Scottie Scheffler lands 20th PGA Tour win at The American Express

LA QUINTA – Trust Scottie Scheffler to ease into another golf season.

He pulled away with a birdie spree in the final round of The American Express to win his first outing of 2026, shooting a six-under 66 in the final round at La Quinta, California on Jan 25.

That gave the world 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.

Scheffler said: “It’s pretty wild. 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 the American recorded seven birdies and one bogey across the first 12 holes to break away from the pack.

Compatriots Ryan Gerard (65), Matt McCarty (68), Andrew Putnam (68) and Australia’s Jason Day (64) shared second place at 23-under 265.

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 opener.

“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,” the 29-year-old said.

“I’m going to go home, get some rest and kind of rinse and repeat.”

Scheffler became the first golfer to rise to the tour’s 20-win mark since Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland 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 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 three feet.

Until his tee shot on the par-three 17th hole ended up in the water and he took a double-bogey five, Scheffler was bidding to become the first golfer in 16 years to reach 30 under in the tournament.

Scheffler said his next tournament will be the Phoenix Open in two weeks.

Third-round leader Kim Si-woo of South Korea shot 72 to finish tied for sixth place with Sam Stevens (67) at 22 under.

Elsewhere, after completing an impressive victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on Jan 25, Patrick Reed admitted his LIV Golf status remains in the air with the start of the season just two weeks away.

“We’re still finalising the contract,” the American, 35, said. “We’re not complete on that yet.

“It’s one of those things that I don’t like to talk business and stuff while I’m playing, and so it’s like Monday through Wednesday is the only time to really talk about it.”

With Brooks Koepka set to return to the PGA Tour this week after spending time with LIV Golf, Reed said a route to return full time to the United States is not in the works.

“Not that I know of – not right now,” Reed said. “Really just all kind of depends on everything. I mean, I haven’t talked to the team back home or anything like that.”

LIV’s fifth season is scheduled to start Feb 4 to 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Reed said he would “be surprised” if he was not in the field.

He finished seventh in the LIV points standings last season, winning in a play-off at LIV Golf Dallas in June.

A nine-time winner on the PGA Tour, Reed’s lone Major victory came at the Masters in 2018.
REUTERS