MEDINAH — Brandt Snedeker's debut as U.S. Presidents Cup captain ended with a trophy at Medinah Country Club, but not without scrutiny. The Americans erased a three-point deficit to beat the International team 17-13, securing an 11th consecutive Presidents Cup victory after trailing 10.5-7.5 entering Sunday singles.
The flashpoint was Snedeker's decision to sit world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for Saturday afternoon foursomes. After Scheffler and Sam Burns won their Saturday morning four-ball match, Snedeker paired Burns with Wyndham Clark instead, a move PGA Tour coverage described as a major point of debate. Burns and Clark lost 3 and 2. Snedeker did not deflect afterward, saying, "I don't think I've held up my end of the bargain," according to the PGA Tour, adding he had been second-guessing decisions involving pairings, matchups and how to handle 12 players with different personalities and games.
Scrutiny extended beyond the Scheffler benching. Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup went 2-0 as a pair on Saturday and emerged as one of the strongest U.S. combinations, raising questions about deployment in the Americans' weakest format. PGA Tour analysis noted the U.S. has struggled repeatedly in foursomes, a persistent weakness that framed the debate around Snedeker's pairings at Medinah, even as Scheffler's own history of struggles in foursomes at previous Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup events was cited as context for the decision.
Sunday rendered the debate moot on the scoreboard. The United States won 9.5 of 12 available singles points, a Presidents Cup record for a Sunday session, turning a three-point deficit into a four-point win. Jacob Bridgeman clinched the Cup with a 1-up victory over Min Woo Lee, one of three rookie singles winners alongside Gotterup and Jackson Koivun. Reuters noted additional singles wins from Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay in the surge.
The 17-13 margin, as Golf Channel observed, did not fully reflect the pressure of the first three days, and Snedeker's roster construction remained part of the assessment. His captain's picks were Bridgeman, Cantlay, Gotterup, Koivun, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas. After the victory Snedeker said he knew the players were special after watching them fight for Keegan Bradley at the 2025 Ryder Cup and wanted them to fight for him the same way, a nod to a process-over-result debate that will follow his winning debut at Medinah — hosting the Presidents Cup for the first time after its famed 2012 Ryder Cup — as seen in Tiger Woods hails Team USA's historic Presidents Cup comeback.