The Presidents Cup Preview!
TOMMY: Welcome to Tommy Does Golf, the podcast where three old timers give you our opinions on everything golf. I'm Tommy Long, joined by fellow PGA professionals James Morgan and Paul Charman. With over 100 years and counting in the golf industry between us, we are well into our back nines. We'll do our best to stay on topic, but just like our tee shots these days, this podcast could go anywhere.
We're hoping you enjoy the banter, and maybe, just maybe, we'll share a few pearls of wisdom along the way. Let's get into it.
Welcome to our 2026 President's Cup preview. The 16th edition of this blockbuster event heads to Medinah Country Club in Chicago, teeing off on September the 24th. For the rookies, making it onto one of the two 12-man rosters is a career-defining achievement. Standing in team colours alongside 11 players who are usually rivals is the fulfilment of a long-held ambition.
Our tipster supreme, Neil, is back in the studio for this episode. Thanks for making the time, fella. It's great to see you. Okay, here's the plan. A quick President's Cup quiz to test the lads, a team roster rundown, Paul on the match play format. James will introduce us to the host venue, and no doubt earmarks some risk-reward holes to watch out for.
Neil will talk us through the betting options and try to guide us with some possible suggestions. And finally, we'll discuss our thoughts on some possible pairings for foursomes and four-balls. There's a lot to get through. So without further ado, fellas, are you ready for the quiz?
JAMES: Bring it. Bring it on.
TOMMY: Okay, here we go
Question one: Where was the first Presidents Cup played? Where was the first Presidents Cup played? James, I'm going to come to you
JAMES: Robert Trent Jones Golf Club
TOMMY:: It was indeed. Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Prince William County, Virginia, USA. Very good. Okay, they'll get progressively harder, I hope. Who won the first Presidents Cup, and what was the score? Who won the first Presidents Cup, and what was the score? Stato's got his hand up. I'm going to go to you, Paul. Who have we got?
PAUL: Well I've got US.
TOMMY: Yes.
PAUL: And I've got a score of 20-12.
TOMMY: Correct.
PAUL: In favour of the US.
TOMMY: Correct. Team captained by Hale Irwin defeated the International Team 20 points to 12. Very good. Okay, another easy one. How many Presidents Cup matches have there been up to 2024? Anybody?
NEIL: 15.
TOMMY: Absolutely right, Neil. 2026 is the 16th edition. Okay, here we go. What is the overall all-time record between the USA and the International Team? What is the overall all-time record between the USA and the International Team? James?
JAMES: 13 to the US, one to the international, and one tie.
TOMMY: It is, absolutely. Pretty dominant there, eh? US. Very dominant. Ooh. Okay, next question. When did the international team first win the President's Cup? So when did the international team first win the President's Cup? Paul?
PAUL: 1998.
TOMMY: It was 1998.
PAUL: Do you want to know where?
TOMMY: I'd love to know where. Go on Show off.
PAUL: It was- Royal Melbourne.
TOMMY: It was Royal Melbourne, Australia. In Australia. Absolutely. Well done. Get in. All right, fantastic. Doing all right, boys. Nailed them all so far. Wait for the trick question. No, I'm not going to throw one in.
Okay, here we go. Next question: When was the only tie in President's Cup history? When was the only tie in President's Cup history? Neil?
NEIL: 2003.
TOMMY: It was. Can you tell me where it was?
NEIL: Um, oh.
TOMMY: Oh, hands are going up. Boys know. Let's go to one of them then. Go on then, James.
JAMES: Fancourt Hotel and Country Club.
TOMMY: It was 2003. Oh, okay.
PAUL: In?
JAMES: South Africa.
TOMMY And the score, and the score was 17-all. Okay, now next question.
What is the largest margin of victory in President's Cup history? What is the largest margin of victory in President's Cup history? James, I'm going to come to you again.
JAMES: 11
TOMMY: It is 11 points. In the year 2000.
JAMES: 21 and a half to 10 and a half.
TOMMY: Bang on, Bertie. Well done. Mm-hmm. Okay. So yeah, the US over the international team. 'Twas a thumping, eh? That was a thumping. 'Twas
JAMES: a thumping.
TOMMY: Okay. Okay, next one. What is the most dominant format for the USA team historically?
What is the most dominant format for the USA team historically? Do you want a clue, boys?
JAMES: Well, I'm going to guess at four-ball.
TOMMY:I was going to say, it's not what you think.
PAUL: Ah. Which is, means it's not the singles.
TOMMY: It's not the singles. No. It's foursomes. Foursomes.
PAUL: Foursomes.
TOMMY: Through 2024, they have outscored the International significantly in this format. Crazy. Okay, next question. Here we go. You boys are going to know this one. Who has made the most Presidents Cup appearances for the USA? Who has made the most Presidents Cup appearances for the USA? Neil, we'll go to you
NEIL: Phil Mickelson
TOMMY It is. Lefty, he has 12 appearances, 1994 to 2017. Pretty good. Okay. Right, another easy-ish question. Who has scored the most career points for the USA? Who has scored the most career points for the USA? James
JAMES: There must be an echo in here. Phil Mickelson
TOMMY: It is Phil Mickelson all right.
Who has made the most President's Cup appearances for the international team? Who has made the most President's Cup appearances for the international team?
PAUL: I'll have a punt. Yes. It's Adam Scott.
TOMMY: Correct. It is Adam Scott. He's made 11 consecutive appearances to date, starting with his debut in 2003.
This year will be his 12th appearance.
Okay, next one.
Who has scored the most career points for the international team? Who has scored the most career points for the international team? James?
JAMES: Adam Scott
TOMMY: Adam Scott. Excellent.
JAMES: 23 points.
TOMMY: 23 points. Ernie Els, 21 points. So there we go. All right. Who holds the most career wins, individual match wins for the international team? Who has the most career wins for the international team? Neil.
NEIL: I think I'm going to get this one wrong.
TOMMY: Adam Scott. Ernie Els. 20 victories.
JAMES: 50/50.
TOMMY: Ernie Els had 20 victories whilst accumulating his 21-point total for the international team. Okay, next question. It's a bit of a wordy one, so listen carefully.
How many individual matches have been played combined over the previous 15 editions of the President's Cup?
So we're not talking about the editions, we're talking about actual matches.
So how many matches or points, if you like, have been played for in the entire event history?
I think we're going to have nearest guess. Come on, let's all have a guess. Neil, you start Um,
NEIL: I'm going to go, um 480
TOMMY: What about you, James? You going to go over that or under that?
JAMES: I’m going, uh, hold on one second.
TOMMY: Right, Paul, you have a go. Whilst James does a little bit of maths in his head. You going to go under 480 or you going to go over 480?
PAUL: I'm going to go over 480.
TOMMY: Give me a number.
PAUL: 481.
TOMMY: Oh, James, come on. What are you going?
JAMES: Oh, those early matches difference- Yeah it’s 510.
TOMMY :Okay.
JAMES: Might be 506.
TOMMY: I've got to give it to Paul, it's 482. Oh. Oh. It's all right. I just wanted you to go 482, and you'd have had it on the money. Last question. What is the overall points tally between the two teams? So what is the- Oh, boy ... overall points tally between the two teams?
I'm going to give you a clue. Considering the dominance that there's been, the differential isn't as big as you would expect it to be. Okay? So come on, how many points do you think over the years the US have accumulated and the international team have accumulated over the years through the 2024 event since its conception? So- We're looking blank. It's a difficult question ...
JAMES: 293 to America- Yeah ... and 192 international.
TOMMY It's a pretty good effort there. All right, I'm going to give it to you. It's 268 points to the US, so you're pretty close, and 214 To the internationals. So closer than you would think it was.
JAMES: Yeah.
TOMMY: I actually think you did pretty well in that quiz. We got plenty to get through, so I'm actually just going to crack on with the team introductions. All right. So the US team, we've got Captain Brandt Snedeker, who named Jim Furyk, Webb Simpson, and Gary Woodland as his assistant captains.
Now, the player roster, and I'm going to go in qualifying order first. Number one, Scottie Scheffler. Number two, Cameron Young. Number three, Wyndham Clark. Number four, Sam Burns. Number five, Russell Henley. Number six, Collin Morikawa. And now for his six captain's picks: Chris Gotterup, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Jackson Koivun, and Jacob Bridgeman.
And for the international team, we have Captain Geoff Ogilvy. Ogilvy named Tim Clark, Trevor Immelman, Taylor Pendrith, and Camilo Villegas as his assistant captains. The player roster in qualifying order: South Korea's Si Woo Kim, Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, New Zealand's Ryan Fox, , South Korea's Tom Kim, Australia's Min Woo Lee, Australia's Adam Scott.
And in moving on to Geoff Ogilvy's captain's picks, we have - South Korea's sung jae Im, Colombia's Nico Echavarria, Canada's Corey Conners, Canada's Nick Taylor, South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout, and Japan's Ryo Hisatsune now team breakdown. I'm just going to throw some things quickly at you.
The average age, I had a look at that. Team USA's average age worked out to be 30.0 exactly, compared to the international team's 32.41, so pretty close. All right? Combined previous appearances per team. We know we've got rookies in there, et cetera. But Team USA, 18 total appearances across the 12 players that are in the team this year .
International team, 30 total appearances across the 12 players. Adam Scott probably bumps that up a little bit for the internationals. But that's a 12 appearance gap in favour of the internationals in terms of the experience, so whether that'll play a factor, who knows. I then looked at combined points scored in previous Presidents Cups. Team USA 51 points, and the international team 57 points. So again, only six points in it But the international do have 12 more appearances combined, so actually, maybe that's slightly in favour of the Americans.
Right. Let's look at the rookies. Team USA got three rookies. Chris Gotterup Jackson Koivun, Jacob Bridgeman. International team rookies, Nick Taylor Ryan Fox, Nico Echavarria and Rio Hisatsune. I'm going to get that name right by the end of this one.
All right. Um, average world ranking. Work those out as well.
The international team's average world ranking worked out to be 48.5, compared to Team USA's 16.17, so a whopping 32 places on average between them. Team USA having seven out of the world's top 10 in the current world rankings does go some way to explaining that wider differential. Team USA having seven out of the world's top 10 in their team does actually... Team USA's ha- Team USA having seven out of the world's top 10 in the current world ranking does go some way to explaining that wider differential.
Just going to throw some other stats at you. Highest ranked players. Team USA obviously has world number one, Scottie Scheffler, , followed by Cameron Young at world number three. The international team, Si Woo Kim is the highest ranked player, number 13 in the world, followed by our very own Ryan Fox at number 25.
And the lowest ranked players, Team USA, Jackson Koivun is the lowest ranked at 66 in the world. He's only been on the tour for, what, a year or so- Yeah ... since he turned pro, his ranking will fly up I'd imagine. He's already won a PGA Tour event, hasn't he? So Team USA, top 10 rankings, as I said, seven of their 12 players currently ranked in the world top 10. Every other player is comfortably inside the top 30 for Team USA. For the internationals, we've got Si Woo Kim at number 13, Ryan Fox number 25, Hideki Matsuyama number 26 Min Woo Lee, number 29, and Tom Kim, currently number 30. So the rest of the international team are ranked between 51, which is Adam Scott, to 96, Christian Bezuidenhout. I look at tournament wins in 2026. Team USA, 8 of the 12 players won at least one tournament in 2026, 15 combined wins. International team, 3 of the 12 players won a tournament. It's three combined wins, so no player won more than once. Team USA, Wyndham Clark won a major, won his second US Open, winning of course at Shinnecock Hills, and the international team, Ryan Fox, won the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Okay we will go over to Paul, who is going to explain the format for us. Now, it is slightly different to the Ryder Cup, so I'm all ears, Paul.
PAUL: Cheers, Tommy. So yeah, the format is, similar but different, I suppose is the best way to explain it. Similar to the Ryder Cup, similar to the Solheim Cup. Of course, it is a match play tournament. But in this case, it's played over four days, so it'll start on Thursday. Thursday will be day one.
Now, on Thursday, the host captain has the option of choosing what he would like to play first, so whether he wants to go with the foursomes or whether he wants to go to four-ball first.
So either five foursomes or five four-balls on the Thursday and the Friday.
TOMMY: Yes.
PAUL: Followed by Saturday, we're going to have, an AM four-ball or foursome, followed by a PM four-ball or foursome.
TOMMY: Okay.
PAUL: And then again, like the Ryder Cup, on the Sunday we've got the 12 single matches, head-to-head, one-on-one,
TOMMY: So 30 points to play for. 15 and a half wins it.
PAUL: 15 and a half- Is going to give you the outright win.
TOMMY: Okay.
PAUL: Which of course the, internationals require.
TOMMY: Yeah. However, I believe, that if it is a tie they don't retain. It's classed as a tie,
NEIL: they had a playoff in 2003.
TOMMY: With Ernie Els, right- Yeah ... and it got dark.
NEIL: And after three holes, it got dark- Yeah ... and Jack and Gary shook hands.
TOMMY: Yeah. Yes. So I think, if it is a tie, they're both classed as sharing the trophy. It's not the same as in the Ryder Cup- Oh, okay as I understand it,. all right. Thank you, Paul. You've explained that pretty well, I think. I'm going to go over to James now, and James is going to tell us a little bit about the host venue and maybe sneak in a little long-term weather forecast for us. James, over to you. What can you tell us about Medinah number three?
JAMES: Medinah Country Club, course number three, they're going to play it round about 7,560 yards, par 72, which is about 6,900 meters.
TOMMY: Yeah.
JAMES: So not an overly long course, It's held two PGA Championships, three US Opens, a US Senior Open, but the famous 2012 Ryder Cup, the Miracle at Medinah, when, Europe came from miles behind to win, led by Poulter's fist pumping all over the place-
which Neil doesn't like. But anyway, it's the fifth different venue for President's Cup in the US. Originally designed by a guy called Tom Bendelow, but was redesigned in 2024 for the President's Cup, so larger green complexes, bigger, deeper bunkers, wider fairways, which is quite interesting, but, more open views.
So basically they've taken out a lot of trees and put in those long fescue grasses just to try and make it look a little bit more like a linksy course- Yes ... even though it isn't. The new design is catered around the closing stretch. So there's a water hazard there that comes into play on the last few holes.
early on, number 4, it's a 370 par, 4, but actually, you can drive it if you take it on in the right angle. Wow. So that's going to be quite interesting, but then it's the closing stretch of 16, 17 and 18, which has been designed around Lake Khadija.
16's a, dogleg to the right with water left of the green. 17's a par three over water, and again, with these larger green complexes, they'll be able to tuck it up by the water, away from the water. The pin, that is. And then on the 18th, it's just a iconic finishing hole, they've narrowed it up slightly, but it's just very iconic, finishing up right in front of this massive clubhouse.
TOMMY: Fantastic.
JAMES: So it's going to be a great setting. Big amphitheatre, so if the matches get to 18, it's going to be a real atmosphere- Yeah ... around that last- I love it ... last green As far as the weather is concerned, it's a little bit of a long way out for a forecast. Yes. But it's, just going to be an average 20 to 25 degrees.
It's not going to be too hot. And also from the fact that it's over four days as against three days for the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup, fatigue won't play a part, I don't think, for the players because they're playing one round Thursday, one round Friday, not 36- Yeah ... 36 under pressure every second.
TOMMY: That's a fair point, actually. That is a big difference, isn't it? Mentally as well as physically.
JAMES: So the fatigue side ... that's a
Huge difference, I think. You know? For the Thursday, Friday, then Saturday's 36, but then y- you can just share the players around, and at that point, again, after two rounds, you'll know one of the teams has maybe got more of a lead, and you can rest some of your players.
TOMMY: Yeah, okay, very good. It's time to go over to Neil. But before we do, as always, I want to state that we're not encouraging people to gamble. As I've said previously, a very wise man once told me, "Never bet more than you can afford to lose."
So please do heed that advice. And if you are partial to a wager or two, please always gamble responsibly. Neil, the airwaves are yours, fella.
NEIL: Thank you, Tommy. Great to be here. Not many bets are out at the moment, like I say, TAB, , Paddy Power, whichever ones you look at. the only odds that are out at the moment are, heavily in USA's favour. , I mean, USA to pick up the trophy only paying $1.25 $4.50 for the internationals, and a tie is paying $15. Very strong American team. As we spoke on the Solheim Cup, you can look at, , individuals, who's going to get the most points out of a team , or even like the rookie, like we said as well, captain's pick can come into it other bets looking at, statistically there's not been a hole in one in this tournament, so- Is that right? Yep, no hole in one, so I might have to roll with that one. And again, you know, it's hard to say the sessions is a good opportunity, but until the pairings are really put out, I know we're going to talk about the pairings, look at your pairings and see who's matched up. But you can obviously have a bet in the foursomes, on the Thursday, four-balls on the Friday, and like you say, you've got two goes again on the Saturday and then certainly look at the singles for the Sunday.
Just out of other things, possible interests is like they've done in the Ryder Cup, you know, looking at who the pairings could be. The TAB done a bet where, least amount of points scorer.
TOMMY: Okay.
NEIL: So, you know, if you look at that team and you look at someone who you think are the weakest links and you don't think they're going to play many, many games, you might be able to go short on what you think their points could be.
So if you think they're going to possibly pick up zero points, you can actually make some money on that side of things rather than saying Scotty Scheffler's going to get five points you know, you can look at it from the other way around of potentially who might not play a huge amount of games.
TOMMY: Okay.
NEIL: And don't forget your multis, I’m looking at, USA to win, points scorer, possibly even who's the top scorer, and don't forget no hole in one. I'll leave it at that. Thank you, Tommy.
TOMMY: No, that's very good. That's really good. All right. Well, look, we're going to move on. We're going to talk about pairings, we're going to talk about the singles matches and we're going to go into it and see what we've all got thought-wise on who might be paired together, friendships, et cetera.
But before we do go any further, I just want to say I actually sent Foxy a message this week.
I just wanted to ask him whether it's sunk in that he's now The Open champion. Has it sunk in yet? But I also wanted to ask him about the President's Cup, because we know it's been a long-term goal of Foxy to get in this team.
I think last time round, it could've been a captain's pick. I think he should've been a captain's pick, but he just missed out. So this time round, he's qualified by right. Didn't rely on a captain's pick. He qualified third, in the rankings. So I sent him a message just saying to him,
look, you've played World Cups for New Zealand, you've represented New Zealand in the Olympic Games you've won on the DP World Tour, PGA Tour, and you've become the champion golfer of the year . But given that making the President's Cup team has been so important to you and has been a long-term goal, will you be nervous on that first tee when your name is announced?"
What do you fellas think he said?
JAMES: Bring it on.
TOMMY: What about you, Neil?
NEIL: Pretty much
Speaker exactly what I was going to say. Is that what you...
TOMMY: What about you, Paul? What do you think Foxy came back with?
PAUL: I’m going to be bricking it.
TOMMY: No, he didn't actually reply to me, so he didn't come back with anything.
No, no, he actually did. He did come back to me. I checked my phone this afternoon, and he did actually come back to me.
So Foxy said he wasn't sure that being the Open champion had actually fully sunk in yet, but he also said, strangely, it feels like a long time ago for some reason.
I can understand why it might feel a long time ago. I mean, he will have had so much on since he did become Open champion.
He'll have had so much media to do, so many commitments to keep to off the back of it, no doubt. So yeah, it kind of makes sense. That that winning putt does actually seem quite a long time ago already. As for the President's Cup and the first tee, and how he'll be feeling in terms of his nerves, Foxy said, "I think for the President's Cup, I'll be less nervous than I would've been a few years ago if I'd made it in then, but there will still be some nerves for sure.
Obviously, I probably trust my ability to control the nerves a bit more, too."
One of the things we all love about Foxy, and James you've picked up on it and you've mentioned it before, is his pace of play.
So I think more so than any other player, once his name is announced, we know it isn’t going to be many seconds before he hits that tee shot. James.
JAMES: When you see all the social media, you see these tour players in practice rounds going, "Oh, we've got Foxy behind us." So I actually think that they'll put Ryan out first off- Yes ... in most of the matches.
TOMMY: Yes.
JAMES: But, I also think that the Americans will try to slow him down.
TOMMY: Yes.
JAMES: They're going to try and get under his skin. If he starts playing well-
TOMMY: Well, I thought, wouldn't it be a nightmare draw for him if he was drawn with Patrick Cantlay- 100% ... in the singles? Can you imagine that?
JAMES: Oh.
TOMMY: I mean, that'd be a disaster. But anyway, yeah, I agree with you. That's a good point.
JAMES: I think he'll overcome it, though. He, he knows that that's what they're going to try and do
TOMMY: Oh, no, he does. He does. Yeah, All right, just some observations. I'll kick off with some observations on the pairings, and then you boys fly in. But look, foursomes matches, there's nine of them in total, so nine foursomes matches. So I'm thinking if Foxy goes out in foursomes, I would think you'd have to put him with somebody that hits the ball as far as him, you know, in terms of like a Min Woo Lee.
They're good mates. But otherwise, that player's going to be standing on the fairway going in with three clubs less than he normally does. And even though that's an advantage, what I'm saying is their positioning off the tee or around that golf course is going to be quite different, would you not think?
JAMES: Yeah, foursomes you definitely need to have someone who has a similar game to you. Yeah. But again, the similar golf ball. I know it sounds weird to the average amateur- Yeah ... but how the different golf balls perform, how they spin, they fly, distances, et cetera like that- True ... feel around the green. So when you're playing foursomes, you have to both use the same ball, even though you can alternate from one hole to the next.
So Ryan's a Srixon player.
TOMMY: Yeah.
JAMES: Uh, it, then he's going to have to get used to other golf balls.
TOMMY: Yeah. Yeah. I hadn't thought about that, but that is very, very true. That's a very valid point. So yeah, Jeff Ogilvy's going to know obviously what ball they're all playing, and that's going to play a factor in his foursomes matches.
JAMES: Yeah, massive. And they would've been practicing that, 'cause I mean he's, Ryan's really good mates with Min Woo.
TOMMY: Yes.
JAMES: So they would've been practicing with each other's golf balls. And they will do over the next few weeks. And , you're going to get those pairings, and people will already have been practicing with the other golf ball 'cause nine matches in foursomes, it's an, it's a- Substantial, isn't it?
TOMMY: it's a lot of points. Yeah, it is.
JAMES: Up for grabs.
TOMMY Yeah, I mean, look, the only other things I've got, and you guys can rightfully point out that I'm pointing out the bleeding obvious here, but, Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune. The obvious Japanese pairing. I know that they both speak a little bit of English, but, there, there's no language barrier between those two.
And then you've got Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim, the Korean pairing, or maybe rotate Sung Jae Im in there as well. Those guys would've played a lot of amateur golf together growing up regionally. I looked at possible pairings from the USA. I'm thinking that we might see Scottie Scheffler with Jackson Kovan. He's a rookie. Put him out with the world number one. That would be pretty cool. I looked at Wyndham Clark and Chris Gotterup both quite fiery.
I would imagine they'd be quite good in, especially- Strong too ... in four balls, make a lot of birdies between them. Cam Young and Collin Morikawa, I could see that one happening. Sam Burns and JT, think that one would work well. Xander Schauffele's played well with Patrick Cantlay before. Bizarrely, they've been quite successful pairing.
I mean, there's a lot of ways that the USA could go, but given that they have got seven players out the top 10 in the world, you could pretty much just throw 'em up and wherever they fall, chuck 'em out, couldn't you? Paul.
PAUL: No, I was just going to add to that, that, I would hope as the captain- that you would actually speak to each and every player and say, "Hey, listen, who do you get on with? Who's your mate?
Who do you not want to play with?"
TOMMY: Yeah.
PAUL: Because you don't actually want to leave it to the choice of one person and then end up thinking, "Oh, that's a pain in the backside, cause I really don't want to be with this guy."
TOMMY: Yeah.
PAUL: So I do believe that, if you do your homework as a captain, you look at these guys, you speak to them, you know them, you know by the time you get there, you're gonna know who gets on, who doesn't, and you're gonna start to put some pairings together based on that.
TOMMY: The singles in terms of where they're gonna put their players out, whether they front load or anchor the teams, we're not gonna know that until, after day three, you know, how the match stands really.
But I mean, again, it's, who do you put out first?
Have you got any thoughts on that, James?
JAMES: I'd load the front. I'd put Hideki, Adam, Ryan Fox.
TOMMY: Yep.
JAMES: And then at the back end I would put someone like Min Woo, who loves a challenge.
TOMMY: Yeah.
JAMES: And he would thrive off that. I'd put Min Woo and, probably Bezuidenhout
TOMMY: Yeah.
JAMES: The last two.
Just let them fill the middle. I mean- you won't find out what the players form's like until they've all played a couple of games. Yes. But, that's how I'd do it.
PAUL: Let’s not forget as well that, the Americans could set up the golf course as they like.You've got to take into consideration that the setup of the golf course may well favor certain players-
And could make it very, very difficult for other players.
TOMMY:That's a very valid point. The way the golf course is set up, it is their choice. That's one of their home advantages, to set up the golf course the way they want to. James, you mentioned in the Ryder Cup, we actually think they got it wrong the way they set the golf course up, don't we?
JAMES: 100%.
TOMMY: The Americans got it wrong. It was- And that played a massive factor in the Europeans winning that one.
JAMES: Massive factor.
TOMMY: I'm actually gonna be the first to put my neck on the line and go with my prediction for this one.
I have to go with the USA on this one. I just think the fact that they've won 13 out of the 15 so far, they're at home, they've got seven out of the top 10 players in the world in their side. I love an underdog, but I just can't quite see this one happening. So I'm gonna go 17-13 win to Team USA on this one.
All right? That's what I'm going for. James, you s- pulled a face. Have I, have I- ... taken that from you? What are you going for, James?
JAMES:- No, actually, I had... I wrote down 18-12, and then I changed it to 17 and a half, 12 and a half to the US.
TOMMY: Okay.
JAMES: So very close to yours.
TOMMY: Yeah. Yep. So that's two for the USA so far.Let's go to Mr. Fence Sitter. In terms of score, Paul, who are you gonna have winning this match?
PAUL: Well, I've only just pulled the splinter out from the last-
TOMMY: Okay ...
PAUL: comment I made about this. So, based on the fact that, you know, we've got the internationals who in their team have got three major winners- Right
playing against the US, who have a combined 13 major wins
TOMMY: Right ...
TOMMY: I'm gonna go, obviously, for a tie.
TOMMY: Okay. Yeah. I like it.
PAUL: I'm gonna go for a tie.
TOMMY: I like it. Yeah. That'd, that'd be wonderful.
PAUL: Yeah. Wouldn't it be nice?
TOMMY It, it'd be amazing. That'd be amazing. Second tie ever in this event. That'd be good.
I didn't think you were going to sit on the fence like that- ... but there you go. Yeah, blast. So I've gone four-point win for the USA. Paul's gone even Stevens. And James, your one worked out to be a five-point win. Neil, what are you going for?
NEIL: I'm going to go for a close to a record win in terms of points.
I'm going to go 20-10 to America.
TOMMY Wow. Are you really?
NEIL: Yeah, I've got them 10 points...
TOMMY: All right. And you can have a punt on that, can't you? The differential.
That'd be something else you can...
NEIL: yeah, look at winning margins. You know, you might have USA plus five or whatever. That sort of thing. So yeah, I'm going heavily. I think it's a very, very strong looking US team. Yeah. I mean, if you're JJ Spaun, Snedeker’s off your Christmas card list, he's world number 17, and he didn't get in.
TOMMY: Yeah.
Neil: But, amazingly strong. One player outside of the top 30, like say seven in the top 10. Morikawa at number 11. I mean, it's an amazing team,
TOMMY : It is, isn't it? World ranking wise, it's probably the strongest team they've had, I would say statistically. Okay, so three of us are going for the USA, and one of us is saying that the match is going to be tied. So here's the big question. Is it going to be the 14th Presidents Cup victory for Team USA, extending their dominance, or can the international team claim the trophy for just the second time ever, and for the very first time on American soil? To our listeners, we hope you finish this episode slightly more knowledgeable than you were 30 minutes ago, and that you're just as pumped up as we are now to watch the 2026 Presidents Cup. Please share this with a friend who's also been looking forward to this event and might need some insight before it tees off.
Fellas, until next time, that's a wrap.
PAUL/NEIL and JAMES: Cheers, mate. Cheers, mate. Cheers, Tommy.
TOMMY: If you've made it this far, we hope it's because you've enjoyed listening to Tommy Does Golf. To make sure you never miss our podcast, please hit follow. For more of our content or to get in touch, head to tommydoesgolf.com. So until next time, no matter how you're playing, smile, laugh, and most important of all,
ENJOY THE WALK!