[PHOTO: Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour]
Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy, captain of the International team for the 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club, thinks his side has been making headway in the biennial matches the past few years in a way that is reminiscent of the European team when it was inching closer to defeating the American squad in the early to mid-1980s.
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After losing by just one point at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Flprida, in 1983, the Europeans felt that winning was just around the corner. And they were right. They beat the US team in 1985 at The Belfry 16½-11½ and then followed up with an even more satisfying 15-13 triumph in ’87 at Muirfield Village Golf Club, their first victory on American soil. Since then, Europe has won 11 more times, including its rousing 15-13 win two weeks ago at Bethpage Black. In that same stretch, the US has six wins while the 1989 edition ended in a tie.
The 2006 US Open winner, Ogilvy, wasn’t suggesting that the dam will burst in the same way for the Internationals if they can ever find a way of winning for the first time since their lone victory in 1998 in Melbourne, Australia. He just knows that it was difficult for Europe to break through and only did so after gradual progress.
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“The Europeans, when they talk about their history through the Ryder Cup, a lot of their pre-tournament content [before Bethpage] was based on their history,” Ogilvy said during a conference call with US captain Brandt Snedeker from Medinah, near Chicago. “They talked about how powerful it was to finally start winning, and it took them a really long time to do that. It probably feels like we’re in a similar situation to where they were before they sort of cracked the code.”
Though the score isn’t necessarily indicative of close matches, Ogilvy said the last three losses have given the International team some encouragement.
“We can kind of feel like we can taste it, and we’ve got the ingredients right now that we had been missing before,” he said. “I think we’ve still got some gaps to fill, and clearly winning something for the first time or in a very long time is probably more difficult than if you’re winning all the time.
“We’re trying to get closer all the time. We’re getting closer.”
The 16th Presidents Cup is scheduled for next September 24-27 at the No.3 Course at Medinah. The US leads the series 14-1-1, with the lone tie coming in 2003 in South Africa.
Medinah is an intriguing venue for the matches, given its history. It was the site of the famed “Miracle at Medinah”, the 2012 Ryder Cup that saw the European team rally from a four-point deficit the final day to register a shocking one-point victory. Snedeker was a member of the American team that year.
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Last year, Ogilvy and his co-designers at OCM Golf completed a total overhaul of the No.3 Course, transforming it from a treelined, parkland layout into more of a links-style course.
Hard not to think that the Americans aren’t the only “home” team this time around.
A rookie in 2012 as a captains pick by Davis Love III, Snedeker saw first-hand how fast momentum can swing, and as a vice-captain to Keegan Bradley at Bethpage, he was witness to another home-course advantage extinguished by a European onslaught the first two days that America could not overcome despite a furious singles push.
“You’re always learning something, taking in every situation possible,” Snedeker said. “And I think Bethpage… there’s a lot of positives to take away. I really enjoyed the job Keegan did and how he worked in the position he put the guys in and the amount of time he spent getting to know each player and understanding what their needs were.
“So taking a lot from it, and then, you know, each captain sees a little different. Each team’s gonna be different. There’s not one cookie cutter model of how to do this, so I’m going to kind of use the best I’ve seen from all the captaincies I’ve been around and kind of make it my own, in a sense.”
A four-time assistant captain before being elevated to the top post, Ogilvy has “had some chats” with two-time winning European captain Luke Donald and might pick his brain further in the coming months. Asked if there is anyone else whom he might seek out for advice on cracking the code, Ogilvy responded, “We’ll tell you once we do.”
