MEDINAH, Ill. – It’s déjà vu all over again.
For the second straight Presidents Cup, the International Team swept all five foursomes matches on Day 2 of the biennial competition. That’s a combined 10 wins and no losses. It marked the seventh sweep in a Presidents Cup and the first time a team swept a session in consecutive Cups.
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This time, the 5-0 whitewash at Medinah No. 3 gave the International Team a 7-3 lead heading into the weekend, tying the largest lead for the Internationals since 1998 as they seek to win for the first time since that year and end a 10-match losing streak and.
“It was an incredible day,” International Team Captain Geoff Ogilvy said.
First, it was Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama taking down Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman, 3 and 2, as Matsuyama closed it out with birdie at 16.
Then World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns lost a tight one to the Canadian duo of Nick Taylor and Corey Conners, 1 up. Burns went to his knees in disbelief that his putt to win the 18th and salvage a half point lipped out.
Scheffler lifted his cap for the handshakes, falling to 1-8 in foursomes for his career in the two Cups.
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Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee were 1 down with six holes to go but flipped their match with some terrific play as they teamed to shoot 6 under with no bogeys to win 1 up over Colin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark.
One day after Justin Thomas played the best of anyone, he played the worst according to Golf Data. He and Cameron Young failed to make a single birdie in their foursomes format match and fell 3-and-2 to Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Moments later, Xander Schauffele lipped out a putt and he and Patrick Cantlay got blitzed 4 and 3 to end a dismal day for the home team.
Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee of the International Team react on the 16th hole during Day 2 of the 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club.
If Clark was concerned that the crowds at Medinah were “dead” and failing to give the home team enough support on Thursday, well, he and his American teammates failed to give the partisan crowd reason to cheer. As one overserved fan, who somehow avoided being tossed from the property for heckling Lee put it, “What F-ing country are we in? It’s F-ing dead around here.”
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There was little reason for the fans to cheer. Most of the made putts were to halve holes, not for wins. Foursomes has been a bugaboo for the Americans. In the past two Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups, the U.S. is 6-24 in the format.
Will it also be déjà vu on Saturday? Last time, the U.S. bounced back from being blanked on Friday by building a lead heading into Saturday and still won 18½ to 11½. Snedeker gave the International Team credit for its fine play but pointed out that there are still 20 points remaining to be played for, or, as he put it, “It’s not even halftime at a football game.”
Still, it is the first time the International Team leads heading into the weekend since 2019, and the momentum for pulling off its first victory on foreign soil only grows.
“From where I sit, if any of the guys were lacking belief, they should have it now going into the weekend,” said Scott, 46, who is playing in his 12th consecutive Presidents Cup without a win. “We can’t be painting the town red in Chicago tonight. We’ll leave that for Sunday.”
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Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer covering the PGA Tour and the 2026 Presidents Cup.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Get out the brooms: Internationals power to Friday sweep of U.S. team in Presidents Cup
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