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As President Donald Trump descended upon the Presidents Cup on Sunday, the U.S. completed the largest final-round comeback in the 32-year history of the biennial team golf event to defeat the Internationals for an 11th consecutive time.
Boosted by early victories from Cam Young, Justin Thomas, and Scottie Scheffler, the U.S. erased a 10.5–7.5 deficit they faced heading into Sunday’s 12 singles matches to ultimately win 17–13. The International team—made up of players from outside the U.S. and Europe—has won the Presidents Cup just one time in 1998, and tied the U.S. in 2003. In 2019, the Tiger Woods-captained U.S. team came back from being down 10–8, which was previously the largest Sunday comeback. The U.S. now leads the overall competition 14–1–1.
The 30,000-plus fans at Medinah Country Club just outside Chicago became noticeably rowdy on Sunday and throughout the weekend, often booing the International team and cheering for poor shots. One fan was ejected late Sunday after yelling “Go Scottie” during the backswing of Scheffler’s opponent Nico Echavarria on the 14th tee. While unruly at times, the crowds at Medinah were not nearly as hostile as the spectators at last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York as Europe won on U.S. soil for the first time since 2012.
There is no prize money at the Presidents Cup, but all players, captains, and assistant captains on both teams receive $250,000 stipends for participating.
The U.S. now turns its attention to next year’s Ryder Cup in Ireland, while the International team prepares to host the 2028 Presidents Cup in Australia and continues to seek more independence from the PGA Tour, which organizes the Presidents Cup and operates both teams.
Trump’s Impact
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker shouted out Trump during an on-course interview with NBC moments after his team clinched the victory. “One last shout out to Donald Trump, President Trump,” Snedeker said. “He told me I was going to bring some energy today for you guys, you guys need it, and I told him if we did this, he gets all the credit. Thank you, President Trump.”
Trump’s attendance on Sunday resulted in additional security measures being put in place for fans at Medinah. There was a TSA-style security perimeter around the 3,000-seat first tee stadium, and fans were required to be inside by 9:45am CT ahead of the first tee time shortly after 11 a.m.
Trump, serving as the honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup, was introduced by PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp about a half hour before the final round began. Trump spoke for under a minute.
“Wow, thank you very much,” he said. “You know, the fake news media will say I got a very bad reception. But we get a good reception—I love what we’re doing. The country is doing great. Now, Brian said, ‘Could you make a short speech?’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t have the courage to make a speech. These people want to see golf. They don’t want to hear speeches.
“I’ll only say this: Our country is doing great, better than ever before—I thank you. I want to watch the greatest players in the world go out and play, and play your hearts out. It could be a very interesting day of golf. Thank you all, everybody. Thank you.”
Trump had a plexiglass-protected ground-level suite to watch the opening tee shots in, but stood outside it behind the teeing area at times and greeted some players entering the stadium. Presidents Cup golf cart supplier Club Car made Trump a special “honorary captain’s cart,” although he was not seen using it Sunday.
This was at least the 11th major sporting event Trump has attended this year, and came one day after he was at the Texas-Tennessee college football game in Knoxville on Saturday.
Trump stuck around to attend the trophy presentation Sunday evening. He shook hands with players from both teams and took photos with the victorious U.S. squad.
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