Are the fans too quiet at Medinah?

Most everyone agrees fan behavior got out of hand at Bethpage during last year’s Ryder Cup. You want spirited, you can live with crude, but you can’t tolerate offensive and ugly.

So this year’s Presidents Cup at Medinah can be seen as a reset for golf. Sure, American fans can let it be known who they are rooting for, but the vitriol needs to be turned down. And that was the case Thursday; Tod Leonard talked to fans at Medinah and wrote about how the crowds were large and vocal, yet also more subdued.

But were they too subdued?

“It was kind of dead out there,” said Wyndham Clark after partnering with Collin Morikawa to win their match in the opening fourball session. “I felt like the momentum could have been better, to be honest, because we weren't really feeling the fans, I think, as much as normal.”

There are a few reasons why this might have been, a recalibration from Bethpage and an opponent in the Internationals that is not seen as competitive as the Europeans.

What makes Clark’s point interesting, though, is how players have come to expect fans at these team match-play events will be more partisan than at typical golf tournaments. And some, like Clark, may just thrive on that. Certainly, the Europeans do when they’re playing at home in the Ryder Cup.

It’ll be curious to see how things play out the rest of the week in Chicago. Early reports on Friday showed some at Medinah took Clark’s plea to heart. Come the weekend, a repeat of Bethpage isn’t what anyone wants. But a little less ‘Quiet Please’ might be OK, too.

Presidents Cup 2026: U.S. fans are on better behavior at Medinah

While U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker implored fans to cheer like ‘savages’ at the Presidents Cup, the gallery was nothing like the Ryder Cup experienced at Bethpage

By Tod Leonard

What You Need to Know

Luke Kerr-Dineen

Amateurs tend to under-read putts and miss low, because they misunderstand how the ball breaks. They think it rolls straight, then curves. In reality it curves constantly—gently at first, then a lot at the end, when it's rolling slowest and gravity's grabbing it most. Renowned putting coach Phil Kenyon has a fix he calls the two-thirds formula. Pick the spot where you want the ball rolling two-thirds of the way to the hole, then double that distance—that's your aim. So, if you want it an inch left of the hole two-thirds of the way there, aim two inches out. It budgets for the break you're ignoring. 

Ryan Herrington

The U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship begins Saturday at Wisconsin’s Sand Valley Resort. Much of the attention will center on whether an oversize number of reinstated amateurs play their way deep into match play. The griping about the reinstatement process is something the USGA is taking seriously, with officials working to try to come up with a system that’s more uniform and transparent. In the meantime, however, there are numerous heartwarming stories of 25-and-older golfers who have been lifelong amateurs and are living a dream by competing this week. Case in point: Tracy Vallandingham, 44, from California, Md. He’s a Navy civilian who works full-time in financial management for Naval Air Systems Command. It wasn’t until his college baseball career ended that he started to play competitive golf and has been trying to qualify for USGA championships since 2006. There’s also Nathaniel Spencer, 41, an Air Force veteran who played junior golf with Brian Harman and Patton Kizzire, took 15 years off from the game but is now back. He is also a competitive rock climber. One other to root for: McCormick Clouser, 33, from Indiana who played college golf at Ball State. His day job: hog farmer.

Alex Myers

Bryson DeChambeau isn't at the Presidents Cup this week as he releases his latest batch of social content from his home. But one fan at Medinah mentioned the two-time U.S. Open champ—and got a good chuckle out of Sam Burns in the process. With Burns facing a shot from the rough during the opening match of the event, one spectator made a crack about the decent lie the American drew … while randomly daggering DeChambeau over his controversial penalty from this year's Open Championship. "The grass was standing up, but I DeChambeau'd it for you," the fan says in the clip seen on Tik-Tok, a reference to DeChambeau incurring at two-stroke penalty at Royal Birkdale for being deemed to have improved his lie by stepping on the high grass around his golf ball. It was a light moment during what was a pretty tense match ultimately won by Burns and partner Scottie Scheffler on the 18th hole. It should also be noted that Burns was one of those who came to DeChambeau's defense during the Open. Regardless, as far as fan comments go, it was a pretty good one—especially when you compare it to the stuff heard at Bethpage Black during last year's Ryder Cup. 

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