United States take early lead on opening day of Presidents Cup

The United States golf team, captained by Brandt Snedeker, opened the Presidents Cup with a 3-2 lead over Geoff Ogilvy's International side following Thursday's fourball session at Medinah Country Club in Illinois.

Justin Thomas and rookie Jackson Koivun delivered the first point for the Americans with a dominant 4&3 victory over Canada's Corey Conners and Colombia's Nico Echavarria. World number one Scottie Scheffler, paired with longtime friend Sam Burns, sealed a win on the 17th hole against Min Woo Lee and Sungjae Im, who missed several key putts late in their match. Two-time major winners Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa also secured a comfortable 3&2 win over Australia's Adam Scott and Open champion Ryan Fox.

"A session win is a session win; we're going to take it any way we can get it," Snedeker said afterward.

The International team still has reasons for optimism heading into Friday's play. Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and debutant Ryo Hisatsune claimed a 3&1 win over Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele, while Kim Si-woo and Tom Kim comfortably defeated Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay 3&2. Ogilvy's side is chasing only its second title in the competition's history, following its first win back in 1998.

Friday will feature five foursome matches, followed on Saturday by two more sessions — four fourball matches in the morning and four foursomes in the afternoon. All 12 players from each team will then compete in Sunday's singles matches, with 15½ points needed to claim overall victory.