2026 Presidents Cup standings, scores: United States battles back from record deficit to win 11th trophy

Jackson Koivun stunts down the last hole and beats Si Woo Kim 2 UP to push the U.S. total out to 14.5. With Xander Schauffele secured of 0.5 points (3 UP with three holes to go), the 21-year-old has locked up at worse a tie for the United States team. For that tie to occur, Fox needs to run that table on Schuaffele, while Nick Taylor and Min Woo Lee need to turn their tied matches into victories.

Wins by Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa within moments of each other are enough to put the U.S. out in front. They are now 2 points away from securing the Presidents Cup and they have a couple good paths to do so as Xander Schauffele will win at least 0.5 points as he is 4 UP with four holes to go on Ryan Fox. In the other three matches, Jackson Koivun leads Si Woo Kim 1 UP with two holes to go. There is a chance the kid could be the won who clinches the cup if things continue down this road.

There are six matches left on the golf course. Two see the U.S. lead, while the other three are tied. Those three must go to the International team who have been stuck on 12.5 points for a while now. Hideki Matsuyama is on No. 18 tied against Collin Morikawa and will need to pull a rabbit out of his hat after missing the fairway and green. Morikawa is on the green but a good distance away.

Chris Gotterup was 3 UP through eight holes and in full control, and now he is walking to the 18th tee. He had a 5-foot par putt to win the match on No. 17, but it lipped out hard sending the two to the final hole where Gotterup is confirmed to get at least a half point. The U.S. needs a full point from that match if this comeback is to materialize. There are seven matches left on the golf course with six of them either a 1 UP lead or tied. Things are tight!

The 21-year-old is giving it his all against the International team's best player. After falling a couple down early, Koivun has rattled off three straight victories across Nos. 11-13 to take a 1 UP lead over Si Woo Kim. After playing his front nine in 4 under, Kim has since dropped a couple of shots on Nos. 11 and 13 to give advantage to Koivun coming down the stretch.

It is a 2 & 1 victory for Scottie Scheffler over Nico Echavarria as a par is all he needed on No. 17 to tie the hole and take the match. He moves to 3-1-0 on the week to co-lead the U.S. in terms of points this week. That is his first singles victory in the Presidents Cup as well. 

The total now reads 11.5 to 10.5 as the International team has yet to put an official point on the board after Tom Kim's win over Wyndham Clark, although that may change soon with Sungjae Im 2 UP with two holes to go in his match against Sam Burns.

It is that 12th hole again that gives the Americans trouble. After driving the green, Morikawa needs 3 putts to get down and settles for par, while Matsuyama chose to lay up, sizzle a wedge in there and connects for his birdie to move to 1 UP over Morikawa. That is a massive match as the projected total as of now is… 15 to 15. This thing is coming down to the wire.

After a fan screamed in the middle of Nico Echavarria's swing off the tee causing his tee ball to go way right, Scottie Scheffler ultimately decided to give Echavarria a par putt from just off the green roughly 30 feet away, while he still stared down a birdie attempt. Scheffler missed, cleaned up for an easy par and tied the hole to remain 3 UP in his match. 

After Sam Burns tied things up with a par on No. 11, Sungjae Im has won two straight holes for the International team. On the 12th hole, Burns found the water — a hole which has flummoxed the Americans — and he nearly did so again on the par-3 13th as he found the penalty area, took a few hacks and conceded the hole to Im. That gives the International team three solid leads with Si Woo Kim 2 UP through nine holes after a birdie against Jackson Koivun.

Cameron Young closes out the opening match in STYLE. The Players Championship winner connects from distance on the par-3 16th to beat Ryo Hisatsune 3 & 2. Young was 2 DOWN early in the match and scratched and clawed his way back into the match before taking over in the early portion of his back nine.

That is three points for Young who continues to be a bright spot for the U.S. in these team events. The U.S. has cut the International lead to just two as the score stands at 10.5 to 8.5 with three International flags on the leaderboard as Sungjae Im regained his lead over Sam Burns on No. 12.

Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im had slim 1 UP leads that have since vanished. Matsuyama made a mess of the par-4 8th to draw even with Collin Morikawa, while Sungjae Im just made bogey on No. 11 (a very tough hole) to now be all square with Sam Burns. Only the Brother Kims have leads as Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim have sandwiched a sea of U.S. flags on the scoreboard.

As the matches stand, the projected total is 15 to 15 as the U.S. has taken strangleholds on a number of the early matches including Cameron Young who is now 3 UP through 13 holes. Justin Thomas is 5 UP and Scottie Scheffler is 4 UP with the lone International flag among the first four matches belonging to Tom Kim who is now 2 UP through 12 holes. That match is critical for the black and gold if they are to hold off this red wave.

The Players Championship winner needed only a par on the par-4 11th to take his first lead of the afternoon. Cameron Young has climbed out of an early 2 DOWN deficit to Ryo Hisatsune and looks to parlay this lead into a full point for the U.S. These first two matches are tight as Tom Kim makes birdie on No. 10 behind them while Wyndham Clark misses his from just inside 7 feet to take the lead.

All 12 matches are on the golf course with two Open champions — Xander Schauffele and Ryan Fox — bringing up the rear in the anchor match. The International team does not lead a single match by more than a 1 UP margin as they do in three of them, while the U.S. has a few large leads thanks to Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler and Chris Gotterup. 

The International team back stacked their lineup with the hope that their experience and form will be able to carry them to the cup after an early run by the Americans. Si Woo Kim is chief among this crop and he makes Geoff Ogilvy look good early as he rolls in a 15-footer for birdie on No. 2 to take a 1 UP lead over Jackson Koivun.

Based on the current match scores, the projected total is 13 to 13 as the match of Jackson Koivun and Si Woo Kim gets underway. The early charge has stemmed from the play of Justin Thomas who is 5 UP through six holes, while Scottie Scheffler just seized control of his match with a birdie on No. 5 from long distance.

Ryo Hisatsune won with birdies on Nos. 3-4 to take a 2 UP, but Cameron Young was unfazed. After his birdie putt was conceded on No. 5, Young makes birdie on the par-5 6th to draw the opening match back to all square. Young was the one to start the charge at Bethpage Black last fall with a match win and he looks to do the same again.

Scottie Scheffler rolls in a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-4 2nd to take an early lead against Nico Echavarria. He is the third straight American to win that hole as he and Wyndham Clark both made birdie, while Corey Conners hit his tee shot out of bounds to gift the hole to Justin Thomas. Early momentum is absolutely necessary for the U.S. team and they are mostly getting it with this front-stacked lineup.

EDIT: Just as I write this, Sam Burns launches his tee shot out of bounds on No. 2! Oops! This fence rocks.

Scottie Scheffler shook President Donald Trump's hand and marched to the first tee where Nico Echvarria was waiting for him. The world No. 1 returns to the golf course after taking yesterday afternoon off and MUST secure a full point for the U.S. team to apply pressure on this International team.

Up ahead, Ryo Hisatsune won the par-5 3rd with a two-putt birdie against Cameron Young. Wyndham Clark has put the first U.S. flag on the board after flagging his approach into No. 2, while Justin Thomas just won the first hole with a par against Corey Conners.

The first couple of matches are out on the golf course as the opener between Cameron Young and Ryo Hisatsune saw the two tie the opening hole with pars. The second match will draw a ton of attention and rightfully so between U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and Tom Kim.

Kim is 3-1-0 this week despite less than stellar strokes gained numbers — which to be honest are noisy — while Clark has looked strong even with a losing record. These two have history as well as Kim noted that U.S. players cussed at him during the 2024 Presidents Cup with Clark being the one tabbed for this back-and-forth. 

Both teams expect a point from their guy in this match making it that much more important. Something to note, the first five matches out favor the U.S. overall but also in terms of distance. Clark and Young had roughly 40 yards less than Kim and Hisatsune into the first hole.

Captain Brandt Snedeker insisted that he benched Scottie Scheffler yesterday afternoon to make sure he is rested up for today begging the question whether fatigue will come into play or not. Here are the players who have played in every session so far for their respective side:

U.S. team (3): Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark, Cameron Young
International team (5): Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, Min Woo Lee

The Brothers Kim looked a hair sluggish late in their foursomes match against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schuaffele which they ultimately dropped, but outside of that there hasn't been a moment where fatigue has played a huge factor. If that time does come, one would expect it today for the black and gold after expending so much energy to build up a 4-point lead going into Saturday and keeping it at 3 points through hard fought matches yesterday.

Unlike the Ryder Cup where lineups are submitted blindly, the Presidents Cup has the added wrinkle of captains being able to match players against one another. International captain Geoff Ogilvy played his hand beautifully Saturday evening as he was able to put two of his worst players — Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Nico Echavarria — against two of the U.S. best players — Chris Gotterup and Scottie Scheffler.

Needing only 5 points to win the Presidents Cup for the first time on U.S. soil, Ogilvy has put his team in the best position to win the necessary amount of points by putting his best players towards the bottom of the lineup where the U.S. best players do not reside. In typical U.S. fashion trying to mount a comeback and winning the 8 points they require, Snedeker sent out strength first and announced names like Wyndham Clark, Scheffler and Gotterup first which Ogilvy was then able to match.

The kicker is that the board may read red (and a lot of it) early and the International team will have to stave off the momentum long enough for their stars to start shining. It is no mistake their three most experienced members — Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama and Si Woo Kim — are in the zone where cups are typically clinched and arguably their two most clutch players — Ryan Fox and Nick Taylor — are in the zone where if things get interesting, they can silence the doubt.