'Have They Put Enough Prep Into This?' - Paul McGinley Questions Team USA's Presidents Cup Preparation
The Americans suffered a humiliating whitewash on Friday - and former Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley, has suggested they may have been unprepared coming into the week
Former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has raised questions over whether the United States team has fully prepared for this year's Presidents Cup after the home side were whitewashed in yesterday's foursomes.
Having led 3-2 after the opening day, Brandt Snedeker's side lost all five matches in Friday's alternate-shot session, which has given the Internationals a fantastic opportunity to win the biennial contest for just the second time ever.
The performance left McGinley, who captained Europe to victory at Gleneagles in 2014, questioning whether the Americans had done their due diligence ahead of the event.
“I don’t want to criticize the Americans, but I don’t know, have they put enough prep into this?”Paul McGinley breaks down the strategy behind match play and questions whether the Americans have done enough to prepare ⬇️Golf Channel | Corient pic.twitter.com/snBWdc4XhDSeptember 25, 2026
"Every golf course that you play asks a different exam," McGinley said on Golf Channel's Live From the Presidents Cup.
"I've got to be careful I don't give away too much information from a European point of view, but nonetheless this has been well documented.
"We reverse engineer, start the golf course, and come back, and where are the skill sets to sit this exam?
"Because this exam is very different than the exam you might have in the FedEx Finals or you might have in a Major Championship. Every one.
"Where are the par 5s? Where are the par 3s? How many drivers on the odds? So you look at it that way [and think] who's a good par 5 player?
"So I think that is the backbone of it.
"I think it's also a very difficult format, and it takes a lot of preparation. Now, again, I don't want to criticize the Americans because I don't know... Have they put enough prep into this, not just in terms of statistics, but have they played enough?"
Team USA has dominated the Presidents Cup since it was first played in 1994, with the International side winning just one of the 15 events contested to date.
However, when it comes to the Ryder Cup, USA have seen Europe win six of the last nine, and some captains and players have been criticized for not preparing as well as their opponents.
It's not the first time McGinley has criticized Team USA. After the first day of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Italy, which Europe went on to win comfortably, the Irishman said the Americans looked "rusty and lacking energy".
He added: "I knew that Europe were primed and they have a lot of form in their team, and I know Luke [Donald] is doing a fantastic job behind the scenes, but I knew America were a little bit unprepared."
On Friday, Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama secured the first point for the Internationals with a 3&2 win over Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman.
It was the start of a humiliating whitewash, as Geoff Ogilvy's troops turned a 3-2 deficit into a four-point lead.
On Saturday, eight matches will be played (four fourballs and four foursomes) and 12 singles matches on Sunday, with the Americans having plenty of time to prove Friday's performance was just a blip.
