TGD Newswire – This Week In Golf – Presidents Cup Picks Are In. Did the Captains Get It Right? (Sept 9, 2026)
The rosters for the 2026 Presidents Cup are set. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker and International captain Geoff Ogilvy each named six captain’s picks this week to round out their 12-man teams ahead of the matches at Medinah Country Club’s Course No. 3, September 24-27. With the roster debate settled, the real argument starts now: did they get it right?
The Rosters
Team USA enters with six automatic qualifiers from the points list — Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Russell Henley, Sam Burns, and Collin Morikawa — joined by Snedeker’s picks: Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Jackson Koivun, Jacob Bridgeman, and Chris Gotterup.
Team International qualified Si Woo Kim, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, Ryan Fox, Tom Kim, and Min Woo Lee automatically, with Ogilvy rounding out his side using Sungjae Im, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune, and Nick Taylor.
The Case For Snedeker’s Picks
This is a captain who blended proven Cup performers with fresh legs. Thomas, Schauffele, and Cantlay bring real team-event pedigree and slot into reliable pairings — Cantlay and Schauffele in particular have built a track record as a dependable partnership in these events. Koivun, Bridgeman, and Gotterup are all first-timers on the U.S. side, giving the team newer energy without abandoning the veterans who know how to handle the format.
The Debate
The interesting tension is Cantlay. He spent much of the season outside the automatic qualifying picture before a late run of form gave Snedeker enough cover to pick him — a bet on pedigree and big-match temperament over a full season’s résumé. It’s the same trade-off captains face every cycle: reward the guy who’s been in these rooms before, or take the player with the hotter current form. Snedeker went with experience, and it’s a defensible call given how often Cantlay has been the emotional center of recent U.S. team rooms — but it’s exactly the kind of pick that gets second-guessed hard if the pairing doesn’t produce.
On the flip side, handing three rookie spots to Koivun, Bridgeman, and Gotterup is a real statement about where Snedeker thinks the program is headed. If even one of them has a signature moment at Medinah, it reshapes the picture for the next Ryder Cup cycle in 2027.
Why This Matters Beyond September
Presidents Cup rosters always get treated as a dry run for Ryder Cup thinking, and this one is no different. Every rookie who performs well at Medinah becomes a name captains have to seriously consider two years from now. Every pick that doesn’t pan out becomes ammunition for critics of “loyalty picks” over form. Whatever happens at Medinah won’t just decide this Cup — it’ll shape the conversation heading into the next Ryder Cup roster fight.
Sources: PGA TOUR, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report
