The Ryder Cup gets the headlines, the Presidents Cup gets the better party. That is my honest take after years of watching both, and this year the Presidents Cup gets something else too: a big, brawny, freshly rebuilt Medinah No. 3 and an International Team that finally looks like it might have a pulse. If you have been waiting for a reason to point the truck toward Chicago, this is it.
The What and the When
The 2026 Presidents Cup is the 16th edition of the biennial match between the United States and the International Team, which is everybody good who is not from the U.S. or Europe. Event week runs September 22-27 at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Chicago and a short hop from O’Hare. Tuesday and Wednesday are practice rounds. The real thing runs Thursday through Sunday.
Thirty points are on the table: five four-ball matches Thursday, five foursomes Friday, eight matches Saturday, and 12 singles on Sunday. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker has already announced four-ball goes first, which means Thursday afternoon at Medinah is going to sound like a Bears tailgate that discovered birdies.
The Why: Can the Internationals Finally Win One?
Here is the uncomfortable truth for anyone rooting for the rest of the world. The United States has won ten straight Presidents Cups. The Internationals have not lifted the trophy since 1998 at Royal Melbourne, back when a lot of the current roster was still learning to walk.
But this one has a twist. International captain Geoff Ogilvy did not just show up to captain the team. He rebuilt the golf course. His design firm OCM (Ogilvy, Cocking and Mead) handled the $23.5 million overhaul of Medinah No. 3 that reopened in 2024, so the International Team’s captain knows every hump, bump and green contour better than anyone in either locker room. If there was ever a year for home-course knowledge to work against the home team, this is it.
Meanwhile, a good chunk of the American side is still stinging from losing the Ryder Cup on home soil at Bethpage last fall. They will be motivated. They will also be under a microscope.
The Who: Team USA
Automatic qualifiers: Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Russell Henley, Sam Burns and Collin Morikawa.
Captain’s picks: Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Chris Gotterup, Jacob Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun.
Scheffler arrives as world number one fresh off a Tour Championship win, so nothing has changed there. The veterans matter here: Cantlay and Schauffele both carry 10-4-0 Presidents Cup records, and Thomas is 10-3-2. That is 30 wins between three guys who treat team golf like a blood sport.
The story of the roster is Jackson Koivun, the 21-year-old who left Auburn, turned pro and made a Presidents Cup team in the same year. Bridgeman and Gotterup are also debutants, and Snedeker left Ben Griffin and Ryan Gerard at home, which will be a talking point all week if the rookies stumble. Burns is the sneaky weapon. He went 3.5 out of 4 in Montreal two years ago and shows up to Medinah in the best form of his career.
The Who: International Team
Automatic qualifiers: Si Woo Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, Tom Kim, Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott and Ryan Fox.
Captain’s picks: Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Sungjae Im, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Seven countries are represented: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea. Adam Scott is the elder statesman and Matsuyama is the quiet assassin, but the guy to watch is Tom Kim. He is the instigator this team has needed for a decade, the one player who can get under American skin and enjoy doing it. Si Woo Kim topped the International points list, Fox makes his debut, and Canadians Conners and Taylor give the crowd a neighbor to cheer for. Taylor got left off in his home country in 2024. Do not expect him to waste this chance.
The Where: Medinah No. 3, Version 2024
Medinah is not new to big moments. No. 3 has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup, where the Europeans pulled off the comeback that still gives American fans night sweats. The clubhouse is one of the most photographed in the game, a Byzantine wedding cake of a building that looks like it was airlifted in from Istanbul.
What is new is the course. OCM’s redesign rerouted the final six holes around Lake Kadijah. The old version had three par 3s crossing the water, which felt like a broken record by the 17th tee. Now the 13th plays along the lake, the 16th is a short par 4 that dares you to cut across it, the 17th is an angled par 3 over the water, and the 18th got its original corridor back. Bunkers and greens were scaled up, features were brought back down to the ground, and the whole thing plays wider and more strategic than the old bruiser. The result is a course built for match play drama, which is exactly the point.
Tips for Watching Live
- Camp the finishing stretch. Holes 13 through 18 around the lake are where matches get decided and where the crowd noise builds. Grab a spot on 16 or 17 by early afternoon and stay put.
- Go Thursday or Friday if you actually want to see golf. Weekend crowds will be enormous. A Thursday four-ball session with a $100 range ticket gives you more access to the ropes than any Sunday ticket ever will.
- Sunday is for atmosphere. Twelve singles matches, 24 players spread across the course, and the whole property feels like a stadium. You will not see everything. That is fine.
- Practice rounds are underrated. Tuesday and Wednesday tickets start at $50 and the players are loose, chatty, and occasionally throwing balls to kids. It is the best photo day of the week.
- Skip the car if you can. Metra’s Milwaukee District West line runs from Union Station to Medinah Station with free shuttles to the West Entrance, Tuesday through Sunday. If you drive, General Parking starts at $17, must be reserved in advance, and is not sold on-site. The lots are a 10 to 20 minute shuttle from the gate.
Tickets
General Admission runs $50 for practice rounds and $100 to $155 for Thursday through Sunday, plus taxes and fees. Pricing is dynamic, so what you see today may not be what you pay next week. The Captains’ Club (a two-level open-air sports bar with views of holes 3, 4 and 5) starts around $200 for practice days, and the International Club sits above Lake Kadijah if you want the money view. Premium hospitality ranges from Hillside Suites between the 8th green and 9th tee to the 1924 Club inside the clubhouse itself.
Availability check: the official site is still selling as of this writing, and Ticketmaster’s verified resale marketplace is the safe fallback for weekend days that tighten up. Buy early, buy official, and do not trust the random guy on Instagram with “great seats” to a golf tournament that does not have seats.
Where to Stay in Illinois
You have three plays, and each one suits a different kind of trip.
Closest to the course: Itasca, Roselle and Bloomingdale are minutes from Medinah’s gates. Eaglewood Resort and Spa in Itasca is the obvious anchor, with its own golf course and a spa for the couples crowd. Lynfred Winery in Roselle, less than three miles from the club, has four themed suites and pours a mean Cabernet Franc. Book both yesterday.
Best for buddy trips: Schaumburg and Rosemont. Schaumburg has the big convention hotels (Westin, Hyatt Regency, Marriott), Topgolf, Woodfield Mall and enough steakhouses and sports bars to survive a four-day bender. Rosemont sits next to O’Hare with its own entertainment district, casino and easy access to the tollways. Both are 20 to 30 minutes from Medinah depending on how the Elgin-O’Hare cooperates.
Best for couples: Oak Brook or downtown Chicago. Oak Brook is upscale, quiet and a straight shot up Route 83, with the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort offering golf on site. Downtown gives you the Riverwalk, the steakhouses, the architecture cruise and a Metra ride from Union Station right to the course. The commute is longer. The evenings are not.
Off-Course Play
Bring the sticks. DuPage County alone has more than 50 courses, and the Chicago suburbs are loaded with quality public golf. Cog Hill’s Dubsdread in Lemont is the marquee public play in the area and a former BMW Championship host. Cantigny in Wheaton is a 27-hole gem with a war museum on property, which is a strange and wonderful combination. Schaumburg Golf Club and Arlington Lakes are solid, walkable, affordable warm-ups for the trip.
For the non-golf hours, Chicago does not need an introduction. Deep dish, Italian beef, the Cubs or White Sox if the schedule lines up, and a lakefront that puts most cities to shame. Do the architecture boat tour once in your life. Do it this trip.
The Bottom Line
The Americans are favored because the Americans are always favored. But this International Team is deeper than the one that got handled in Montreal, their captain literally drew the greens, and Medinah in late September is about as good as golf weather and golf atmosphere get in the Midwest. Get the tickets, get the hotel, and get there Thursday. The finishing holes will do the rest.
