-3 in three Ryder Cups.
Scheffler’s greatness in 72-hole stroke play events is unquestioned, but it’s time for him to be that kind of force in team competitions. With the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor looming, it’s a good time to see Scheffler play like the best player of his generation and show that his team-competition struggles are a mirage that is fading.
