Whip Around Wednesday: Presidents Cup Captains, Collin Morikawa's New Caddie

Brandt Snedeker has been announced as the United States captain for the 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah No. 3, as was Geoff Ogilvy for the Internationals.

Assuming Ogilvy, a three-time International team member with a 7-6-1 record and a four-time assistant captain, doesn’t fall flat on his face, he’ll likely be brought back for the 2028 matches at Kingston Heath in his native Australia. The International team is growing and has talent. Pair that with an experienced and respected captain at the helm, in his home country, and the scales could finally tip the other way for a squad that hasn’t won the cup since 1998 at Royal Melbourne.

The U.S. will be heavily favored whenever these two sides square up, but even Snedeker admitted last year’s seven-point U.S. win in Canada was “way closer than people think … There was a time Saturday afternoon on the radios between the captains that we were worried.”

I’m not guaranteeing an International team win in 2026 at Medinah No. 3, which underwent a renovation by Ogilvy’s firm, OCM. But if the Internationals are to break their losing streak, 2028 just may be that year.

Other Midweek Notes

Sportico reported that LIV Golf was in “advanced talks” with the Official World Golf Ranking. Here’s why I’m not holding my breath. First, almost a year ago to the day, LIV withdrew its OWGR application. They’ve yet to make any major changes to the product to address the OWGR’s past issues. Trevor Immelman has taken over as chair of the OWGR, but many of the other key stakeholders are still in positions of power. Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley said ahead of the 2025 Masters that there are concerns with regard to player pathways to LIV Golf. Discussions may be happening, but I’ll believe this if it actually happens.

Collin Morikawa is looking for the Joe Grenier bump! Following his split with Max Homa, Grenier was a replacement caddie for Justin Thomas at the Masters and his win at the RBC Heritage. He’ll now be on the bag for Morikawa, and the pair will debut together at next week’s Truist Championship, a week before the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Grenier caddied for Homa’s first PGA Tour win at Quail Hollow in 2019 and also helped guide him to a 4-0-0 record at the Charlotte club at the 2022 Presidents Cup. This is a solid move for Morikawa at an ideal time.

The PGA Tour is reportedly targeting NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps and TaylorMade CEO David Abeles, as well as other candidates, for its open CEO position, per Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter.

In other captaincy news, Paula Creamer will be an assistant captain for the U.S. at the 2026 Solheim Cup in the Netherlands. A seven-time member of Team USA, Creamer boasts a 17-9-5 record and was an assistant captain for the U.S. victory in the 2024 matches at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia.

“It’s a shame.” That’s what defending champion Linn Grant had to say about the popular Scandinavian Mixed event that was left off both the DP World Tour and LPGA schedules for 2025. I agree! Swedish golf fans embraced the event, and players were starting to warm up to it, too.

“It might not have been the most profitable event, but it was definitely one of the most talked about,” said Grant. “I know there were efforts to keep it going, but it was a closed case in the end, so it’s very disappointing. But Australia seems keen on hosting more mixed events, so I think we’ll see them elsewhere in the future, perhaps in a different format." There are more than enough tournaments with 72 holes of normal stroke play. The Olympics will feature a mixed-team event in 2028, but I hope the format returns to the LPGA schedule well before then.

Pinehurst Resort is closing course No. 4 from May 19 – August 7 to resurface greens that didn’t bounce back in the spring following the winter months. The resort made the difficult decision to “return No. 4 to our high standards by later this summer.”