MEDINAH, IL — Xander Schauffele missed the putt and everyone started running.
Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa and the rest of the U.S. Presidents Cup team didn't want to miss the end of the Americans' dramatic comeback at Medinah Country Club on Sunday, Sept. 27. So when Schauffele failed to close his singles match against Ryan Fox on the 16th green, they all took off for the 18th green with little time to spare.
Thomas, Young and 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun led the way, bolting through the crowd and weaving past gawking fans in order to be at the 18th green when U.S. teammate Jacob Bridgeman arrived with his own chance to score the winning point.
They didn't have to move again.
Facing the prospect
of a humiliating defeat on home turf in an event it rarely loses, the U.S. rallied for a 17-13 win over the International team at the Presidents Cup. It was the Americans' 11th straight victory at the event, and occurred with President Donald Trump in attendance for the opening tee shots and trophy ceremony as part of his role as honorary chairman. Few felt as dicey as this one did, though, after the U.S. trailed the Internationals heading into Sunday's final session.
Here's a breakdown of the winners and losers from the final round of the 2026 Presidents Cup:
WINNERS
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler didn't just rebound from being benched during Saturday's foursomes to give the U.S. a crucial point in singles. He did so while exhibiting class and sportsmanship with his match against Nico Echavarria heading into its final holes.
After a fan yelled, "Go Scottie!" in the middle of Echavarria's backswing on the 14th tee, Scheffler came to his opponent's defense and shouted toward the crowd, "there's no place for that." Scheffler subsequently conceded a 32-foot putt to Echavarria (once Scheffler missed a birdie putt) to halve the hole as a gesture of good will due to the earlier distraction.
The world's No. 1 player had another uneven week in team golf and now sports a gruesome 1-8 record in foursomes matches at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup after this week. But he nonetheless won three of his four matches at Medinah, helping fuel the U.S. comeback early on Sunday with a crucial point and a classy moment.
U.S. Presidents Cup rookies
The Americans' first-timers delivered when it mattered most at the Presidents Cup. Rookies Chris Gotterup, Jacob Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun all won their singles matches on Sunday, with Bridgeman providing the clinching point when he beat Min Woo Lee on the 18th green to secure his first win of the competition.
Gotterup and Koivun, meanwhile, finished the event a combined 5-1-1. Gotterup teamed with Cameron Young to get two dominating victories on Saturday and may have provided the U.S. a new formidable combination for next year's Ryder Cup in Ireland. Gotterup then outlasted Christiaan Bezuidenhout in singles to give the U.S. wins in four of the first six matches as part of Sunday's comeback.
Koivun, the 21-year-old rookie, produced perhaps the most unexpected result on Sunday when he rallied on the back nine to beat Si Woo Kim in singles. Kim entered the Presidents Cup as the International team's top player, according to the world golf rankings. Koivun didn't lose a match at Medinah, burnishing his reputation as a looming force in match play events and reinforcing the belief that he could be the PGA Tour's next star.
Cameron Young
No golfer was better than Young at the 2026 Presidents Cup based on the stats. He gained more than 10.5 strokes on the rest of the golfers who played this week at Medinah and won his final three matches of the event. Young also went out first on Sunday, turning a tied match with Ryo Hisatsune into a momentum-building point for the U.S. after winning three straight holes early in the bank nine.
Tom Kim
Kim further solidified his reputation as one of the International team's bright stars by going 4-1 this week at Medinah. His record included a convincing win in singles over defending U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark. Kim finished Sunday as the best player on the course in terms of strokes gained for the final session. His pairing with Si Woo Kim has also given the Internationals a legitimate tandem to throw out against the Americans' best moving forward. At 24 years old, Kim's credentials suggest he'll be a cornerstone of the International team for years to come.
LOSERS
Geoff Ogilvy
The International team captain deserves credit for putting his golfers in position to have a lead going into the final day of the Presidents Cup, despite entering the competition as heavy underdogs to the Americans. But Ogilvie's strategy for singles ultimately didn't work. The decision to send out most of his inexperienced golfers early didn't work out as hoped.
While the U.S. front-loaded their matches and had arguably its six best options for match play tee off first, Ogilvy sent several of his less experienced players out early. That dynamic created a wave of momentum when Young, Thomas, Scheffler and Gotterup all scored points early to put the Internationals on their heels.
The pressure mounted and the International team wilted down the stretch. Hideki Matsuyama and Min Woo Lee both lost singles matches they were winning on the back nine, with Lee's defeat clinching the U.S. win.
Adam Scott
Scott acknowledged before the Presidents Cup began that, at 46 years old, he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to qualify for this event. That reality made the International team's squandered lead on Sunday particularly painful, especially since he lost a singles match to American Patrick Cantlay. This was Scott's 12th consecutive Presidents Cup appearance, tying the record set by Phil Mickelson, yet he's never been part of the winning team.
Corey Conners
Conners lost five of the first six holes to American Justin Thomas in their singles match on Sunday and never was competitive in the third pairing to tee off. Thomas closed him out for a 5&3 win and the most lopsided result of the round and put American red on the scoreboard early to help get the U.S. comeback going. Conners was the worst putter on the course by a lot based on strokes gained, and lost more than 4.6 shots compared to everyone else on the Medinah green.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Presidents Cup winners and losers after US completes dramatic comeback
