The US Took a 3-2 Lead Over the Internationals on the Opening Day of the Presidents Cup at Medinah

The United States opened the 2026 Presidents Cup with a 3-2 lead over the International team after Thursday's five four-ball matches at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago, winning three of the five points on offer on the tournament's first day. The PGA Tour's own match recap and Yahoo Sports's scoring roundup confirm the final results across all five pairings.

How the points fell

Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns beat Minwoo Lee and Sungjae Im 1 up, and Justin Thomas paired with rookie Jackson Koivun to beat Corey Conners and Nicolas Echavarria 4 and 3, a win that made Koivun's Presidents Cup debut an undefeated one. Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa added a third American point, beating Ryan Fox and Adam Scott 3 and 2. The Internationals took their two points through Hideki Matsuyama and Rikuya Hoshino's 3-and-1 win over Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele, and through Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim's 3-and-2 win over Ben Griffin and Patrick Cantlay.

The standout performances

Yahoo Sports's winners-and-losers breakdown singles out Scheffler, Thomas and Clark as the players whose pairings delivered points and Koivun's debut win as the day's most notable individual storyline, a strong first outing for a player new to team competition against a format, four-ball, that rewards aggressive scoring from either partner rather than steady, matched play.

What a one-point lead means at Medinah

A 3-2 scoreline after the opening session is a workable but not commanding lead in a format that runs multiple sessions over four days; foursomes, further four-ball and Sunday singles all remain, and either side winning Friday's foursomes comfortably could flip the overall momentum before the weekend. Local coverage from ABC7 Chicago, running through the tournament's full 24 to 27 September window, notes the American team will look to build on Thursday's edge in Friday's foursomes pairings rather than treat a one-point advantage as settled business.