Scottie Scheffler will participate in the American Express Championship at the end of January, making 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 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 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 victory list. After finishing third in 2020 and securing several top-25 placements in the following years, he missed the 2025 tournament due to hand surgery. The competition this year is strong, with players like last year’s winner Sepp Straka, Ben Griffen, and Robert MacIntyre among those expected to challenge 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 poor course conditions caused by drought in Kapalua.
Will Scheffler Continue His Outstanding Run?
Scheffler aims for a strong start at the American Express Championship to build on his successes from last year. He won six times in 20 tournaments in 2025, including major victories at the PGA Championship and The Open Championship. Additionally, he finished in the top 10 in 17 of his 20 starts and never finished outside the top 25. These achievements earned him the PGA Tour Player of the Year title for the fourth consecutive time.
With his two major titles in 2025, Scheffler now has a clear target for 2026: completing his career Grand Slam. Having already won the Masters in 2022 and 2024, the only major missing for the American golfer is the U.S. Open, which will be held from June 18 to 21, where he will compete for the title.