Presidents Cup and FedEx Open de France 2026: Players and Tee Times

From Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 September 2026, top-level golf is split across two courses. At Medinah Country Club near Chicago, the Presidents Cup is all about match play, pairings and the question of whether the International team can finally end American dominance. Outside Paris, four days of stroke play await on a renovated Le Golf National, where the FedEx Open de France returns after a year away.

The timing works well for anyone watching from Europe. The leading groups in France play during the day, while the first Presidents Cup matches go out on Thursday evening European time. Plan it well and you can follow elite golf almost continuously from Thursday morning to Sunday night.

Presidents Cup and FedEx Open de France at a glance

	Presidents Cup	FedEx Open de France
Dates	24-27 September 2026	24-27 September 2026
Course	Medinah Country Club, Course No. 3	Le Golf National, Albatros Course
Location	Medinah, near Chicago, United States	Guyancourt, near Paris, France
Format	30 match play points between Team USA and the International team	Four rounds of stroke play with a cut after Friday
Players to watch	Scheffler, Koivun, Fox, Matsuyama and Scott	Hovland, Åberg, Fleetwood, Fitzpatrick and Pavon
First tee time	Thursday 11:35 local (17:35 UK)	Thursday morning

Presidents Cup: can the International team finally break the streak?

The Presidents Cup is the biennial contest between the United States and an International team made up of players from outside Europe. European golfers such as Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Åberg are therefore not involved. They play in the Ryder Cup, while countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Colombia and New Zealand combine here to form one team.

History puts immediate pressure on captain Geoff Ogilvy and his International side. The United States have won the last ten editions and thirteen of the fifteen previous meetings. The International team won only in 1998. The 2003 edition ended in a tie.

Still, Medinah is no ordinary American home fixture. Ogilvy was part of the design team that substantially reworked the famous No. 3 Course in 2022 and 2023. The course on which he is captain this week partly carries his own signature. Medinah plays as a par 70 over 7,548 yards, but length alone does not tell you where this match will be decided. The new lines, wide playing corridors and options from the tee are meant to tempt players into taking risks. In match play, a single aggressive decision can be enough to swing a match.

How the format works

There are thirty points available in total. A win is worth one point, a halved match half a point. The first team to reach 15.5 points wins the Presidents Cup. Because the United States are defending the trophy, a 15-15 result is enough for them to retain it.

The official schedule looks like this:

• Thursday: five fourball matches
• Friday: five foursomes matches
• Saturday: four fourballs in the morning and four foursomes in the afternoon
• Sunday: twelve singles

In fourball, both players in a pair play their own ball and the better score on each hole counts. That rewards birdies and aggressive play. In foursomes, a pair plays one ball and the players hit alternate shots. Ball control, avoiding mistakes and choosing a compatible partner become far more important.

The difference between those formats is the first big storyline. A captain can send out an attacking pair on Thursday that makes plenty of birdies, then split the same pair on Friday because their games or temperaments suit alternate shot less well. So watch not only the results, but also who gets paired together and who sits out noticeably often over the first three days.

Players to watch for Team USA

The United States start as favourites again. Captain Brandt Snedeker's US team consists of Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Russell Henley, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa, Chris Gotterup, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Jacob Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun.

Scottie Scheffler is naturally the player every opponent is watching. In stroke play he is the benchmark, but match play demands a different rhythm. An opponent can steal a hole with a birdie without Scheffler playing badly. His likely partnership with Russell Henley is especially interesting. Henley has played all five of his previous team matches in fourball and foursomes at the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup alongside Scheffler. Their calm temperaments and reliable iron play make them a logical anchor for Snedeker.

Jackson Koivun is the US captain's most exciting pick. The 21-year-old turned professional only a few months ago and goes straight into a major team event. His selection rests less on experience than on talent and form. How early Snedeker sends him out, and alongside which veteran, will say a lot about how much the captain really trusts him.

Justin Thomas also has a special relationship with Medinah. He won the BMW Championship here in 2019 with what was then a course record 61. The course has changed completely since, but the comfort of a venue where he once dominated can help in a loud week.

Cantlay and Schauffele remain an obvious pairing too. Their trust in each other has been tested in team golf many times. The interesting question is whether Snedeker keeps his best-known duo together, or uses one of them to guide a rookie such as Koivun, Bridgeman or Gotterup.

Players to watch for the International team

Ogilvy's International team consists of Si Woo Kim, Ryan Fox, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Tom Kim, Adam Scott, Corey Conners, Nico Echavarria, Sungjae Im, Ryo Hisatsune, Nick Taylor and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

The team lacks American depth, but it has an interesting mix of ball strikers and players who draw extra energy from match play. Tom Kim has shown in previous editions that he can carry the crowd and his teammates with him through a match. Si Woo Kim is another player who does not shy away from emotion or direct confrontation.

The most important newcomer is Ryan Fox. The New Zealander makes his Presidents Cup debut at 39 and arrives as the reigning Open champion. His length could be a weapon at Medinah, especially in fourball, when a partner can provide safety and Fox is free to play more aggressively.

For Hideki Matsuyama, the week is mainly about his pairings. His singles record is strong, but in fourball and foursomes he has historically lost far more matches than he has won. If Ogilvy finds the right partner for him, the best Japanese player of his generation could finally make a difference before Sunday as well.

And then there is Adam Scott, making his twelfth appearance. No active player on the team knows the disappointments of this event better. His role therefore goes beyond his own scores. Scott has to help rookies such as Hisatsune and Echavarria through the first sessions, while stopping an early American lead from once again feeling inevitable.

The key moment could come as early as Thursday

The opening session is fourballs. That looks favourable for the International team, because individual birdies carry more weight and one player's weak hole can be covered by his partner. A 2.5-2.5 score or a small International lead would open the match up straight away.

A 4-1 American start changes the whole weekend. Ogilvy would then have to take risks with his line-up in the trickier foursomes format on Friday, while Snedeker could keep trusting his established pairs. The first five points are much more than a warm-up. They decide how much freedom both captains still have on Saturday.

The Open de France returns to a different Albatros

While every point is fought for in Chicago, the DP World Tour plays the 108th FedEx Open de France outside Paris. The tournament returns to Le Golf National after the 2025 edition was held as a one-off at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche because of construction work.

The return is not a simple resumption. The Albatros Course was closed for almost two years for the construction of metro line 18 and has been redesigned in several places. Holes 4, 5 and 6 have changed most. The fourth now doglegs left around a protective mound and finishes on an elevated green. The fifth bends right towards a newly built green on higher ground. The sixth has a split fairway, extra bunkers and a narrow raised green.

Seventeen bunkers have been added across that three-hole stretch. The greens on 1, 2, 9 and 18 have also been altered, and the banks around the water have changed on several holes. The renovation of Le Golf National means old course knowledge is still valuable, but no longer complete.

That is exactly why the first two rounds will be interesting. Players who know Le Golf National well need to reassess their usual lines. Anyone relying too heavily on memories of the 2018 Ryder Cup, the 2024 Olympic Games or earlier editions of the Open de France can quickly make a mistake on the new middle stretch.

The Hovland, Åberg and Fitzpatrick group is essential viewing

The field in France is less deep than the Presidents Cup line-up, but the top end is strong. Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick play the first two rounds together. On Thursday they tee off at 08:40 local time from the 10th tee. On Friday the same trio starts at 13:30 from the 1st.

Viktor Hovland makes his FedEx Open de France debut. His iron play suits a course where finding the right part of the green matters more than simply hitting it. Around the greens the test is sharper. The combination of water, run-offs and awkward lies will quickly show whether his short game holds up under pressure.

Ludvig Åberg may be the most natural fit for the new Albatros. His length gives him more options on holes where the tee shot has to be shaped around bunkers and water, and his calm tempo suits a course that demands patience. Matt Fitzpatrick is the contrast in the same group: less reliant on pure power, but strong on strategy and distance control.

Later on Thursday, at 13:30, comes the group of Tommy Fleetwood, Kristoffer Reitan and Ryan Gerard. Fleetwood won the Open de France at Le Golf National in 2017, making him the clearest course specialist among the big names. The renovation reduces his knowledge advantage, but his control from the tee and experience on the difficult closing holes remain relevant.

Players to watch at the Open de France

Michael Kim defends his title, but effectively does so on a new course. He won last year at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche and plays Le Golf National this week in competition for the first time since the rebuild. His round of 59 on the PGA Tour in July underlined that he can still go extremely low.

Dan Bradbury is the most recent Open de France winner at Le Golf National. He took the title in 2024 with three straight birdies on the back nine and a bogey-free closing 66. Of all the recent champions, he has the most useful memory of the old Albatros.

Matthieu Pavon carries the biggest French expectations, together with Adrien Saddier. Pavon has already won on the PGA Tour and knows the pressure of a national open. Saddier has developed into a regular presence on the DP World Tour in recent seasons. An early French name at the top of the leaderboard could quickly change the atmosphere around the 18th green.

Cameron Smith is the wildcard. The Australian does not arrive in Paris with the most obvious preparation, but his short game makes him dangerous on a course where missed greens and water hazards cost shots immediately. If the wind picks up and the winning total is less low, his chances grow.

More at stake than the title

The FedEx Open de France distributes 5,000 Race to Dubai points, 835 of which go to the winner. The total purse is $3.75 million. In the closing stretch of the DP World Tour season, one big week can make the difference between qualifying for the season-ending events, keeping playing rights or earning a PGA Tour card through the final standings.

There is also a place in the 2027 Open to be won. The highest-finishing player who makes the cut and is not already exempt receives a spot at St Andrews through the Open Qualifying Series. For players outside the very top of the game, that could matter as much on Sunday as the prize money.

When to watch the Presidents Cup and the Open de France

The FedEx Open de France starts early on Thursday. The Hovland, Åberg and Fitzpatrick group tees off at 08:40 local time, with Fleetwood, Reitan and Gerard going out at 13:30. Because of the time difference, the Presidents Cup start times fall mainly in the European afternoon and evening. First tee times, in Chicago time with UK time in brackets:

• Thursday: first fourball at 11:35 (17:35 UK)
• Friday: first foursomes at 13:05 (19:05 UK)
• Saturday: first fourball at 07:02 (13:02 UK), first foursomes at 13:15 (19:15 UK)
• Sunday: first singles match at 11:02 (17:02 UK)

That makes Saturday the best golf day of the weekend. The Open de France moves towards the decisive stage of the third round in the afternoon, while two full sessions are played at Medinah. On Sunday the finish at Le Golf National comes first, followed by the twelve singles in Chicago.

The main question is clear. Can the International team finally threaten the American streak, or will Medinah turn into another demonstration of American depth? In France the answer is less obvious. A renovated course, a strong European field and an Open ticket for 2027 make the FedEx Open de France much more than the undercard to the Presidents Cup.