Six players lock up automatic 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup spots

By Staff Writer

August 24, 2026

3 min read

Key takeaways

Six U.S. players qualified automatically for the 2026 Presidents Cup when the BMW Championship ended: Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa.
Clark's BMW win moved him from seventh to third in the points list and took the last secure place.
Ben Griffin began the week fifth and finished eighth, missing out; Chris Gotterup was seventh, one spot short.
Scheffler earned close to double the points of anyone else in the standings.
Captain Brandt Snedeker fills the remaining six places after the Tour Championship.

The automatic half of the U.S. Presidents Cup team was settled on Sunday at Bellerive Country Club. Scheffler, Young, Clark, Burns, Henley and Morikawa hold the six qualifying places on Snedeker's 12-man side, which faces the International team at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago from Sept. 22 to 27.

Who qualified automatically for the Presidents Cup?

Two of the six were never in question. Scheffler, the world No. 1, finished the qualifying period with roughly twice the points of the next player and won twice this season, most recently by eight strokes at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Young, ranked third in the world, won the Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship, finished third at the Masters and second at the Open Championship — the season a player with seven career runner-up finishes before his first win had been waiting for.

Burns and Henley were comfortable rather than certain. Burns has not won since 2023 but arrived at the BMW on six consecutive top-20 finishes, four of them T-4 or better, including second at the U.S. Open and third at the Open. Henley won the Charles Schwab Challenge in May and added a T-3 at the Masters and a T-9 at the Open.

How the last two places moved

The bottom of the six churned right to the end. Clark's victory lifted him four positions and pushed Griffin off the list. Morikawa, who won at Pebble Beach in February and spent much of the year managing a back injury, held sixth by finishing tied for fourth at the BMW — the same finish Gotterup posted, which left him seventh.

Player	Points entering BMW	Final points position	Outcome
Wyndham Clark	7	3	Qualified
Collin Morikawa	—	6	Qualified
Chris Gotterup	—	7	Missed
Ben Griffin	5	8	Missed

Six men are on the team. Snedeker still has half a roster to fill.

What Snedeker still has to decide

Half the side is open. Snedeker makes six picks once the Tour Championship finishes, which gives Gotterup and Griffin an obvious route back and leaves the captain room to pair players rather than simply take the next names on the list. Clark, who spent the qualifying period outside the six, was unbothered by where he landed: “it doesn't matter if you're No. 1 or 12,” he said.

For anyone planning to watch in person, Medinah in late September is the fixture to circle — a Chicago-area venue in a year when the U.S. team has something to answer for in team play.

Frequently asked questions

When and where is the 2026 Presidents Cup?

Medinah Country Club, west of Chicago, hosts the matches from Sept. 22 to 27, 2026. The United States plays an International team drawn from outside Europe.

How did these players do at the 2025 Ryder Cup?

Mixed to poor. Scheffler went 1-4, Henley 0-2-1 and Morikawa 0-2-1 in the U.S. defeat at Bethpage. Young was the exception at 3-1.

What is Scottie Scheffler's Presidents Cup record?

He is 3-5-1 across his two previous appearances and will play his third straight this year. For the world's dominant stroke-play player, team golf has been a persistent gap.