It was a tense opening fourballs session that saw world number one Scottie Scheffler improve his dubious team play record when he combined with Sam Burns to defeat Min Woo Lee and Sunjae Im 1-up in the first match.
There was nothing separating the pairs as they arrived on the 17th tee tied. Lee unfortunately missed his eight-footer to tie, handing the American at least half a point. Unfortunately, it was much of the same on the last, where Im needed to drain a 41-footer for birdie to salvage a tie. It hit the cup, but came in too hot. Finally, on the fifth time of trying, Scheffler and Burns had won a match together.
Match 2 saw Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune defeat Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele 3 and 1 to tie up the contest. Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun were impressive as they birdied the 14th and 15th to beat Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria 4 and 3.
The Americans pulled 3-1 ahead when Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa edged Champion Golfer of the Year Ryan Fox and veteran Adam Scott 3 and 2. Finally, in Match 5, Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim never relinquished their lead over Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay to win 3 and 2.
"A session win is a session win," US captain Brandt Snedeker told the press.
We're going to take it any way we can get it. So happy for Scottie and Sam to go out there in that lead match and get that big win to lead us off. This is a long week. This is one session. We've got four more to go."
Meanwhile, International team captain Geoff Ogilvy was happy with the effort.
"Two-to-three their way is not too bad," he said.
"We had a couple of really good, solid matches there, and we had a match go up to 18, which would have been nice if it went the other way. But 2-3, we'll take that. The boys have got a round under their belt now."
The last Ryder Cup saw the rude and boisterous US gallery make headlines for all the wrong reasons. There was nothing of the sort at Medinah on Thursday. In fact, it was too quiet.
"It was kind of dead out there," reflected Clark.
"I felt like the momentum could have been better, to be honest, because we weren't really feeling the fans, I think, as much as normal."
The International team produced a stunning performance on day two of the Presidents Cup, sweeping all five foursomes matches to take a 7-3 lead over the United States at Medinah.
The Internationals are on the cusp of winning their first Presidents Cup trophy in 28 years, taking a three-point lead into the last day of the 2026 tournament.
Team USA came from three points behind to deliver a superlative team performance in the Sunday singles and defeat the Internationals 17-13 at Medinah Country Club on Sunday afternoon.
Brandt Snedeker has flexed the United States' muscles in choosing his opening pairings for the first session of the Presidents Cup at Medinah.
