2026 Presidents Cup scores, Thursday highlights: USA leads 3-2 after opening session - Golfweek

The 2026 Presidents Cup is here, and there were fireworks aplenty on Day 1.

The USA leads 3-2 after Thursday's four-ball session at Medinah Country Club near Chicago. Some matches were won in dominant fashion, while a few were closely contested throughout the day. And in the end, both sides have some momentum to build upon as they head into Friday's foursomes matches.

Keep scrolling to see the full results and get all caught up on the best moments from Thursday's action at the 16th Presidents Cup.

Keep tabs on every match in real time with our 2026 Presidents Cup live results page. Here are the final results from Thursday four-balls:

The match featuring Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim vs. Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay was tight for much of the day, but the duo from South Korea put the pedal to the medal on the back nine, closing it out with this absolute dart from Tom Kim on the par-3 16th and earning a huge point for the Internationals.

Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns dodged all kinds of bullets en route to a 1 up victory over Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im, who had ample opportunities to take the lead and build on it throughout the match but were unable to capitalize on several short birdie putts. It's the first win ever for Scheffler and Burns together in team match play, both Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. The two good friends were 0-3-1 as a pair entering the week.

The Japanese duo of Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune close out a 3-and-1 victory over Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele to put the first point on the board for the International team. A big win for Team Japan.

Si Woo Kim from way downtown! This birdie drops to put Kim and Kim 3 up over Gotterup and Cantlay through 14 holes.

The first official result of the 2026 Presidents Cup goes to the stars and stripes, as Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun handle business against Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria to the tune of a 4-and-3 victory. Thomas gets his career mark to 7-0-0 in Presidents Cup four-balls.

Match play JT is a different animal. He and Jackson Koivun are now 3 up through 14 and on the cusp of closing out their match vs. Conners and Echavarria.

Back and forth we go in the opening match. Sungjae Im gave the Internationals the lead with a birdie on No. 13, but Sam Burns answered on the 14th with this beauty of an approach shot. All tied up with four holes to play.

Sungjae Im gave himself and Min Woo Lee the lead with this birdie at the 13th. As of 3:35 p.m. ET, the Internationals lead in three of the five matches.

Cool and confident from the 21-year-old newcomer. Koivun and Thomas remain 2 up on Conners and Echavarria.

As of 3:30 p.m. ET, the Internationals lead in two matches, the USA leads in two matches and one match is tied. But one of those matches just got a little closer after Ryan Fox rolled in this birdie to narrow the gap from 3 to 2 up against Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa.

The opening match of the Presidents Cup, featuring Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns taking on Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im, is tied at the turn. Both duos have been trading blows all day, with a birdie winning all but 3 holes on the front nine.

Min Woo Lee shows off his precision with this beauty of a tee shot at the par-3 ninth.

The USA has taken a 2-up lead in another match thanks to a hot start from Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun.

How about this from the 21-year-old rising star? Jackson Koivun and Justin Thomas take the lead over Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria.

There has been a birdie made on every hole in the first match of the day, featuring Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns vs. Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im, who is the latest to put a circle on the card with this birdie at the fifth to tie the match.

Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns are on fire to start the Presidents Cup, making birdies on each of the first four holes. That said, they haven't been able to build much of a lead as Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im have answered with three birdies of their own. Early fireworks at Medinah.

Few have achieved the longevity that Adam Scott has in the game go golf, and he marked another milestone in his illustrious career Thursday by teeing off in his 55th Presidents Cup match.

The U.S. now leads in two matches thanks to this dart from Cameron Young, putting himself and Xander Schauffele 1 up over Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune.

So much for first-tee nerves. Jackson Koivun absolutely striped his first tee shot of the 2026 Presidents Cup. Just 21 years old and about five months removed from college, the young phenom out of Auburn already seems quite comfortable on one of the sport's biggest stages.

Donald Trump plans to attend the Presidents Cup at Medinah on Sunday. Read more from Golfweek's Cameron Jourdan.

Min Woo lee drained a long putt at the second for a big birdie, but Sam Burns answered, and the U.S. remains 1 up in the opening match of the 2026 Presidents Cup.

Well, there's never a bad time to catch a good break, but it's especially helpful when you're already 1 down. Sungjae Im's tee shot at the par-4 second hit the out-of-bounds post and bounced back into the fairway. We could be seeing stuff like this all week at No. 2, considering the fence is just a few paces off the short grass.

The second match of the day, featuring Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele of the U.S. squaring off against the Japanese duo of Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune for the International squad is underway at Medinah.

Scottie Scheffler poured in a birdie putt on the first hole to fire up the Chicago crowd and give himself and Sam Burns an early lead over Sungjae Im and Min Woo Lee.

The opening four-ball match featuring Americans Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns taking on the International duo of Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im has taken the first tee. The 2026 Presidents Cup is officially underway at Medinah Country Club.

Medinah has received a ton of rain in the past few weeks, meaning those who setup the course are having to make up for soft conditions in other ways. One of those ways is tucking the pins, including here on hole No. 2, where the hole is cut just four paces onto the green and just 17 feet (!) away from the out-of-bounds fence. Expect some drama at the second today.

It's looking like a picture-perfect Midwestern fall day in Chicagoland, with partly cloudy skies and a high in the upper-60s.

There are tucked pins, and then there's whatever we have here. Here's a look at the flag placements for Thursday's four-ball session at Medinah:

The USA will be rocking a striped blue shirt with gray pants, while the Internationals will go with a solid white shirt and black pants Thursday at Medinah. You can own each item in the Presidents Cup uniform lineup. Check it out here.

The USA vs. International format has naturally led to a warmer reception for Wyndhan Clark and the Denver native hopes the environment can help aid the process of altering how he's viewed.

Scottie Scheffler isn't as bad representing the U.S. in team golf as his record suggests. But the record is bad. Or at least way worse than anybody would expect from the world's No. 1 golfer. So much so that Scheffler, after answering a few different questions from reporters trying to dissect what the issue could be, finally felt compelled to remind everyone that bad in Scheffler's case isn't the same as any other golfer.

Golf Channel will have all the coverage of Day 1 action at the Presidents Cup, beginning with the Opening Ceremony at 12 p.m. ET and running through the end of play Thursday.

See betting odds expert picks for the 2026 Presidents Cup, where the U.S. enters as a heavy favorite to win.

The Presidents Cup is a team competition held every two years in which 12 players from the U.S. take on 12 international players in a series of matches across four days. Check out the full breakdown of each format.

The members of the 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup team are Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa, Chris Gotterup, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Jacob Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun. Read more about each player.

The members of the 2026 International Presidents Cup team are Si Woo Kim, Ryan Fox, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Tom Kim, Adam Scott, Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune, Nick Taylor and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Read more about each player.

Medinah Country Club, located 25 miles west of downtown Chicago, is the host of the 2026 Presidents Cup.

There are three 18-hole championship courses on the property, but the one they'll be playing this week is Medinah No. 3, which has previously hosted many major golf events, including three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup. But the course will look much different than it did the last time we saw it on the big stage. In 2022, Medinah No. 3 underwent a full renovation orchestrated by International Captain Geoff Ogilvy and his team at OCM Design.

The U.S. has historically dominated the Presidents Cup, amassing a 13-1-1 record since the event's inception in 1994. In the most recent edition, the Americans won the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada by a score of 18½ to 11½. The International Team's only victory came in 1998. The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a tie.

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