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Medinah Country Club was the site of one of the biggest Ryder Cup collapses of all time. This week at the Presidents Cup, the Americans seek redemption at the same (albeit unrecognizable) course where they suffered that heartbreaking defeat more than a decade ago.
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The Miracle at Medinah: The 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup team, led by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, took a 5-3 lead on Friday and extended it to 10-6 on Saturday. Entering Sunday’s singles, they needed just 4.5 points from 12 matches to take the Cup. They didn’t get them.
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Europe came out hot, winning five of the first six matches, and ultimately took 8.5 of 12 points for a narrow 14.5-13.5 victory.
Personal redemption: While none of the players on this year’s USA roster were involved in that collapse, captain Brandt Snedeker and three of his four assistants — Jim Furyk, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson — were. All four lost their singles matches that year, and all four would love nothing more than to flush those demons this week.
Furyk (left) and Simpson (middle) watch with Mickelson and Bubba Watson as their 2012 Ryder Cup goes up in flames. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
A new Medinah: The No. 3 course at Medinah Country Club — now the first ever to host a Presidents Cup (2026), Ryder Cup (2012), U.S. Open (1949, 1975, 1990) and PGA Championship (1999, 2006) — underwent a major transformation in 2024 that has essentially turned it into an entirely new golf course.
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Architects recreated the property to more closely resemble how it looked in 1928 when Tom Bendelow’s design opened. They cleared trees, expanded and shifted fairways and greens, reshuffled the routing, added bunkers and introduced a series of new holes.
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And in a very interesting wrinkle, it was none other than International captain Geoff Ogilvy who engineered the redesign. Can his intimate knowledge of the course help his side take down a stacked American squad seeking its 11th straight Presidents Cup victory?
Meet the teams: The U.S. is heavily favored on paper, boasting eight of the world’s top 11 players, a combined 12 major titles and 91 PGA Tour wins, including 16 this year alone. The International team, by comparison, has “just” three majors and 49 total wins.
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🇺🇸 USA: Scottie Scheffler (world No. 1), Cameron Young (3), Wyndham Clark (5), Russell Henley (6), Chris Gotterup (7), Sam Burns (8), Xander Schauffele (10), Collin Morikawa (11), Jacob Bridgeman (20), Justin Thomas (25), Patrick Cantlay (28), Jackson Koivun (57)
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🌎 International: Si Woo Kim (14), Ryan Fox (22), Hideki Matsuyama (27), Min Woo Lee (30), Tom Kim (31), Adam Scott (45), Corey Conners (55), Sungjae Im (60), Nico Echavarria (61), Ryo Hisatsune (67), Nick Taylor (85), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (104)
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