This week marks the sixth consecutive year that Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and Patrick Cantlay are competing for the U.S. in either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup—golf’s premier biennial team events. Justin Thomas has competed for the U.S. in every edition dating back to 2017 except for when he missed the Presidents Cup team in 2024.
That annual continuity would figure to benefit the U.S. squads—but many of those players admit there are challenges associated with playing a team event every year, compared to every other like the European Ryder Cup and International Presidents Cup teams do.
“It’s like—Christmas already feels pretty special, but imagine how much more special it would feel if it was every other year? I would have to think there’s maybe something there,” Thomas said Wednesday ahead of the Presidents Cup, which begins Thursday at Medinah Country Club just outside Chicago.
The Presidents Cup began in 1994, launched by the PGA Tour as a way to capitalize on team golf since it has no ownership stake in the Ryder Cup, which is operated by the PGA of America and European Tour Group. That adds another layer of complication for the U.S. players, who annually switch between competing for teams run by different organizations.
U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker believes there’s value in American players competing together every year. “These relationships can speed up, and you can find these friendships faster,” he said Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference. “I think the cons would be the same thing, like these guys have a pretty full schedule. So, asking them to give up two weeks of their life every year is a big ask.”
The U.S. has lost only one Presidents Cup since the event began, but has lost the last two Ryder Cups, and six of the last eight.
“The build up just isn’t as big,” Morikawa said Wednesday. “It’s nothing to take away from the Presidents Cup, nothing to take away from a Ryder Cup, but you look at, let’s say, Europe, for example, with the Ryder Cup, the buildup is that much more intense.”
Not everyone feels that way, though. “We get to play team events so seldom that it’s nice to have a team event every year and have guys get experience in this format,” Cantlay said Wednesday.
Better Together?
Snedeker admitted that thinking about the long-term future of the U.S. team, as opposed to simply winning any single edition, is “definitely in the back of your mind” as a captain. Jim Furyk, next year’s U.S. Ryder Cup captain, is serving as an assistant Presidents Cup captain this week, as is 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.
PGA of America CEO Terry Clark previously told Front Office Sports there are “a lot of learnings in Team USA that happen already. I think people get stuck around who has control on those and do we work together?”
Still, there is no formal business relationship between the PGA of America and the PGA Tour over U.S. team operations—something even International Presidents Cup captain Geoff Ogilvy believes is a missed opportunity.
“I think the PGA of America and Ponte Vedra Beach (where the PGA Tour is based)—it certainly would benefit the U.S. team if they could somewhat get in alignment with that one as well,” Ogilvy told FOS during an interview ahead of the Presidents Cup. “I think it would be to the U.S. team’s benefit to get a bit of a smoother path between cups because I think there’s a lot of challenges over there.”
