The Presidents Cup is a team competition, but it is also one of the few moments in golf where the game’s international reach becomes especially visible. This year, as the U.S. Team faced the International Team with players from Canada, Latin America, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Chicago served as the backdrop for a tournament built around different countries, playing styles and relationships to the sport. That sense of exchange extended beyond Medinah Country Club. Roughly an hour from the course, Hypegolf hosted a Presidents Cup watch party at Five Iron Golf, bringing guests together in the middle of the city as the competition unfolded. The event offered a more social way into the week, reflecting how plenty of people now encounter golf through simulators, style, conversation and a shared interest in the game.

The room brought together people with very different connections to golf. Roger Steele, Drew Westphal and Ashley Mayo were among the guests, joining a crowd that spanned industry figures, creatives and newer voices in the sport. It made for a setting where people could keep an eye on the action from Medinah while putting their own spin on the experience upstairs at Five Iron. Guests moved between the venue’s simulators, a photo booth and a merchandise display, while a Hypegolf-curated food and drink program kept the evening moving. Light bites were served alongside a cocktail menu featuring a margarita, an Old Fashioned and a non-alcoholic option. The format was intentionally loose allowing people to hit balls, catch up with friends or settle in to follow the matches.

The details also created a connection back to the tournament site. Floral arrangements from Derrick Rose’s Rose’s Flower Shop were placed throughout the event, echoing the first-tee presentation at Medinah. The collaboration brought an unmistakably Chicago element to both settings, tying the week’s golf programming to one of the city’s most recognizable sporting figures. Style had its own place in the room, too. B. Draddy and Zero Restriction, the official outfitters of both U.S. Team and the International Team, displayed the uniforms worn during the competition. Seeing the pieces up close gave guests a different perspective on a category that is often experienced only through tournament broadcasts or product photography. B. Draddy founder Billy Draddy was also on hand to meet attendees and talk through the collection, while guests left with Presidents Cup T-shirts and tote bags.

The watch party came one night after Steele’s Presidents Cup kickoff event at Sydney Marovitz Golf Course in collaboration with the PGA Tour, offering another local touchpoint before the competition moved into its most intense stretch. Together, the two events showed how the tournament could live beyond the ropes: through public golf, a social venue and a broader Chicago community that has found its own ways into the sport. By Sunday, that energy had made its way back to Medinah, where U.S. Team came back from a three-point deficit to win the Presidents Cup. But earlier in the week, Five Iron offered a view of the tournament that was shaped as much by the people in the room as by the action on the course.