Far be it for Scottie Scheffler to ease into another golf season.
Scheffler pulled away with a birdie spree in the final round of The American Express to win his first outing of 2026, shooting 6-under-par 66 in Sunday’s final round at La Quinta, Calif.
That gave the world’s No. 1 golfer a tournament total of 27-under 261 for a four-stroke victory on his way to winning on the PGA Tour for the 20th time.
“It’s pretty wild,” Scheffler said. “It has been a great start to my career and I’ve had some nice wins out there. It has been special and I try not to think about that stuff too much.”
The final round of this multiple-course tournament was played at the Pete Dye Stadium Course, where Scheffler recorded seven birdies and one bogey across the first 12 holes to break away from the pack.
Ryan Gerard (65), Matt McCarty (68), Andrew Putnam (68) and Australia’s Jason Day (64) shared second place at 23 under.
Scheffler won six times in 2025 after racking up seven victories in 2024, so he could be on his way to another impressive season. This was the first time he won in his season debut.
“Going into the season, I was just trying to do the things I needed to do in order to be prepared to come out and play this week,” Scheffler said. “I’m going to go home, get some rest and kind of rinse and repeat.”
Scheffler, 29, became the first golfer to rise to the tour’s 20-win mark since Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy achieved that number in 2021. He is the third-youngest player to collect his 20th victory, trailing only Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. It marked Scheffler’s 151st tournament, with only Woods (95) and Nicklaus (127) reaching the 20-win plateau faster.
Scheffler led by three shots shortly after a birdie on No. 11 and tacked on birdies at Nos. 12 and 14. By then, among the top five on the leaderboard, only Putnam and Scheffler were still on the course.
Of Scheffler’s first seven birdies, five required putts of less than 3 feet.
Until his tee shot on the par-3 17th hole ended up in the water and he took a double-bogey 5, Scheffler was bidding to become the first golfer in 16 years to reach 30 under in the tournament.
Scheffler said his next tournament will come in the WM Phoenix Open in two weeks.
Third-round leader Si Woo Kim of South Korea shot 72 to finish tied for sixth place with Sam Stevens (67) at 22 under.
Blades Brown, 18, was bidding to become the second-youngest golfer to win a PGA Tour event, but his 74 left him in a tie for 18th place at 19 under.
Brown, Kim and Scheffler were playing in the final threesome. Brown had a 68 on the same course a day earlier.
“One of the coolest things that I learned today was how underrated Scottie Scheffler’s short game is,” Brown said. “To see it in person and just to look at kind of the trajectory and the spin, and just the control that he has with his wedges and short game. Obviously, his putting is insane, too. It was really cool to watch.”
Brown’s efforts turned into a major storyline in the tournament. He flirted with a 59 on Friday before signing for a 60. His T18 was the best finish of his young PGA career.
“I have so much to take away from this week,” Brown said. “Getting to play with Scottie Scheffler in a final group at 18 years old, I had to pinch myself a couple of times just to make sure this was real. Not the Sunday that I would have liked, but I, overall, had so much fun playing The American Express this week.”
Day’s bogey-free round included four consecutive birdies (Nos. 5-8). His best round of the tournament was Thursday’s 63, also on the Pete Dye Stadium Course.
–Field Level Media
