C.T. Pan remembers the first time he was paired with Matt Kuchar. It was the third round of the 2018 WM Phoenix Open, and the players had just hit their tee balls in front of a well-oiled Saturday crowd at TPC Scottsdale’s rowdy, par-3 16th hole.
“Kuchar is really tall, and I’m the short guy,” Pan recalled. “So, we’re walking down after our tee shots, and the crowd was going crazy. Then one guy yells at Kuch, ‘Hey, Kuch, is this Take Your Kids to Work Day?!”
Eight years later, both Pan and Kuchar will actually be taking the kids to work.
The two PGA Tour veterans were announced Wednesday as the 2026 Junior Presidents Cup captains. Kuchar is set to lead the 12-boy American team against Pan’s International squad Sept. 21-22 at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago.
Kuchar’s path to the captaincy began after an in-person meeting with new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp in early October. Kuchar happened to be in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, helping his mother, Meg, host a charity golf tournament in honor of his late father, Peter, who died unexpectedly back in February. Matt was the honorary chair of the event at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, which raised $225,000 in net proceeds for the Ronald McDonald House. Afterward, Kuchar popped into PGA Tour headquarters.
“I had a great meeting with Rolapp,” Kuchar said, “and while I was in the office saying hello to some people, I got pulled aside and asked if I’d have any interest in doing the Junior Presidents Cup captaincy, and I thought, that actually sounds like a lot of fun.”
Kuchar, 47, has won nine times on the PGA Tour while also competing in four Ryder Cups and five Presidents Cups. His second Ryder Cup appearance came in 2012 at Medinah, where Kuchar’s loss to Lee Westwood contributed to the Americans’ stunning singles collapse. Coincidentally, Kuchar was at TPC San Antonio a couple weeks ago, watching his eldest son, 18-year-old TCU signee Cameron, compete in the AJGA’s Rolex Tournament of Champions, when a rules official struck up a conversation with Kuchar and informed him that he officiated Kuchar’s match against Westwood. Small world.
Though Kuchar still feels the heartbreak of Medinah, he also notes the fond memories banked that week – and at other team events, including the Canon Cups (now Wyndham Cups) he played in as a junior.
“These are the things kids put highest on their list, aspiring to be part of,” Kuchar said. “I’m hoping to put these kids in a space where they’re going to perform their best. These events are about making great memories, making great friends. I know in my career, some of our best relationships as a family, my wife and I, and some of our best friends have come from these Cups.”
Pan, 34, was back in his native Taiwan when he received a text from a PGA Tour employee.
“At first, I thought it was something bad,” Pan said. “But it turned out to be a great surprise. It’s truly an honor and a privilege.”
Pan, who edged Kuchar by a shot for his lone PGA Tour win at the 2019 RBC Heritage, has competed in three Olympics, including the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, where he took Bronze, like Kuchar did the previous Olympics in Rio. He also represented the Internationals at the 2019 Presidents Cup, going 2-1 at Royal Melbourne.
“I remember feeling the energy of the home crowd; it was electric,” Pan said of that experience in Australia. “We were also the underdogs, but the way we fought together was something I’ll never forget. I want these kids to understand that pressure is actually a privilege when they step on the first tee wearing the International logo, and those feelings are what golf is all about. Win or lose, they will carry that for the rest of their lives.”
Pan hasn’t competed on the PGA Tour since undergoing left-wrist surgery in May. The recovery has been “kind of rocky,” he says, and speaking Monday afternoon ahead of the captains’ announcement, Pan planned to fly back to Houston to consult his doctor on next steps. He’s currently just putting and hitting one-handed chips. Whenever he returns, he’ll do so on a major medical.
In the meantime, Pan has plenty to stay busy between rehab, his foundation and now his captaincy. He hosts two AJGA events, the C.T. Pan Junior Championship since 2019 and C.T. Pan Foundation Junior Championship since 2023, while also supporting the AJGA’s International Pathway Series. His Jerry Lu Scholarship assists Taiwanese students attending college in the U.S.
“A lot of uncertainty as to my playing schedule next year, but I’m still very grateful for this opportunity, as it gives me something to do,” Pan said.
While the Presidents Cup will be played on Medinah’s redesigned No. 3 course, the Junior Presidents Cup will be contested Monday (team play) and Tuesday (singles) of match week on a composite routing using holes from Medinah’s Nos. 1 and 2 layouts.
The U.S. has won each of the previous four editions, including last year’s contest in Quebec, 15-9.
Brandt Snedeker and Geoff Ogilvy will captain the U.S. and International Presidents Cup teams, respectively, though neither has announced who their assistants will be. Kuchar, who was a vice captain under Jim Furyk at the 2018 Ryder Cup, would love more opportunities to be in team rooms, whether as a player, assistant or main captain.
“I still have hopes of regaining form to play on another team, but the captaincy, for sure, I would love to be a part of the captaincy,” Kuchar said. “I have no idea in what direction they’re going, but maybe I do such a great job with the Junior Presidents Cup that I become the next guy, who knows? I’m certainly excited to be part of at least the captaincy name. This is the Junior Presidents Cup, but I think you have a chance to do a lot with these kids. You probably do a lot more in the big ones because the team matchups are such a big deal … but getting these guys in a space to play great golf and have a great time is a big part of it as well.”