Brandt Snedeker is not trying to pick the 2027 Ryder Cup team early.
He is building a U.S. Presidents Cup team for Medinah Country Club this September, and he has made one part of that job especially clear: Nobody gets a spot because he represents the future.
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That distinction matters because Jackson Koivun has suddenly created one of the most interesting decisions on Snedeker’s board.
The 21-year-old won the 3M Open in just his third PGA Tour start as a professional, doing it with Scottie Scheffler chasing him. Snedeker played a practice round with Koivun this week at Sedgefield Country Club, called him a “generational player” and said Koivun’s game is already better than his ever was.
Then Snedeker was asked whether the U.S. team needed some young blood.
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His answer removed any ambiguity.
“I think the golf dictates who needs to be on the team,” Snedeker said. “I’m not into, ‘Oh, let’s just take a young kid because we need a young kid on the team.’ That doesn’t make any sense to me. I think you take the best players who give you the best opportunity of winning.”
That may be the clearest look yet at how Snedeker intends to use the six captain’s picks that will help define his first U.S. team.
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He isn’t drafting for upside.
He is picking for Medinah.
The Selection Clock
How Snedeker’s U.S. Team Comes Together
6
Automatic qualifiers
Determined by weighted FedExCup points.
6
Captain’s picks
Selected by Brandt Snedeker.
Aug. 23: U.S. automatic qualification concludes after the BMW Championship.
Sept. 22-27: Presidents Cup week at Medinah Country Club.
13-1-1: The United States’ all-time Presidents Cup record, including 10 consecutive victories.
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Snedeker Wants Evidence, Not Projection
There is always a temptation around U.S. team events to think one competition ahead.
A young player emerges. The talent is obvious. People begin discussing what that player could mean at the next Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. Before long, selecting him becomes framed as an investment.
There is some logic to it. A home Presidents Cup would seemingly offer a less hostile introduction to team golf than a road Ryder Cup.
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Snedeker isn’t buying that argument as a selection criterion.
“At the end of the day you have to start with the results,” he said. “You can love a player all you want to, but he’s got to go out there and prove it under pressure. This is the way it is.”
From there, Snedeker said he evaluates performance in bigger events, talks with people around the player and listens to other professionals who have competed alongside him. He also considers a player’s ceiling and floor.
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In other words, this is not just a six-player ranking exercise. Snedeker is gathering information.
But the golf has to come first.
He estimated that “probably 20, 22 guys” still have a legitimate chance to make the American team and said players will spend the next several weeks largely determining the outcome themselves.
The first six places will be settled soon. The U.S. automatic qualifiers are determined through weighted FedExCup points accumulated from Jan. 1, 2025, through Aug. 23, 2026, following the BMW Championship. Snedeker will then have six selections to complete his roster for the Sept. 22-27 Presidents Cup at Medinah.
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That leaves very little time for anyone to make an impression.
It also makes August golf considerably more important than a player’s birth certificate.
Snedeker’s Standard
What Will Decide a Captain’s Pick?
Snedeker says age alone will neither qualify nor disqualify anyone. His evaluation starts with competitive evidence.
Results: A player first has to prove his case on the golf course.
Pressure: Snedeker wants evidence that a player can perform when the stakes rise.
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Big events: Performance against elite fields is part of the evaluation.
Inside information: Snedeker talks with players and people surrounding potential selections.
Ceiling and floor: He considers both what a player can produce at his best and the downside when he is not.
Bottom line: Snedeker wants the 12 players who give the United States its best chance to win at Medinah, regardless of age.
Jackson Koivun Is the Perfect Test Case
Jackson Koivun plays from the 17th tee during the final round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities. The 21-year-old closed with a bogey-free 66 to hold off Scottie Scheffler and earn his first PGA Tour victory in only his third professional start. July 26, 2026; Blaine, Minnesota. Credit: Andrew Wevers/Getty Images
Koivun complicates Snedeker’s philosophy only because his talent is becoming increasingly difficult to treat as projection.
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After watching him up close this week, Snedeker wasn’t subtle.
“I don’t think my game has probably ever been as good as his,” Snedeker said. “He’s a generational player.”
Those are enormous words from a 10-time PGA Tour winner and former FedExCup champion.
Snedeker first played with Koivun when the Auburn standout was 18. Three years later, he sees a significantly more mature player with few obvious weaknesses. He also sees Koivun as part of a larger change taking place among elite young golfers coming out of college.
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Snedeker credited deeper college competition, sophisticated practice programs, fitness and technology for producing players who arrive on the PGA Tour much further along than previous generations.
He mentioned Ben James and Michael Brennan as two more examples after recently playing with both.
That perspective strengthens Snedeker’s argument rather than weakening it.
Youth is no longer something a captain necessarily has to accommodate. Some of these players are arriving ready.
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Koivun does not need a developmental pick if he spends the next several weeks proving he is already one of America’s 12 best options.
And that is probably the fairest standard Snedeker could establish.
Picking Koivun simply because he could someday become a Ryder Cup fixture would mean leaving another accomplished player home because of what might happen in 2027, 2028 or beyond.
Picking him because the evidence says the U.S. team is better with him at Medinah is an entirely different matter.
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A Captain Still Competing Gets a Better View
There is another piece of Snedeker’s captaincy that should not be overlooked.
He is still out here.
Not simply playing, either.
Snedeker won the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic in May for his 10th PGA Tour title, ending a victory drought that stretched back to the 2018 Wyndham Championship. At 45, he has played some of his best golf in several years while simultaneously preparing for his captaincy.
That has given him something valuable: access without having to manufacture it.
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He is practicing beside potential team members. He is playing with them. He is seeing how they work. He is sitting in the same locker rooms and listening to conversations that are difficult to recreate through phone calls and text messages.
Snedeker acknowledged as much Tuesday.
“Playing well has only helped because I got to spend more time around the guys,” he said, explaining that being around players has helped him better understand what they value in team environments and what can make them more comfortable and cohesive.
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That may become one of the underappreciated advantages of having a captain who remains competitively relevant.
Snedeker doesn’t have to wonder what Koivun’s golf looks like from inside the ropes. He just played with him.
He doesn’t have to rely entirely on statistics to assess how young players carry themselves. He is around them.
And if an established veteran catches fire during the playoffs, Snedeker may be competing alongside him, too.
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Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley are also serving as captain’s assistants, giving Snedeker two experienced U.S. team leaders as sounding boards when those final decisions arrive.
Medinah Is About Winning Now
There is a reasonable counterargument to Snedeker’s stance.
The United States has dominated this competition. The Americans won for the 10th consecutive time in 2024 and are 13-1-1 overall. A home Presidents Cup could therefore appear to be precisely the type of environment where a captain can take a chance on a future cornerstone.
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But that thinking can become dangerous quickly.
International captain Geoff Ogilvy isn’t heading to Medinah simply to participate in another chapter of American dominance. His OCM design firm oversaw the recent transformation of Course No. 3, giving the opposing captain unusually intimate knowledge of the venue. The redesigned course now features larger greens, broader fairways, bigger bunkering and expanded areas of long fescue.
The U.S. also does not need to manufacture a generational transition when one may already be happening naturally.
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Koivun, Brennan, James and Michael Thorbjornsen are part of a wave of young American talent arriving with sophisticated games and very little interest in waiting their turn.
If one of them belongs at Medinah, August provides the opportunity to prove it.
Snedeker’s philosophy puts the responsibility exactly where it should be.
On the players.
No legacy exemption. No youth initiative. No speculative roster spot designed to make some future captain’s job easier.
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The U.S. captain’s message is much simpler.
Don’t convince Brandt Snedeker that you belong in America’s future.
Make it impossible for him to leave you off the team he needs right now.
PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on R.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Aug 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the Golf section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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