Quick answer: The International Team leads the 2026 Presidents Cup 7-3 after sweeping Friday's five foursomes matches at Medinah. Corey Conners and Nick Taylor, Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im, Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Adam Scott, and Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim all won. Saturday features eight more team matches, so 18 points remain before Sunday singles.
One day after the United States appeared to have established the familiar Presidents Cup order, the International Team erased it in five matches. Friday's alternate-shot session ended 5-0, turning a 3-2 American lead into a 7-3 International advantage and giving Geoff Ogilvy's side control of the competition heading into its busiest day.
The sweep matters beyond the four-point margin. It is the first time the International Team has won every match in a Presidents Cup foursomes session. It also reversed the event's most durable pattern: the Americans usually use depth and alternate-shot familiarity to separate. At Medinah, every International pairing produced a point, two matches reached the 18th hole, and the U.S. never found even a half-point.
This is precisely the kind of development that changes the story rather than merely extending it. Thursday suggested a competitive Cup. Friday gave the Internationals a real path to their first victory since 1998.
The first and third matches turned at the last possible moment
Corey Conners and Nick Taylor beat Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 1 up in the opening match. The Americans had a chance to salvage a tie at the 18th, but the Canadian partnership held on. That result immediately removed the comfort created by Scheffler and Burns' Thursday win.
Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee also defeated Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark 1 up. Clark and Morikawa had supplied the cleanest American point in four-ball, yet alternate shot reduced their ability to cover for one another. Fox and Lee did not need a runaway. They needed to keep the match alive long enough for one late exchange to decide it.
Those two narrow finishes are the heart of the sweep. A 5-0 session can look inevitable in the final table, but two matches were one hole from becoming halves. The Internationals converted both pressure moments, turning what might have been a strong 4-1 session into a historic clean sheet.
Matsuyama and Im supplied the day's clearest control
Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im beat Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman 3 and 2. Ogilvy rested Ryo Hisatsune after his Thursday victory with Matsuyama and paired the former Masters champion with Im, whose steady ball-striking profile suits alternate shot.
The combination worked because neither player had to manufacture reckless recovery golf. Their three-hole margin with two to play indicates a match managed from ahead, not rescued at the finish. That distinction matters for Saturday selection: Ogilvy now has evidence that Matsuyama can anchor different partners and that Im can move from a Thursday loss into a composed foursomes point.
For the U.S., the match exposed the risk of bringing two players into the competition together. Henley and Bridgeman were both sitting Thursday. Alternate shot offers little room to settle in, because one player's first competitive swing dictates the partner's next problem. The International pair applied pressure before the Americans found a rhythm.
The official PGA Tour selection special provides the roster and captaincy context behind the partnerships now shaping Medinah. Video: PGA Tour on YouTube.
Scott and Bezuidenhout changed the veteran equation
Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Adam Scott beat Justin Thomas and Cameron Young 3 and 2. Thomas had been the best American performer on Thursday, guiding rookie Jackson Koivun through a 4-and-3 win. Friday paired him with Young against an International duo built around control and experience.
Scott's value has sometimes been framed as ceremonial leadership because this is his 12th Presidents Cup. The point alongside Bezuidenhout was competitive proof. They neutralized a U.S. pairing that included the event's most accomplished active American match-play performer and closed before the 17th hole.
Bezuidenhout also justified Ogilvy's format-specific rotation. He sat Thursday, entered in foursomes and immediately supplied a full point. Captains do not need all 12 players to perform the same job. They need combinations that make sense for each format, and this partnership gave the International Team a dependable middle-of-the-order option.
The Kims turned momentum into intimidation
Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim beat Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay 4 and 3, the widest margin of the session. The same International duo closed Thursday with a 3-and-2 four-ball win, then handled the Americans' most established partnership even more decisively in alternate shot.
This was not just another point. Cantlay and Schauffele entered as the U.S. pairing most associated with continuity, the team expected to restore order after sitting apart on Thursday. Instead, the Kims ended the match at the 15th and completed the sweep before the two tight matches behind them were fully secure.
Their two-day record now gives Ogilvy a partnership he can trust in either team format. Their energy changes the atmosphere, but the golf is the reason it matters: two wins, neither reaching the 17th hole, against four accomplished American players.
Why 7-3 is powerful but not safe
The Internationals lead by four points, but Saturday contains eight matches: four morning four-balls and four afternoon foursomes. That means the U.S. can erase the entire deficit in one day without needing another sweep. Sunday then provides 12 singles points.
The arithmetic gives Ogilvy a different strategic challenge. Friday rewarded five pairings; Saturday demands more repetitions and exposes fatigue. He must decide whether to ride the Kims and Matsuyama heavily, protect Scott's energy, and preserve enough flexibility for the afternoon. Snedeker, meanwhile, must produce a quick red response before the scoreboard begins to feel permanent.
A practical International target is not to defend 7-3 passively. Splitting Saturday 4-4 would carry an 11-7 advantage into singles, requiring only 4.5 of 12 points to win outright. Even losing Saturday 5-3 would leave the visitors ahead 10-8. The U.S. needs a winning session early enough to create belief, not merely improve the final margin.
The format exposed American uncertainty
Thursday's U.S. points came from Scheffler-Burns, Thomas-Koivun and Clark-Morikawa. On Friday, Scheffler-Burns and Clark-Morikawa lost by one hole, Thomas changed partners and lost, and Koivun sat. Snedeker's successful four-ball map did not transfer to foursomes.
That does not make the selections irrational. Alternate shot requires different compatibility, and every captain must rotate players. But the clean sweep means every U.S. assumption now deserves review. Cantlay and Schauffele cannot be treated as an automatic stabilizer after a 4-and-3 loss. Scheffler and Burns remain winless together in foursomes at these team events. The rookies need opportunities, but Saturday is an unforgiving moment to learn.
The Internationals have the opposite problem: too many validated options. Conners can pair with Taylor, Matsuyama has won with two partners, Fox and Lee survived a close finish, Scott and Bezuidenhout controlled their match, and the Kims are 2-0. Ogilvy can select for energy rather than search for an answer.
Friday made this a different Presidents Cup
The International Team has repeatedly produced competitive stretches without finishing the job. It swept Friday foursomes at Royal Montreal in 2024 after losing Thursday 5-0, only for the United States to regain control. Medinah is different because the visitors began Friday just one point behind and finished it four ahead.
No trophy was won in Session 2. There are 20 points still available, and the Americans retain the deeper history of singles success. But the burden has shifted. The U.S. must now prove that Friday was an aberration; the Internationals only need to keep converting enough of the close matches.
A 5-0 sweep is the rare session that changes tactics, psychology and arithmetic at once. It gave Ogilvy a functioning partnership map, forced Snedeker to reconsider his, and turned Saturday from a positioning day into an American emergency. The Presidents Cup is no longer waiting to become competitive. The International Team has made the United States chase it.