Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns won their Thursday four-ball match, then lost 1-up to Corey Conners and Nick Taylor as the International Team swept Friday’s foursomes. The pair won again on Saturday morning, but U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker left Scheffler out of the afternoon session. After beating Nico Echavarria in Sunday’s singles, Scheffler was asked about sitting out.
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“I mean, do you want to talk about today’s match?” Scheffler asked NBC’s reporter Cara Banks about watching the afternoon foursomes from the sidelines. “I just played some golf out there. Do you want to talk about that?”
Scottie Scheffler had pushed back on a reporter’s question earlier in the year, though he later softened his response. After shooting a bogey-free 65 in the third round of April’s Masters, he was asked whether the round could have been even better.
“That’s just a terrible question. Next question. Awful,” he replied. Later in the same media session, he acknowledged the question “wasn’t that bad” and said his score could have been lower.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker called leaving Scheffler out of Saturday afternoon’s foursomes a difficult decision. He felt the world No. 1 had been carrying the team’s weight and did not want to “run him into the ground” before Sunday’s singles. Snedeker said Scheffler took the decision professionally and was willing to do what was best for the team.
That team-first approach was something Scheffler had discussed before the event. He entered the week with a 3-5-1 Presidents Cup record, but said success would not necessarily mean winning every match. Assistant captain Gary Woodland had reminded him that one player could contribute at most five points, while the U.S. needed 15 to win. Being a good teammate mattered, too.
The reporter then turned to the match, asking whether Echavarria’s chip-in on the 16th had surprised Scheffler.
“Yeah, he’s really, really good around the greens. I wouldn’t say too surprising. That ball was going to get to the hole for sure. He’s a great competitor, and we had a really solid match today,” Scheffler said. “I played some really good golf, kept the golf course in front of me. I’m not sure if I missed any greens. Gave myself a lot of looks, and it was nice to get a point on the board.”
The match also featured an incident Scheffler was less eager to discuss. On the 14th hole, a fan shouted in support of Scheffler during Echavarria’s backswing. Echavarria’s tee shot went right, and Scheffler confronted the fan: “There’s no place for that.”
Scheffler’s response went beyond confronting the fan. Echavarria’s third shot ran over the green, leaving him a lengthy putt for par. Scheffler conceded it, then missed his own birdie attempt. They halved the 14th, leaving Scheffler three up.
They also halved the 15th. Echavarria then holed a shot from the rough for birdie on the par-3 16th, but Scheffler matched him with a birdie. Scheffler closed out the match with a two-putt par on the 17th, winning 2&1 and finishing the week with a 3–1 record.
Asked about the fan incident afterward, Scheffler chose not to dwell on it.
“To be honest with you, I don’t even really want to talk about it,” Scheffler said. “I think there’s no real place for that in our game. I think we just leave it at that.”
He gave a fuller explanation in the U.S. team’s later press conference. Noting that the shout during Echavarria’s backswing had been a “big distraction” and that he did not believe Echavarria would have hit such a poor tee shot without it. That was why the interruption “didn’t really sit well” with him.
Scheffler also addressed some comments made by Snedeker, who claimed he had made some mistakes as the US team trailed before Sunday singles. The four-time major winner defended Snedeker’s captaincy, acknowledging that it is easy to “second-guess” decisions when things do not go as planned. However, he praised the U.S. captain for putting the team in a position to succeed and supporting the players.
“I wouldn’t hang my head over some of the decisions. This thing is not over,” Scottie Scheffler added.
Team USA went on to clinch the 2026 Presidents Cup, defeating the International team 17-13. The Americans secured a victory over the International team, just as they did the last time the Presidents Cup was held.