Questions about the unity inside the U.S. team room tend to surface whenever Team USA gathers for a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, even as the players repeatedly insist there is no issue. Ahead of this week’s Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club, Scottie Scheffler was asked what has separated the Americans’ dominant record in the Presidents Cup from their more uneven results in the Ryder Cup. He used the opportunity to address a narrative that has become a recurring source of frustration for the players.
“I think that’s something that’s probably been frustrating for us as American players,” Scheffler said, pointing to “some of the narratives that have gone on over the course of my team match-play career,” including “stuff like Patrick Cantlay not wearing his hat” and “stupid rumors that simply aren’t true, like meeting in a different team room and the Americans aren’t a close team.”
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“It’s something for us that can be very frustrating at times because it’s very much untrue.”
Scheffler was referring to “Hat-Gate” at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, when a report claimed Cantlay had stopped wearing his team cap in protest over players not being paid and that the dispute had fractured the U.S. locker room. Cantlay called the report “outright lies.” He wore a hat again the following year and has continued to do so, but the story has continued to resurface whenever the Americans gather for another team event.
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That history helps explain why Scheffler raised the issue three years later, without being prompted specifically about Cantlay. His frustration, he made clear, is less about any single report than the persistence of the storyline itself — the same questions returning at each team event and forcing players to revisit something they insist was never an issue.
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Wyndham Clark has offered a similar rebuttal. After the U.S. rolled to an 18.5-11.5 victory at last year’s Presidents Cup, Clark, who had also been part of the 2023 Ryder Cup team, pushed back on the suggestion that the Americans lacked cohesion.
“Contrary to what people thought last year at the Ryder Cup, we were, in my opinion, closer than the Europeans,” Clark said. “The media tries to divide us apart, and this year we were just as close, if not closer.”
Max Homa was even more emphatic in the aftermath of Rome, calling reports of a fractured U.S. locker room “the biggest bulls— I can remember, maybe ever.” On the No Laying Up podcast, Homa also offered a practical counterpoint: the team’s shared locker room did not even have doors separating the players.
Why the Format Continues to Challenge Team USA
Scheffler also pointed to a more tangible difference between team events and the rest of the professional calendar: the formats themselves.
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Best-ball and alternate-shot are formats the top U.S. pros rarely, if ever, play on tour. That unfamiliarity, Scheffler acknowledged, can become a factor when the team events arrive.
He also pointed to his own singles record as evidence that the issue is not a lack of ability. In individual match play, Scheffler has enjoyed considerable success, including a victory, a runner-up finish and a semifinal appearance at the WGC-Match Play.
The dynamic changes, he explained, when another player and the weight of representing the United States enter the equation. That added pressure, he believes, contributed to his putting struggles during the 2023 Ryder Cup.
With the U.S. seeking an 11th consecutive Presidents Cup victory and entering the week with a 13-1-1 record in the competition, Scheffler’s explanation ultimately had less to do with statistics than with mindset. The challenge, in his view, is filtering out the outside noise and resisting the urge to play perfectly.
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For a team that has dominated this event for decades, Scheffler suggested that the ability to simply play its game — without getting caught up in the expectations surrounding it — may be the most important advantage of all.
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