Scottie Scheffler makes his 2026
debut amid palm trees and desert at The American Express
[January 22, 2026]
By DOUG FERGUSON
LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler always keeps score. His
most recent competition before starting the PGA Tour season was at
home in Dallas when Si Woo Kim took some cash off the world's No. 1
player, only to have to give most of it back from a separate game.
Scheffler has been competing without big consequences during his
long offseason. Now the score counts for 156 players — the largest
domestic field of regular PGA Tour stops this year — at The American
Express when it starts Thursday over three courses.
The practice range at PGA West was unusually busy on Monday, and it
only got more crowded the next two days. There is new equipment to
try, but mainly it's the final check on whatever tweaks or
improvements have been made.
“I love playing this event to start,” Scheffler said. “You get a
good gauge of where you’re at just based upon you’re not really
playing in so many conditions, and you've got to be sharp around
this place in order to make enough birdies to compete.”
Scheffler is golf's best player for a reason. Along with two majors
among his six PGA Tour titles last year, he hasn't finished out of
the top 10 since last March. And yet as much as he loves coming to
the California desert, he hasn't had a top 10 at The American
Express since his first time in 2020.
The largest field in a year when the PGA Tour is shrinking is a
product of players being spread out over PGA West (Nicklaus and
Palmer tournament courses) and La Quinta Country Club.
It's also the strongest field in more than two decades for this
tournament, highlighted by Scheffler and including 13 of the top 30
in the world ranking.
Except for those who came over from the season-opening Sony Open
last week, most players are looking to shake off a little rust. They
have been practicing, yes, but not competing.
“It's more tournament rust,” former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark
said.
He has spent the last two years starting his season at Kapalua for
The Sentry, a winners-only field plus the top 50 from the FedEx Cup.
It was a relaxing start to the year with wide fairways, gorgeous
views and a small field. It was canceled this year over a water
dispute that burned out the Plantation course in September.
“You prefer Kapalua because you're playing the Tournament of
Champions,” Clark said. “But I like starting here. You're guaranteed
three rounds, you have good weather, you kind of play in a dome, so
you get to see where your game is at.”
Clark played in the Bahamas and the mixed-team event in Florida.
Scheffler played only the Hero World Challenge the last three months
of the season, spending more time in the gym to get healthy and to
feel rested. Justin Rose can claim to have some form of competition
— he made an albatross in the TGL match Tuesday night in Florida.
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Scottie Scheffler, of the United States, watches his tee-off at the
fourth hole during the final round of the Hero World Challenge PGA
Tour at the Albany Golf Club in New Providence, Bahamas, Dec. 7,
2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
Ludvig Aberg has gone two months since playing
Dubai in the European tour finale, working at home in Florida with a
brief trip to Sweden.
“It is different,” he said of starting the year among desert palms
instead of Hawaii palms. “This golf course is a better indication in
terms of where you are and the progress you made in the offseason.
Kapalua is a great place to start the year. But the golf course, the
elevation, is more about getting it forward. Here you get direct
feedback.”
He is a newcomer to this tournament, but not the area. Aberg said
the Nicklaus Tournament course looked familiar when he saw it,
perhaps from playing a casual round when Texas Tech was in town to
play a college tournament elsewhere. Courses don't often stand out
in this oasis — manicured green grass, white sand, brown desert and
dormant grass outside the ropes, blue water from all the various
hazards — and great weather.
Sepp Straka is the defending champion — this is the 50-year
anniversary of Johnny Miller being the last back-to-back winner of
this tournament.
It was the start of a great year for Straka, who went on to win a
signature event and play in his second Ryder Cup (both European
victories). Aberg went the other direction, winning a signature
event at Torrey Pines and then not getting another great result
until beating Patrick Cantlay in a pivotal singles match at the
Ryder Cup.
“Last year was interesting,” he said. "Somewhere between Torrey and
Augusta I started swinging it not very good. There were some
technical tendencies I've been working on and tired to figure out.
I've always just done it and then it happens, whereas now I feel
like I have a lot more knowledge and understanding. So 2025 was
great for that.
“But I'm excited to feel the adrenaline and the juices,” he said,
“and this is best place to do that.”
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