On Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. ET, USA Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker will announce his six captain’s picks. Many media members and fans argue the team should be a training ground for future Ryder Cup success. I doubt Captain Snedeker sees the biannual matches through that lens. After all, this is his captaincy, and he wants to win.
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The International and American sides head to Chicago later this month (September 24-27). Medinah’s No. 3 course, fresh off a massive renovation, will be the host venue for the 16th edition of the Presidents Cup matches. In 15 previous editions, the United States has won 13 times, lost one, and the two sides tied in 2003. Since the American side holds a massive edge in the win-loss record and the matches are being contested in the United States, the Team USA player development argument has really caught fire.
Captain Snedeker has 15 legitimate candidates to fill six spots. The guys at Read The Line decided to put together our own list of recommendations. Picks based upon one singular focus: Who will help the Americans earn 15.5 points in Chicago?
Keith Stewart’s Captain’s Picks: 
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1. What other player has three PGA Tour wins this year and is not on the team? Chris Gotterup is an incredible fit for Medinah No. 3 off the tee and ended the season with back-to-back T-4 results against two of the strongest player fields of the season.
2. I cannot stress this enough; we need players who will match up to Medinah. Xander Schauffele is one of the best drivers of the golf ball on the PGA Tour. Compound his well-rounded skill set with a career 9-4-0 Presidents Cup record and he’s on this team.
3. The last time we visited Medinah No. 3, Justin Thomas won the BMW Championship over Patrick Cantlay by three shots! Thomas owns a career Presidents Cup record of 10-3-2 and is inside the top 30 on tour in total driving and strokes gained/total.
Darren Carroll/PGA of America
4. When Patrick Cantlay earned a spot in the Tour Championship, he also made this Presidents Cup team. The SG/total leader of the 15+ candidates, Cantlay knew he needed a spot in Atlanta and got there. Ranked third on the PGA Tour in SG/approach, Cantlay will be a weapon hitting so many of the required 200-plus-yard approaches.
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5. JJ Spaun is a two-win foursomes player. Since winning points is the primary goal, we need a couple of players who specialize in alternate shot. Am I concerned with Spaun’s shoulder? No. Spaun’s ball-striking has been extremely consistent all year and a second win at Valero in April proved once again he can excel on difficult courses.
6. “The season’s not over for me.” That’s what Ryan Gerard said to the media pool leaving the TOUR Championship. Gerard took a red-eye flight to Europe so he could compete on the DP World Tour. Gerard has been great this summer finishing runner-up at The Memorial, top 10 at The Open, and third at the Tour Championship. Gerard’s brilliant ball-striking makes him a great addition.
Joe Idone’s Captain’s Picks:
1. Chris Gotterup: No Brainer. Chris Gotterup narrowly missed automatic qualification but has more than proven that he belongs on the roster. T-4 at the BMW, with another T-4 at the Tour Championship, all but removed any remaining doubt. The combination of effortless power, current form, and the moxy for the moment makes Gotterup a natural selection.
Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos
2. Xander Schauffele: This season has not been vintage Schauffele, but the recent trajectory is positive, and he’s become a proven commodity in these team formats. Xander is 10-4 in three Presidents Cups, and he’s a plug-and-play asset that can be reliably paired with anyone on the team.
3. Justin Thomas: Experience in these heightened team golf formats matter, and few American players in this generation have been better when shifting from stroke play to match play than Justin Thomas. He’s good enough to make this team on points alone, but Thomas being the competitive fuse that ignites the spirit of this team makes him a lock for the roster.
4. Patrick Cantlay: A late-season surge all but assured that Patrick Cantlay will be a part of this roster. His record in team golf competitions is absurd. Cantlay competes without fear and raises his performance when the pressure peaks. Potentially leaving one of the best-performing American players at home because of a mediocre spring would be a disservice to this team.
Andrew Redington
5. J.J. Spaun: A withdrawal from the Tour Championship raised questions, but reports are encouraging surrounding the recent shoulder injury. He should be good within a week, and he’s played well enough in 2026 to deserve a roster spot. Spaun is 10thin the standings, and his accuracy alone opens up a ton of potential pairing options for Captain Snedeker.
6. Akshay Bhatia: Potentially a contrarian pick, but the final pick should be Akshay Bhatia because he has youthful upside and a serious long-term resume. At age 24, it’s time to get him on Team USA. He has 116 career PGA Tour starts, 10 top 5s and three wins. There are plenty of options, but I’d personally love to get the fearless lefty some reps, as I think he is poised to become a key cog on these rosters for many years to come.
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John Haslbauer’s Captain’s Picks:
1. Chris Gotterup: With three wins on the 2026 season and four since the last Presidents Cup in Montreal, it is not a question of whether Gotterup will get the call to represent Team USA for the first time in his career this year, but how many matches he’ll be called for.
2. Xander Schauffele: 2026 was a down year by Schauffele’s standards, but it still featured three top-five finishes and top 20s in just under 60 percent of his PGA Tour starts. He remains one of the elite talents in the modern game, standing 11th in OWGR, and will be making his fourth career Presidents Cup start at Medinah.
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3. Justin Thomas: The face of this era of Team USA golf is not Scottie Scheffler. It’s Justin Thomas. Thomas has played in a total of 7 Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups in his career and will be the winningest player on the roster with a total of 21 points won for Team USA. With nine top-25 finishes over his past 12 starts, his form is absolutely good enough to deserve a call from Captain Snedeker.
4. Patrick Cantlay: In true Patrick Cantlay fashion, he looks like he is going to backdoor his way onto this team, despite playing a far cry from his full potential. While hard to believe Cantlay has gone four full seasons now without a win, he’s trending at the right time, with finishes of T-8, T-12, second and T-21 to close his 2026 season. Regardless of form, when you call his name for Team USA, Patty Ice shows up. Cantlay is likely to make his fourth career Presidents Cup start this year and would rank second on this roster behind Thomas in terms of aggregate Presidents Cup points scored (10).
5. Jackson Koivun: I had written Koivun off as a captain’s choice after failing to advance past the FedEx St Jude Championship. Fortunately for him, Ben Griffin and JJ Spaun have bottomed out and virtually played themselves off the team this summer. Last time we saw all of the fringe captain’s picks play against one another was at the FedEx St Jude Championship, where Koivun was in a tier of his own from an odds perspective ahead of Griffin, Spaun, Gerard, and Bhatia. Team USA already has an embarrassment of riches for this Presidents Cup, and on this Dream Team, Koivun can slot into the Christian Laettner role, soaking in valuable experience while mostly riding the pine.
6. Ryan Gerard: The sixth and final Captain’s choice will be a hot topic for debate. The truth is that there are more than 10 Americans who Brandt Snedeker can choose here who would be head-to-head favorites over the International Team’s final selection. If I’m assuming the role of captain, I want to give this opportunity to a player who is young, hungry, hot, and conceivably capable of playing in multiple Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup matches for years to come. That’s Gerard to me, who ended his season with three top 10s over his past six starts, including a third-place finish at the Tour Championship.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
