Presidents Cup 2026: Team USA and the Greatest Sunday Singles Comeback in History

Hook

Jacob Bridgeman stood over the 18th green, his ball less than two meters from the hole. The air at Medinah was so still that I could hear my own breathing through the headset. Then the putt rolled, and the ball dropped. A roar erupted from the American side of the gallery. In the opposite corner, an Australian fan buried his face in his hands. I have sat in the commentary booth long enough to know that when I hear crying in the stands, I hear a player's entire life. Min Woo Lee stared at the ground, his club resting on his shoulder like a barbell. Team USA won 17-13, completing the greatest comeback in Presidents Cup history.

Context

To understand the scale of that moment, we must rewind a few days. The 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club, Illinois, began with Team USA under a cloud of doubt. They had just lost the 2026 Ryder Cup on home soil, a wound that had not healed. The International Team, led by young golfers and a few veterans, exploded in the team formats. After four sessions of foursomes and fourballs, they led 10.5-7.5, needing only 5.5 points from the 12 singles matches to make history. Analysts spoke of a gap in class: the US team had nine players in the world's top 20, the Internationals only two. But team sports do not follow rankings. They follow heartbeats. I used to think being an MC meant holding a microphone; it turns out it means holding other people's heartbeats. And on that Sunday night at Medinah, the US team's heartbeat raced faster than anyone expected.

Core

Sunday singles. 12 matches. Team USA needed eight points to win, 7.5 to tie. They got 9.5. How they got them is the story.

Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, and Scottie Scheffler opened with three points. Young beat Tom Kim 3&2 with the demeanor of a man who had waited all season for this moment. Thomas, often criticized for inconsistent form, defeated Hideki Matsuyama 2&1 in a match where he repeatedly fired approach shots close to the pin. Scheffler, the world No. 1, had no trouble with Corey Conners, winning 4&3.

Those three points kept Team USA alive. But the turning point came in the middle group. Chris Gotterup, a Presidents Cup rookie, beat Sungjae Im 1up after coming back from two down. Patrick Cantlay, known for his steel nerves, took down Jason Day 2&1. Collin Morikawa beat Christiaan Bezuidenhout 3&2. And Jackson Koivun, a name unfamiliar to many, defeated Si Woo Kim 2up. Those four points turned 7.5 into 11.5. The International Team began to tremble.

Xander Schauffele, who has never lost a singles match in team events, guaranteed at least half a point against Ryan Fox. He was 1up when the match was halted because the overall result was decided. That half-point lifted the total to 12. Team USA needed five more points to reach 17, but in reality they only needed to win the match.

And then Jacob Bridgeman. The 26-year-old was one down with three holes to play. He squared the match at the 16th, took the lead at the 17th after a chip to close range, and sealed it against Min Woo Lee at the 18th with a birdie putt. The 17th point for Team USA. The deciding point. Medinah erupted.

Notably, Team USA won 9.5 points without needing all their stars to shine. Jordan Spieth and Tony Finau were not on this year's roster. Instead came names like Gotterup and Koivun, selected for their recent form. The US captain gambled on freshness, and he was right. Meanwhile, the International Team had experienced players like Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, but they could not carry the burden. The difference in scoring ability on the closing holes was decisive. Team USA won points in 7 of the 12 matches decided by a narrow margin (1up or 2up). They won those duels with nerve. A 79% win rate in Sunday singles is the highest in Presidents Cup history, surpassing the previous record of 66% set by Team USA in 2026.

Brandel Chamblee, a former PGA Tour player and now a Golf Channel analyst, called it "the greatest ever Sunday singles performance, not just by a Presidents Cup team, but by a US Ryder Cup team." He stressed: "You go all the way back to 2026 in the Ryder Cup, the US team had never won more than eight and a half points. You go all the way back to the beginnings in 2026 of the Presidents Cup, the US team had never won more than eight points. What happened today was what was predicted to happen all week long, given the disparity between the world rank of the international team and the US team."

Based on my experience covering matches over more than three decades, I have never seen such a transformation. I have covered many Presidents Cups, from the 1990s when I worked at The Independent, witnessing US dominance, then watching the Internationals rise. But 9.5-2.5 in Sunday singles is an unthinkable feat. It goes beyond a victory; it is a statement.

For comparison, consider the 2026 Ryder Cup. On the final Sunday, Europe won only one match. The US won 9.5 matches. The difference lies in the ability to convert pressure into points. At the 2026 Ryder Cup, the US crumbled under home pressure. At Medinah 2026, they turned pressure into fuel. Chamblee said: "It feels like to me that the US team is chagrined a little bit at some of the criticism coming their way, perhaps from the Ryder Cup lack of success. But in the individual performances, in the Sunday singles, what they did last time they were out at the Ryder Cup was historic."

I remember my own story. In 2026, at the World Cup in Russia, I shouted so much that people thought I was a reporter. I learned that in team sports, emotion cannot be suppressed; it only passes from one person to another. Team USA at Medinah did that. Every point from Young, Thomas, Scheffler, Gotterup, Cantlay, Morikawa, Koivun, Schauffele, and Bridgeman was a link in that emotional chain.

Contrarian

But wait. Before we hail this as "the greatest of all time," ask yourself: is the International Team really a strong enough measuring stick? Chamblee admitted: "What happened today was what was predicted to happen all week long, given the disparity between the world rank of the international team and the US team." If that gap is so large, was the comeback really a shock? Or was it simply the US finally playing to its level?

Here is the uncomfortable part: the International Team led 10.5-7.5 after the team formats. They played better than expected in the first four sessions. But when singles began, they collapsed. This is not the first time. In 2026, the Internationals also led after Saturday and lost in singles. In 2026, they lost narrowly. The problem for the International Team is not talent; it is the ability of 12 individuals to withstand pressure on the same day. Technical barriers do not block emotion; they only make it pool up. When 12 golfers face 12 stronger opponents, the fear of failure outweighs the desire to win.

Not to mention, Team USA had extraordinary motivation from the wound of the 2026 Ryder Cup. Sometimes, failure is the best medicine. It forces a group to look at itself. Team USA at Medinah was no longer the fragile unit of Bethpage.

So rather than calling this "the greatest," perhaps we should call it "the most necessary." A cathartic performance. And also a warning to the International Team: the talent gap can narrow, but the psychological gap will not, unless they learn how to close.

Takeaway

Team USA will return next September to face Team Europe in the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, Ireland, from September 17-19. The next Presidents Cup will be held in 2028 at Kingston Heath Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour returns with the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort.

But the bigger question is: is the Medinah performance a turning point for Team USA, or just a fleeting moment? If they bring that heartbeat to Adare Manor, Team Europe will have to be wary. If not, it will remain just a beautiful memory from a historic Sunday. Sport does not live in the past. It lives in the next match.