Presidents Cup 2026: Scottie Scheffler pushes back on "untrue" narrative of Team USA

MEDINAH, Ill.— Passion is a recurring subject at team events, particularly the belief that the Americans lack the clubhouse unity of their opponents. It has become a convenient explanation for why the United States continues to fall short against Europe in the Ryder Cup despite holding, on paper, the deeper roster.

There’s no doubting the gravitational pull and generational bond of the Europeans. However, when it comes to the Americans, Scottie Scheffler rejects the idea that the Yankees possess any less of those sentiments.

The World No. 1, who is playing in his third Presidents Cup this week, asserted that the perceived antipathy of the United States is a misnomer.

“Throughout the year the team events are always in the back of your mind. Like the captains are always working on something. They're always thinking about pairings and asking us questions. I think that's something that we're always talking about,” Scheffler said on Tuesday. “It's not something that's on the forefront of our minds, but the captains, like the work that goes on behind the scenes for these events is pretty extensive, and it's something that a lot of people don't see.

“I think that's something that's probably been frustrating for us as American players, is some of the narrative that's have gone on over the course of my team match play career, is stuff like Patrick Cantlay not wearing his hat or stupid rumors that simply aren't true, like meeting in a different team room and the Americans aren't a close team. It's something for us that can be very frustrating at times because it's very much untrue.”

The accusation has never been made towards Scheffler, who provided one of the more indelible moments in recent Ryder Cup history when he was brought to tears by his performance in Rome. Though his team record the past few years hasn’t necessarily matched his high-bar performance the rest of the year, Scheffler said scoring points is not necessarily his barometer.

“If I can show up and do my best and execute, that for me is what I'll define as successful,” Scheffler said. “I was talking with Gary [Woodland] one day a few weeks ago, he's one of our assistant captains, and he's like, you know, all one player can do is get 5 points, and we need 15 points to win. We've got to figure out how to get 10 other points. That can be a variety of other things within the team room. Being a good teammate and being a good friend to the guys in the room is also really important.

“I feel like our team has really banded together over the last five or six years since I've been a part of this. I'm excited to get this week started. The guys have been great this week, and I think our team as a whole is just really excited.”