Scottie Scheffler will participate in the American Express Championship late January, marking his 2026 season debut.
Scottie Scheffler will make his first start of 2026 at the PGA Tour’s American Express Championship, tournament organizers confirmed Wednesday. The event takes place from January 22 to 25 in La Quinta, California, with a total purse of $9.2 million. Last year, Austrian Sepp Straka won the tournament.
Scheffler Faces Tough Challenge in California
The American Express Championship is one of the few tournaments missing from Scheffler’s list of victories. After finishing third in 2020 and several top-25 placements in recent years, he missed the 2025 event due to hand surgery. This year, the competition is fierce with players like last year’s winner Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, and Robert MacIntyre contending against the world number one.
This tournament is the second PGA Tour event of the year following next week’s Sony Open in Hawaii. The usual season opener, The Sentry, was canceled in October due to course conditions caused by drought at Kapalua.
Will Scottie Scheffler Continue His Outstanding Season?
Scheffler aims to start the new season strong at the American Express Championship to build on last year’s successes. In 20 tournaments, he claimed six victories, including the PGA Championship and The Open Championship. Additionally, he finished in the top 10 in 17 of those events and never finished outside the top 25, earning him PGA Tour Player of the Year honors for the fourth consecutive time.
With his two major titles in 2025, Scheffler has a clear goal for 2026. After his Masters wins in 2022 and 2024, the only major left to complete his career Grand Slam is the U.S. Open, where he will compete for the title from June 18 to 21.