President Donald Trump will return as honorary chairman for the 2026 Presidents Cup, the PGA Tour said Saturday, putting a political figure back in a role that has become part ceremonial and part symbolic for one of golf’s biggest team events.
The tournament is set for Sept. 22-27 at Medinah Country Club in Chicago, where 12 golfers from the United States will face 12 from around the world. Brandt Snedeker will captain the U.S. team, while Geoff Ogilvy, who is from Australia, will lead the international side.
Trump also held the honorary chairman role for the 2017 competition at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey, when the United States beat the international team 19-11. That makes his return less a surprise than a repeat, but the timing gives the appointment a sharper edge: it arrives as the event tries to present itself as global while placing a former president at the center of its public face.
Brian Rolapp said the Presidents Cup has a tradition of engaging world leaders across political lines and said Trump’s involvement continues that legacy. He also said the appointment should help raise the event’s profile internationally and support the PGA Tour’s goal of bringing people together through golf. Trump, for his part, called it “a particularly exciting event,” said both teams are “loaded” with talent and said he looks forward to greeting the athletes.
The friction is obvious in the assignment itself. The honorary chairman role has no announced duties in the latest move, but the choice still sends a message: the PGA Tour is willing to lean on a figure with broad recognition, even as it stresses a tournament built around international competition and shared sportsmanship. Trump has also made several appearances at sports events this summer, including the NBA Finals, the World Cup final and the IndyCar Freedom 250, adding to the sense that he is being used, and using the stage, more often.
There have been six other U.S. presidents who held the honorary chairman title at the Presidents Cup, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford. For the 2026 event, the practical question is not whether Trump will be visible in Chicago. It is what the role will amount to once the first match begins at Medinah Country Club.
