THE MODERATOR: We will go ahead and get started. I'd like to welcome and congratulate Brandt Snedeker on being named the 2026 U.S. Team captain for the Presidents Cup, coming to Medinah Country Club's famed No. 3 course just next year.
We're here in Downtown Chicago. We just made the announcement in a press conference just upstairs. If you could start us off with some thoughts on your excitement to be named captain, and then we'll go ahead and open it up to questions from those on the line. Take it away, Brandt.
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Just very humbled, kind of shocked, to be honest with you. I got the call a couple weeks ago. Trying to wrap my head around what this is going to look like and then what this is going to entail.
Just super honored, super humbled to be leading this team and be part of this great history of the Presidents Cup and the captain that came before me. Just excited to get the guys up here next year and see this golf course and see what a great venue Geoff's turned it into. He just got done with the redesign done here about a year ago. Golf course looks phenomenal.
Excited to have a home Presidents Cup in Chicago, and to have that crowd behind us is going to be super special and something that we're going to need. Just super happy to go up against Geoff and the International Team. Geoff is a great friend of mine, a great guy. Another awesome choice for them in their captaincy. And look forward to the challenge they're going to present in 2026.
THE MODERATOR: We'll go right into questions.
Q. Congratulations, Brandt. How did this come about?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I got the call a couple weeks ago. We did obviously exit interviews after Montreal and kind of let the TOUR know what we thought went well, what didn't go well, and how we wanted to go forward.
Then a couple weeks ago, Jim kind of reached out to me and told me this was a strong possibility if I wanted to be a part of this. I jumped at the opportunity. This is a great honor and something that obviously is on your career list of something you want to be a part of.
Any time you're a part of these teams is super special. When Jim called me and told me this is an opportunity, I jumped at it. This is such a cool thing to be a part of, such a humbling thing to be thought of worthy of being a captain.
Now the real work starts, kind of building off of what Jim did great in Montreal and what Keegan's doing a great job so far for Ryder Cup this year, and building on this going forward, kind of setting up a program for all these captains and vice captains and players to know we have a plan going forward, and we're looking forward to kind of executing that.
Q. Secondly, what kind of memories do you have of Medinah? It was your first team event.
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Not a lot. I remember Sunday night quite well. It was one of probably the lowest points of my career. But I remember all the good stuff leading up to it -- being part of my first team, being here in Chicago, how crazy the fans were, how awesome they were. Obviously Davis being the captain and getting to spend that first team room experience was something super special.
Something we're going to try to recreate here is that team-like atmosphere we had there. Obviously we want a different result, but it was a great experience nonetheless. Medinah is a great venue for these events, and it's a big ballpark, and it's going to show out well. Geoff did a phenomenal job on the redo, so the course is going to show out really, really well.
Just look forward to the opportunity of putting the best players in the world out there on a stage like Chicago and having the fans behind us.
Q. Brandt, I was going to ask you a Geoff related question. He redesigned the golf course. I don't know if you've actually seen it, have you?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I did. I got to walk around it yesterday.
Q. In what ways did Geoff improve on the course? Now I guess the course setup is going to be in the American team's hands. How do you anticipate, if you've even given it any thought at this point, of how you want to set the course up for 2026?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Well, the course is totally different. The last six holes, Geoff completely changed the routing and kind of took away some of the iconic holes that we know about, the par-3s that cross the water now kind of are along the water, and he's got a drive for par-4 there.
We're going to redo the routing a bit. We're going to start on -- I think hole 4 will be the first hole. That way the routing is going to be a little bit different.
But the golf course itself is quite dramatically different. Geoff did a fantastic job of kind of way more playable for the members. Not the old tree lined, straight, long golf course with rough. There's a lot more curves and a lot more subtlety to the golf course now. The routing is totally changed. So it's going to be interesting.
I'm going to try to come up here this fall and kind of see the golf course the same time of year. We're going to see how it plays and understand that it's going to be totally different than anything we've seen before.
It's going to be great for TV, great for our guys. There's some really iconic holes that Geoff has made coming down the stretch. It's going to produce a lot of drama.
These Cups seem to elevate the guys' plays. This course is going to really push these guys to hit some great shots coming out under some extreme pressure.
Our job as the host team will be to set the golf course up for the team that we have as best as possible to give us as much advantage as we possibly can. Geoff is going to have intimate knowledge of this course. He has his fingerprints all over it. He knows it better than anybody is going to know it. That's something we're going to have to deal with it.
I look forward to the guys seeing it for the first time. I think he did a great piece of work here.
Q. You played under a couple of different captains now. Who do you think your style is going to most closely reflect?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think every -- leaning on the guys that have come before me is going to be something I'm going to lean into. Obviously everybody's style is different. I think the most important thing being a captain is not try to be somebody you're not.
I think my personality, the way I kind of go about things, I want to come through with my captaincy and just be genuine. Be honest with the guys, let them know who I am and what I believe in as it comes to team golf and what I think is important.
The biggest thing with, I think any of these captaincies, is just making sure the guys understand and know that you care about them, that you want them to be successful, that you're there for them. You have their back no matter what, and you're going to do everything in your power to make sure they have as little distractions as possible. They have everything they need to be successful and that you're there for them.
My captaincy is going to be kind of a blend of the guys I've been under. Obviously Davis was great about kind of setting up the team room certain ways so that guys felt comfortable. I thought Jim did a great job last year of kind of bringing everybody together in a sense that -- sorry, need some water here.
Q. I'll help you out here. I have a quick follow-up. You mentioned Royal Montreal. Anything you particularly like or maybe didn't like that you would look to change?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: What Jim did is really smart. He brought all the caddies and players together in one room. Not a separation anymore. Brought all the families together, so you felt more at home, felt more natural.
I think people. Everything has been segregated and pushed apart where caddies have their own area, players have their own area. I think having everyone together is super important. Jim did a great job of looking at that early on and making sure that's a point of emphasis.
I'm going to steal a lot of things from different captains that I loved over the years. Those kind of small things, I think, go into it. There's a bunch of little decisions that end up being big things. Making sure I get the little decisions right early, so that when the guys show up, it feels comfortable to them, they feel at home. They know they've got everything they need there, and it's going to be super easy on them.
Just try to nitpick and learn a lot from Keegan this year at the Ryder Cup. I'll pay attention to everything he does. He's got me involved with all the decisions he's making, and I'll make sure I kind of learn from him.
Q. You talked about the pipeline a little bit earlier. It seemed like after the task force in 2014, there was a definite pipeline set up. Then it got to a point where all of a sudden it was like, oops , we forgot to groom anybody else in the next generation. You now seem to be a part of that, and there's other guys like Webb and Kisner and maybe Stewart Cink. I wanted to ask you about that new setup and if you do see that as a sort of new succession plan. If you don't mind answering a followup that I'm going to ask now, I'm curious if Keegan Bradley were to make the Ryder Cup team, does this make you captain presumptive for the Ryder Cup in a scenario like that?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think with regards to succession plan, it's something super important. I think after being part of Montreal last year as a vice captain for the first time and understanding what goes into one of these things was eye opening. Didn't really understand it. Didn't really know all the details that go into putting one of these things on, how much time commitment you put into it as a captain.
Jim was great about opening that up to us and let us see what it entails and how much you put on your plate and what goes into this.
I think having that setup going forward is super important. I think we need to make sure we identify the right guys and have them serve as vice captains, understand what it's going to look like. I think Keegan is doing a great job with that with the Ryder Cup this year, and I think my job with Presidents Cup next year is to make sure we have those guys in the room to understand what it looks like and how it's going to look going forward.
These things become -- even though it's 16 months off, they move super fast the last three or four months before the thing goes on. You want to make sure you have everything done leading up to that so that you can slow things down as much as possible.
With regards to Keegan playing, I think everybody on the team wants Keegan to play great and make the team. I think that's something that the players have spoken about quite openly that they think Keegan is one of the 12 best players in the world now on the American side, and he needs to go prove that and play great leading up to the majors in the summer.
With regards to who would be the captain in that scenario, we have four other guys in the room right now that are perfectly capable of it, and I'm sure there will be some collaboration between all of us to take over that role for Keegan even though this is going to be Keegan's team. No matter if he's playing or captaining, his fingerprints are going to be all over it. Our job as assistant captains will be to make sure that we carry out his wishes and carry out the team thing the way he wants it done.
Keegan's talked about this. I don't think you can do both. I don't think it's possible to be able to do both just with how much stuff goes into being a captain. I think Keegan will probably lean on Jim, obviously, who's going to be in that room as well. There's a bunch of guys that can step up and hopefully fill that void.
Q. When did you start thinking this might be a position you'd like to do in your career? Do you remember?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think, when you become a part of the team and you play on a couple of them, you realize how cool that environment is and how much you never want to miss one again, it gets on your radar for sure.
It's something when you get to my age out here at 44, it's something you want to be a part of. After Montreal last year when we were doing our exit interviews and talking about it, I was very open and honest that this is something I want to do at some point. I want to be a part of it in any role, whatever they thought I could do.
When Jim called me a couple of weeks ago to give me the great news, I was floored for a second, but then I realized this is a huge opportunity and something I've dreamt about and something I want to do.
I jumped at it and I'm excited about what the next 16 months are going to look like and how we are going to build this team and do everything we can to show off Medinah and the Presidents Cup on a worldwide stage that the TOUR will be proud of, the players will be proud of, and us captains will be proud of.
Q. If you were picking the 12 players for the Ryder Cup, would Keegan be one of your 12 picks right now?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Luckily, I'm not. There's a lot of golf. We have been on a bunch of calls talking about this. The amount of points still left out there for the Ryder Cup team right now is a lot. It's over 40 percent to 50 percent of the Ryder Cup team, points are still available. There's a lot that's going to change.
I think we won't have a clear idea of what the team's going to look like until post-U.S. Open. Post-U.S. Open, we'll start having an idea who's playing the right way, who points-wise is going to be there, who we think would be a great addition to the team room.
Right now there's so much golf left to play for these guys, there's a lot that's going to happen.
Q. Why is it that you guys would like to see him play? It probably doesn't make sense to have a playing captain in this day and age?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think the way he played last year at the Presidents Cup really showed the guys that this guy is built for team competitions. He's a great guy in the team room. He played fantastic.
A big reason why we were able to pull it out in Montreal was the way he played. I think the guys loved seeing his fieriness. They got to see his competitiveness come through. They're seeing that now as his way as a captain and the amount of care he has for these things comes through with the way he plays and the way he captains and the way he talks about it.
When you have those guys and those guys see that kind of passion come through and the way he elevated his game in Montreal last year, I think it comes through making guys want him to be a part of it.
He's got to play great golf the rest of the year. I know he will. He's working hard at it. We'll see how it all shakes out.
Q. I read an interview with Paul Azinger where how before he was the Ryder Cup captain, he was a Ryder Cup junkie. When he was talking with Payne Stewart or other friends of his, they were always talking about tactics and things like that. Are you similar? Are you somebody who considers yourself a student of these kind of international competitions? As a followup to that, somebody asked you what American captains you would take after. I'm curious if any International or European captains have struck you as someone who did a good job or something you might want to emulate or learn from?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I wouldn't say I'm a junkie, but you can't do what I've done for this amount of time it if you don't love the game. I love the history of the game, love being a part of it. Now being vice captain last year, I started to look into what works or what doesn't work, what guys seem to respond to and what guys seem to struggle with.
I'm going to lean on all these past captains a lot. I've been texting with Jim nonstop the last couple weeks. Davis Love is another guy I reach out to, Jack Nicklaus. I'll reach out to everybody and just get their thoughts because you can never have too much information.
What I do with that is going to be up to me and will dictate how the captaincy goes. If you're not reaching out -- a great example of somebody who I thought did a fantastic -- or some European captain that's done a fantastic job. Obviously Luke Donald did a great job last Ryder Cup. If you're not learning from those guys, then you're missing an opportunity.
I'm going to look back through all these past captains and see what the successful ones, what they did and how they kind of went about it, and kind of meld it into who I am as a person and what I think it will work.
THE MODERATOR: If there's no further questions, we'll let you go, Brandt.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports