Internationals Sweep Friday Foursomes at 2026 Presidents Cup

On Friday afternoon, the American golf team went full American golf team.

In case you’re unfamiliar with what that means, they got their tails handed to them in foursomes. Yet again. The International side won all five matches, a clean 5-0 sweep to mark the fourth time the Americans have been blanked in a foursomes session in their last eight team competitions, including three of the last four.

“Hat's off to the International Team,” Snedeker said after play concluded. “They went out there and played great. They made a ton of putts. I feel like our guys hit a bunch of great putts and just couldn't find the bottom of the hole.”

Heard that one before?

In fairness, the Internationals did make more putts. They just happened to hit the ball better, too. Per DataGolf’s strokes gained model, six of the top eight players from tee to green on Friday were Internationals. A team that had been doubted since even before the rosters were finalized sent five hungry teams onto the course Friday afternoon, and every pairing rose to the occasion.

MORE: Friday Presidents Cup Live Blog

For the American side, Friday was yet another abysmal showing in alternate shot. Scottie Scheffler’s loss dropped his career foursomes record to 1-8-0 across the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. And although Scheffler’s play was nowhere near his typical week-to-week brilliance, he was among the least of the Americans’ concerns.

Sam Burns didn’t give Scheffler much to work with. Xander Schauffele played a dreadful round that included a three-foot miss on No. 15 to extend the match. Jacob Bridgeman’s typically steady putter became a liability. Outside of Wyndham Clark, nearly the entire American roster underperformed expectations.

But nobody wearing red, white, and blue underwhelmed more than Justin Thomas. He and Cameron Young failed to make a single birdie, and the majority of their struggles can be placed on Thomas’ shoulders.

If history is any indication, the Americans probably won’t learn much from what happened on the course at Medinah on Friday. But if it wasn’t already obvious enough, the day only reinforced that Thomas should not play another foursomes match this week — or at any future team competitions — unless his ball-striking drastically improves.

That he played on Friday at all is the perfect example of how American decision-makers continue to misunderstand the puzzle. Thomas was legitimately excellent on Thursday, and the Americans responded by putting him right back out in a format he should not be playing given the inconsistency of his game. The day the Americans realize that heart and soul doesn’t supersede one’s ability to swing the golf club will be a significant step in the right direction.

In the meantime, they have more immediate concerns.

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The Internationals command a four-point lead and officially have a serious chance of pulling off a massive upset on Sunday. Before the week, scrutiny surrounded the future of this competition. Recent Presidents Cups have been largely uncompetitive, and most expected a similar result this week at Medinah.

Instead, we’re headed for the most captivating edition of the Presidents Cup since 2019 at Royal Melbourne.

The Americans still have a strong chance of winning on Sunday. There is a lot of golf left, and the talent advantage aggressively favors the U.S. side. It is hard to envision the Internationals coming out on top in Sunday singles, which makes maintaining a cushion through Saturday night imperative for the road team.

But regardless of what the scoreboard reads 48 hours from now, Friday should set off alarms in the American team room that they have a very real and persistent issue on their hands with underperformance in foursomes. The problem is: they still don’t seem to understand the problem well enough to even begin trying to solve it.