MEDINAH — The United States extended its Presidents Cup dominance with a record 11th consecutive victory, rallying to beat the International Team 17-13 at Medinah after the largest final-day comeback in the event's history. Brandt Snedeker's side won 9.5 of the 12 points on offer in Sunday singles to overturn a deficit and secure Team USA's 14th win in 16 Presidents Cups, with the Internationals still without a victory since 1998.
The final margin masked a closer-than-expected contest. Geoff Ogilvy's Internationals swept the Friday foursomes session and led going into the final day for just the fourth time ever, staying competitive through the first three days before being outclassed on Sunday. "It was sort of on a knife's edge all day," Ogilvy said. "Some of those one downs that we had out there, if they'd flipped to one up, the numbers look really good and who knows what momentum can give."
The result has reignited debate over the format. The Presidents Cup is a four-day event with 30 total matches, two more than the 28 used for the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup. Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee argued a shorter event would help the underdog, saying, "They need to start the President's Cup on Friday and reduce the number of points," and added, "Reduce it to 24. If they're playing for 28 in the Ryder Cup, why in the heck are they playing for 30 in the Presidents Cup when there's a bigger separation between the talent?" Chamblee noted that if it were 24 points, only 12.5 would be needed for victory, and pointed out the first three Presidents Cups started on a Friday and were dead even on combined points from 1994, 1996 and 1998. "There's no point in it going four days, drawing it out. The longer you go out, the more the better players and the better team are going to come to the fore. That was evidenced very poignantly."
Eligibility is another flashpoint. As a PGA Tour-owned event, LIV Golf League players are ineligible, a restriction that has hit International depth harder than the United States. Former world No. 1s Greg Norman, Nick Price, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh once anchored the Internationals, but current LIV players including Chilean Joaquin Niemann, 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert and stalwart Louis Oosthuizen cannot feature. "Give the Internationals autonomy to choose who they want," Chamblee added. "You're telling me they wouldn't have chosen some LIV players to be on this team?" He contrasted it with the Ryder Cup, where the PGA of America and DP World Tour allow picks such as Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, noting, "It certainly mattered to the European Ryder Cup team at Marco Simone [2023]. It would have mattered for this Presidents' Cup team, which has been gutted by six of the players that made 2019 so competitive going off to LIV Golf."
A mixed-team concept has also been floated to balance the field, with five of the world's top six in the women's game as of September 29 eligible for an International side under current criteria. "Maybe they [the PGA Tour] go into a partnership with the LPGA Tour to create something like that," former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley told Sky Sports. "Whether they do it for the Presidents Cup is doubtful, because they've already said no to that situation evolving." He added it would create "two really good, balanced teams" and a formidable International side against the United States. Min Woo Lee backed the idea, saying, "It would be nice to have her [Minjee Lee, his sister] on the team and me on the team - think it would be very fun," and adding, "Even just the best ball, like mixed best ball, mixed foursome would be unbelievable." Questions also remain over hosting, with 18 different nationalities having represented the Internationals including seven at Medinah, yet only four countries outside the United States have ever hosted. The debate follows USA's 17-13 comeback victory at Medinah, which again highlighted the gap despite a competitive week.