2026 Presidents Cup – Betting and DraftKings Picks

Championship golf returns to the Chicago area for the 16th edition of the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club’s Course No. 3.  The biennial match play competition features a formidable and heavily favored United States squad captained by Brandt Snedeker against the International team led by Geoff Ogilvy. While the historical dominance of Team USA in this event is undeniable, this particular iteration introduces a fascinating layer of intrigue with Ogilvy spending the last few years completely transforming the very turf on which the matches will be contested.

Medinah is one of the most recognizable layouts in the Chicago area and recently underwent a major renovation overseen by Ogilvy’s OCM Golf. The two year project included a new routing, larger greens, wider fairways and expanded bunkering, with the course reopening in the summer of 2024.

Medinah has hosted legendary moments, including Tiger Woods staring down Sergio Garcia in 1999 and the dramatic European comeback during the 2012 Ryder Cup. However, the venue the players step onto this fall will look and play fundamentally differently than the course of the past.

The competition features 12 players on each team and 30 matches over four days, with four ball and foursomes making up the team sessions before 12 singles matches on Sunday. The first team to reach 15.5 points wins the Cup. The U.S. enters the week having won the last 10 Presidents Cups, while the International team will attempt to claim the Cup for the first time since 1998.

Format and Scoring

The Presidents Cup uses a match play format instead of the typical stroke play format used each week on the PGA Tour. Match play is a form of competition where a player (or players) plays directly against an opponent (or opponents) in a head-to-head match. You win a hole by completing it in the fewest strokes, and you win a match when you win by more holes than remain to be played.

The Presidents Cup is a four-day competition. There will be five “Foursome” matches played on Thursday followed by five “Four-ball” matches on Friday. Saturday features four “Foursome” matches on Saturday morning followed by four “Four-ball” matches in the afternoon. The event finishes with 12 singles matches on Sunday. With 30 matches in total, and each being worth one point, it will take 15.5 points to win the Cup.

FOUR-BALL

Each member of a two-man team plays his own ball, so four balls are in play on every hole. Each team counts the lowest of its two scores on each hole, and the team whose player has the lowest score wins the hole. If the low scores are tied, the hole is halved.

FOURSOMES

Each two-man team plays one ball per hole with the players taking turns until each hole is complete. Players alternate hitting tee shots, with one leading off on odd-numbered holes, and the other hitting first on even-numbered holes. The team with the low score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved.

SINGLES

Each match features one player from each team. The player with the lower score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved. Players can concede a hole to their opponent if they have no chance of halving the hole.

Differing from the Ryder Cup in which the U.S. team plays against Europe, the Presidents Cup features the U.S. team against an “International” team, which specifically excludes players from Europe. It is held every two years, in non-Ryder cup years. The U.S. has dominated the series 12-1-1 with the sole International victory coming in 1998 in Australia.

Each of the teams is comprised of 12 players. Both teams had six qualifiers determined by a points list based on performance. Both captains (Brandt Snedeker for the U.S. and Geoff Ogilvy for the Internationals) also had six “captain” picks.

Below is the overall “Tale of the Tape” for the Presidents Cup. It includes career match play records, Official World Golf Rankings, and Strokes Gained Total per round.

Tale of the Tape

Betting Selections

*Check the Discord for any additional selections before the events starts on Thursday morning

Fourballs Day 1 Winner – USA -152 (2u) – DK

Top Debutant – Chris Gotterup +230 (1u) – FanDuel

Top 3 Scorer USA – Sam Burns +225 (1u) – DK

Top International Scorer – Min Woo Lee +950 (1u) – Caesars

 

It’s important to note that any single golfer could be involved in up to five matches in the five different sessions. The only requirement is that every golfer plays in the Sunday singles. This means that some golfers could play in as few as two or three sessions, while a few are pretty much guaranteed to play all five sessions. The only matchups and pairings that we will know before lock (announced Wednesday afternoon) will be for the Thursday AM session, which leaves us with some guesswork.

DraftKings Strategy and Picks

 

With it being match play for this tournament, there is a captain spot on DraftKings (1.5x the salary and 1.5x the fantasy production), which adds another layer of strategy to roster construction. It is imperative to select a captain that will play in as many match opportunities as possible. Finding a low-to-mid priced captain who will play at least three matches is one of the keys to unlocking higher upside lineups that can fit more of the elite options. With that in mind, my favorite captain plays at the moment are Sam Burns ($14.7K), Cameron Young ($12.6K), Justin Thomas ($9.6K), and Chris Gotterup ($8.4K). Each should play three matches for sure with Burns and Young likely to play all five. I love all four in the regular roster position as well. If you think the Internationals have a chance to keep things tight, Min Woo Lee is a great value captain at only $9.0K.

It is also important to remember that teammates in matches get the same number of DraftKings points. There are two different options related to capitalizing on this structure. Taking both partners (for example, Scheffler and Burns if they are paired together) will give you double the points based on their results. The second option is to simply take the cheaper partner. In this example, Burns is $2.2k cheaper than Scheffler. Considering they are likely to play at least a couple of matches together, you can benefit with the same amount points for one of them, and can save salary at the same time.

DraftKings Core Selections

Sam Burns – $14.7K captain, $9.8K regular

In match play, stellar putting wins holes and matches. It’s one of the reasons Burns has been close to unbeatable in singles with a career 7-1-3 record. He is the best putter in this field and has the all-around game to thrive at a lengthy course like Medinah. He has also shown that he does not need a specific type of partner to have success in team play, which doesn’t limit his playing time. If he gets paired with Scheffler for multiple matches, that’s a huge bonus.

Cameron Young – $12.0K captain, $8.0K regular

In last year’s Ryder Cup, Young went 3-0-1 and finished as the top scorer on the U.S. side. He’s also coming off a breakout year on the PGA Tour. He has the length off the tee, the steady long-iron play, and a streaky putting stroke to make birdies in bunches.

Justin Thomas – $9.6K captain, $6.4K regular

Thomas is the heart and soul of this team. I expect him to play at least three matches and possibly four. He especially thrives in the team format of match play as evidenced by his team leading 15-6-4 career record. While his partner in Thursday’s fourballs is PGA rookie Jackson Koivun, they will be opposed by perhaps the weakest International pairing in Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria. As for Koivun, he is no weakling in match play with a career 13-4-1 record during his time at the University of Auburn.

Remaining golfers in my player pool: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Min Woo Lee, Chris Gotterup, Jackson Koivun, Nick Taylor.

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Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images