The Presidents Cup Best Bets and Golf Odds:

The 16th edition of the Presidents Cup tees off this week at Medinah Country Club just northwest of downtown Chicago. Team USA has won ten straight Presidents Cups over the International side. 

The American side, captained by Brandt Snedeker, is around a -500 favorite to win the event over the International team, captained by Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who is at +500.

The tie or draw is priced at 16/1.

In the event of a tie/draw, Team USA would retain the trophy and are priced at -600 (+465 International) to lift the trophy.

The Event

The Presidents Cup was created in 1994 and is organized by the PGA TOUR.

The two teams are made up of 12 players – 12 Americans vs. 12 International (non-Europe) players. 

The United States has a 13-1-1 record in the event with the lone loss in 1998 at Royal Melbourne in Australia. 

YearWinnerScore
2024USA18.5-11.5
2022USA17.5-12.5
2019USA16-14
2017USA19-11
2015USA15.5-14.5
2013USA18.5-11.5
2011USA19-15
2009USA19.5-14.5
2007USA18.5-15.5
2005USA17-17
2003Tied21.5-12.5
2000USA20.5-11.5
1998International20.5-11.5
1996USA16.5-15.5
1994USA20-12

The Format

The Presidents Cup uses a match play format instead of the typical stroke play format. It is a four-day competition. There will be five “Foursome” matches played on Thursday followed by five “Four-ball” matches on Friday. Saturday features four “Foursome” matches on Saturday morning followed by four “Four-ball” matches in the afternoon. The event finishes with 12 singles matches on Sunday. With 30 matches in total, and each being worth one point, it will take 15.5 points to win the Cup.

Four-Balls

Each member of a two-man team plays his own ball, so four balls are in play on every hole. Each team counts the lowest of its two scores on each hole, and the team whose player has the lowest score wins the hole. If the low scores are tied, the hole is halved.

Foursomes

Each two-man team plays one ball per hole with the players taking turns until each hole is complete. Players alternate hitting tee shots, with one leading off on odd-numbered holes, and the other hitting first on even-numbered holes. The team with the low score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved.

Singles

Each match features one player from each team. The player with the lower score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved. Players can concede a hole to their opponent if they have no chance of halving the hole.

Each of the teams is comprised of 12 players. Both teams had six qualifiers determined by a points list based on performance. Both team captains also had six “captain” picks. 

Team USA

The USA side is captained by Brandt Snedeker, and the captain’s assistants are Gary Woodland, Jim Furyk, Keegan Bradley, and Webb Simpson. 

Scottie Scheffler; No. 1 Points Ranking, No. 1 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 9 Matches, 3-5-1 (0-2-0 Singles, 1-3-0 Foursomes, 2-0-1 Fourballs)

Cameron Young; No. 2 Points Ranking, No. 3 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 4 Matches, 1-2-1 (0-1-0 Singles, 1-1-0 Foursomes, 0-1-1 Fourballs)

Wyndham Clark; No. 3 Points Ranking, No. 5 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 4 Matches, 1-2-1 (0-1-0 Singles, 0-1-0 Foursomes, 1-1-0 Fourballs)

Sam Burns; No. 4 Points Ranking, No. 9 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 9 Matches, 3-3-3 (0-0-2 Singles, 1-2-0 Foursomes, 2-1-1 Fourballs)

Russell Henley; No. 5 Points Ranking, No. 6 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 4 Matches, 3-1-0 (1-0-0 Singles, 1-1-0 Foursomes, 1-0-0 Fourballs)

Collin Morikawa; No. 6 Points Ranking, No. 11 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 8 Matches, 6-2-0 (2-0-0 Singles, 2-2-0 Foursomes, 2-0-0 Fourballs)

Captain’s Picks

Chris Gotterup; No. 7 Points Ranking, No. 7 OWGR, Rookie

Xander Schauffele; No. 9 Points Ranking, No. 10 OWGR, 4th Appearance, 14 Matches, 10-4-0 (3-0-0 Singles, 4-1-0 Foursomes, 3-3-0 Fourballs)

Justin Thomas; No. 11 Points Ranking, No. 22 OWGR, 4th Appearances, 15 Matches, 10-3-2 (0-3-0 Singles, 4-0-2 Foursomes, 6-0-0 Fourballs)

Jacob Bridgeman; No. 12 Points Ranking, No. 29 OWGR, Rookie

Patrick Cantlay; No. 13 Points Ranking, No. 27 OWGR, 4th Appearance, 13 Matches, 10-4-0 (3-0-0 Singles, 4-1-0 Foursomes, 3-3-0 Fourballs)

Jackson Koivun; No. 48 Points Ranking, No. 65 OWGR, Rookie

International Team

The International side is captained by Geoff Ogilvy, and the captain’s assistants are Tim Clark, Trevor Immelman, Taylor Pendrith, and Camilo Villegas. 

Si Woo Kim; No. 1 Points Ranking, No. 13 OWGR, 4th Appearance, 11 Matches, 6-5-0 (1-2-0 Singles, 2-3-0 Foursomes, 3-0-0 Fourballs)

Ryan Fox; No. 2 Points Ranking, No. 24 OWGR, Rookie

Hideki Matsuyama; No. 3 Points Ranking, No. 26 OWGR, 7th Appearance, 27 Matches, 9-13-5 (3-1-2 Singles, 3-6-1 Foursomes, 3-6-2 Fourballs)

Min Woo Lee; No. 4 Points Ranking, No. 30 OWGR, 2nd Appearance, 2 Matches, 0-1-1 (0-0-1 Singles, 0-0-0 Foursomes, 0-1-0 Fourballs)

Tom Kim; No. 5 Points Ranking, No. 31 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 9 Matches, 3-5-1 (0-1-1 Singles, 1-2-0 Foursomes, 2-2-0 Fourballs)

Adam Scott; No. 6 Points Ranking, No. 52 OWGR, 12th Appearance, 51 Matches, 20-25-6 (5-6-0 Singles, 10-10-2 Foursomes, 5-12-4 Fourballs)

Captain’s Picks

Corey Conners; No. 7 Points Ranking, No. 54 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 9 Matches, 2-7-0 (1-1-0 Singles, 1-3-0 Foursomes, 0-3-0 Fourballs)

Nico Echavarria; No. 8 Points Ranking, No. 60 OWGR, Rookie

Sungjae Im; No. 9 Points Ranking, No. 59 OWGR, 4th Appearance, 15 Matches, 6-7-2 (2-1-0, Singles, 1-4-2 Foursomes, 3-2-1 Fourballs)

Ryo Hisatsune; No. 10 Points Ranking, No. 66 OWGR, Rookie

Nick Taylor; No. 13 Points Ranking, No. 81 OWGR, Rookie

Christiaan Bezuidenhout; No. 18 Points Ranking, No. 97 OWGR, 3rd Appearance, 5 Matches, 3-1-1 (2-0-0 Singles, 1-0-0 Foursomes, 0-1-1 Fourballs)

The Course

Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 Course will play 7,548 yards as a par 70 for the 2026 Presidents Cup.

Medinah has hosted five major championships: three U.S. Opens (1949, 1975, 1990) and two PGA Championships (1999, 2006), as well as the Ryder Cup in 2012, where the Europeans overcame a four-point Sunday deficit, which was dubbed the “Miracle at Medinah”. 

The last tournament held here was the 2019 BMW Championship, which was won by Justin Thomas at 25-under par. 

Medinah hired the Australian design firm OCM Golf, led by Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking, and Ashley Mead. The course closed in late 2022 and reopened in the summer of 2024 with the group attempting to restore Medinah to the original layout designed in 1928 by Tom Bendelow. 

The restoration project removed large numbers of trees, widened and shifted fairways, enlarged and recontoured greens, and rebuilt the bunkering.

The Bentgrass fairways (47 yards on average) are wide and generous while the Bluegrass rough (3″) is manageable. 

Bentgrass also is the surface for the greens (6500 sq ft average) and will run at around 12.5 on the stimpmeter. 

There are five water holes and now 100 bunkers. 

The hope is that the course plays less soft and more like a track with some bounce and rollout in the fairways while adding a wider variety of angles into the greens.

The routing of the course is specifically changed for this event. Play will begin on the club’s 5th hole, making Medinah’s 16th, 17th and 18th the 12th, 13th and 14th holes of the match. The club’s first and second holes then become Presidents Cup Nos. 15 and 16. The change was made so that potentially more matches will reach the final two holes, so moving the Lake Kadijah stretch forward greatly increases that possibility. 

Golf Digest provides a flyover video of every hole. 

This video, provided by the PGA TOUR, takes us inside the remaking of Medinah. 

Selections

Team USA 17.5-12.5 Correct Score +1125 Circa Sports 

USA to Win by 4-6 Points +340 FanDuel

Other bets for the Presidents Cup will be available all weekend, starting with Thursday’s matches, at VsiN.com/picks.

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