Justin Thomas teams with Jackson Koivun to tie Presidents Cup record, score first point at Medinah

Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun rewarded captain Brandt Snedeker’s decision to pair youth with experience during Thursday’s fourball session when they started the scoring for the Americans.

The first point for the U.S. came in a 4 and 3 win over Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria, and lifted Thomas to a perfect 7-0-0 in his Presidents Cup career in fourballs.

JT now holds the record with most wins without a loss or a tie with Jordan Spieth, who dominated foursomes.

He was taken aback a bit when asked about the history he made at Medinah on Day 1, admitting that he was unaware of his record.

“Good partners is a great start. I don’t know, man,” he said. “Match play is a bizarre thing. Some matches you just get away with some, and I’ve played great with some great partners, and I’m happy we got a point today. That’s all that matters.”

As for Snedeker, he told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis that he was “proud of how these guys started us off.”

“The message has been pretty simple all week — they know what they’re doing, they’re the best golfers in the world,” he added when asked about the Americans carving out a 3-to-2 advantage heading into Day 2’s five-match foursomes session. “It’s going to be a long week — this was only one session, we have four more to go. There’s a lot more golf coming up.”

Presidents Cup - Day 2

Day 2 of the 2026 Presidents Cup continues as the teams battle for crucial points and the lead.

And then there’s Koivun.

The 21-year-old Presidents Cup rookie with a world of expectations on his shoulders. He said he was shaky the first two holes but found his groove after that.

“Anytime you can put up a point for Team USA, it’s good,” he said. “Me and JT, we played really well out there. He picked me up when I didn’t play too hot, so thankful for that, but we had a fun time.”

Thomas, who was a rookie himself a decade ago in 2017, said Koivun was really impressive to watch

“It was fun to be out there with him and doing his thing,” Thomas told reporters Thursday outside of Chicago. “I’m really happy he’s on my team. It was cool to watch him do his thing out there and show up in some pretty big moments.”