Scottie Scheffler will participate in the American Express Championship at the end of January, marking his 2026 debut.
Scottie Scheffler is set to make his first start of 2026 at the PGA Tour’s American Express Championship, tournament organizers confirmed on Wednesday. The event will take place from January 22 to 25 in La Quinta, California, with a total purse of $9.2 million. Last year, Austrian player Sepp Straka claimed the title.
Scheffler Faces Tough Challenge in California
The American Express Championship is one of the few tournaments missing from Scheffler’s victory list. After finishing third in 2020, he secured several top 25 finishes in subsequent years but missed the 2025 tournament due to a hand surgery. This year, competition will be stiff with last year’s champion Sepp Straka, Ben Griffen, and Robert MacIntyre among those challenging the world number one.
The 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 in water-scarce Kapalua.
Will Scottie Scheffler Continue His Outstanding Season?
For Scottie Scheffler, the American Express Championship is an opportunity to start the new season strongly and build on last year’s successes. In 20 tournaments, he won six times, including major victories at the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. He finished in the top 10 in 17 of those events and never placed outside the top 25, earning him PGA Tour Player of the Year honors for the fourth consecutive time.
Following his two major titles in 2025, Scheffler now has a clear goal for 2026. After winning the Masters in 2022 and 2024, the American still needs the US Open to complete his career Grand Slam. He will compete for that title from June 18 to 21.