After two weeks in Hawaii, the PGA Tour is on the mainland for the first time this year as The American Express tees off Thursday in La Quinta, Calif.
It’s also the first of several events on tour that utilize multiple courses — in this case, three.
The unique setup sees players play one round apiece at the Pete Dye Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West as well as one at La Quinta Country Club, all of them par-72 layouts. The Pete Dye Stadium Course hosts the final round following a 54-hole cut to the top 65 and ties.
“Although the courses are different … they all have the same general idea, that you need to make a lot of birdies and you need to be aggressive,” Justin Thomas said Tuesday. “They’re very scorable, so I take the same mindset into all of the courses.
“It’s an offense week, not defense.”
Nick Dunlap had to learn three courses on the fly when he played The American Express as an amateur last year. Powered by a third-round 60 at La Quinta Country Club, Dunlap went on to become the first amateur to win on tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991.
A member of the University of Alabama golf team at the time, Dunlap soon turned pro, won a second event in July and received PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors.
Dunlap, 21, is back in town to defend his title and he’s still getting used to life in the fast lane on tour.
“I would say, you know, my life got sped up a little bit, and in a good way,” Dunlap said. “Like I said, I’m out here, I’m living my dream, and wouldn’t change it for anything, but that it all doesn’t just happen easy or smoothly. I would say there’s definitely some bumps and humps in the road that you got to navigate.”
As Thomas said, birdies are the name of the game at the tournament formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic. The winning score has been no worse than 20-under-par 268 since the tournament abandoned its previous five-round format after 2011. Dunlap’s 29-under 259 last year set the tournament 72-hole scoring record.
Wyndham Clark (No. 7) is one of eight players in the field ranked in the top 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Last week’s winner at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Nick Taylor of Canada, is also in the field. Taylor now has five PGA Tour victories to his name, three in the past three years via playoffs.
Tony Finau, who had to shrug off LIV Golf rumors for the second straight offseason, is playing this week despite a nagging knee issue that has him less than 100 percent. Finau did not win a tournament in 2024 after claiming four trophies across 2022-23.
“There’s always some nagging injury, it seems like, for everybody,” Finau said. “Coming off this injury, I feel really good. I had a nice start, I feel like, at The Sentry with how my body felt and how my game felt, and I’m looking forward to just building on that this week.”
This week will also mark the professional debut of 17-year-old Blades Brown. As an amateur last season, he made the cut at the Myrtle Beach Classic and finished T26. The young prospect chose to turn pro this offseason rather than pursue a college golf scholarship.
“This is going to be a process, and in processes there are hills and valleys,” Brown said. “And I’m lucky enough to where I have an awesome team around me supporting me, and I’m just super excited to go through this journey along with them. Whatever happens is going to happen.”
–Field Level Media
