Presidents Cup – The Internationals hang tough

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Saturday, September 26, 2026

For a while Saturday morning, it appeared the American Presidents Cup team would wipe out the lead the International squad had built on Friday, and do so before lunch.

It didn’t happen. Led by Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, the International squad grabbed 1.5 of the four available points and held an 8.5-5.5 lead halfway through the day’s play at sun-splashed Medinah Country Club.

With a gallery of at least 30,000 looking on, the two Kims came back from 2-down after eight holes to beat Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark 2 and 1. They won the ninth, 11th, 16th and 17th holes, the latter via Si Woo Kim’s birdie, to score a point.

A few minutes earlier Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im completed a comeback from 2-down with four holes to play to force a halve and take a half-point against Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun.

Two American teams led their matches all the way: Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young scored a 2 and 1 victory over the Canadian duo of Nick Taylor and Corey Conners, and Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns turned back Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune by a like 2 and 1 margin.

Late in that match, American captain Brandt Snedeker announced the pairings for the afternoon alternate shot competition, and world No. 1 Scheffler was not among the eight U.S. players. Burns was paired with Clark instead against Ryan Fox and Lee in the day’s final pairing, set to start at 1:57 p.m.

Other afternoon matchups: Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffle (U.S.) vs. the Kims at 1:15 p.m., Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman (U.S.) vs. Team Canada – Conners and Taylor – at 1:29 p.m., and Young and Gotterup (U.S.) vs. Adam Scott and Im at 1:43 p.m. 

Television coverage continues on NBC.

– Tim Cronin