The calendar may have turned to a new year, but Scottie Scheffler is picking up where he left off. The world No. 1, who was unable to play at American Express last season due to a hand injury suffered late in the offseason, returned to Palm Springs, Calif., hoping to start the season off without a hitch. And he did.
Scheffler started with a 9-under 63 at La Quinta Country Club, putting him one stroke behind Min-woo Lee and Pierceson Coody, who shot a 10-under 62 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course. Scheffler’s 63 represents the lowest score he has ever posted at American Express as he seeks his first tournament title in his sixth appearance.
“I have to work on it mentally like I have to make some birdies. I think the most important thing is to get into position as many times as possible to look good and hole the putt,” Scheffler said. “I think if you start pushing yourself, you can still get in trouble. Even if you get a low score, believe it or not, golf is still pretty difficult. You just have to keep putting yourself in the right position and give yourself a chance.”
The season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for the four-time PGA Tour Player of the Year. Scheffler birdied the first two holes, then made par on the third and, unusual for the front nine, drew three more circles on his scorecard from Nos. 4 to 6. In the first nine holes, Scheffler turned in 30 holes, with more three holes (six holes) than four holes (three holes).
Scheffler kept peppering the back of the center of the clubface because his driver motion was even the slightest bit wrong. Although he missed the correct side, he was able to hit every green in regulation until the par-4 17th, and chipped in in typical Schaeffler style for birdie.
“We have to keep up the pace here,” Scheffler said. “I think the most difficult thing about these tests where you have to hit very low shots is that you can only hit under par for a round of golf. If you look at the harder tests, I think there are always two or three players in each round who can hit very low shots. In easier tests where the scores are very low, if you start falling behind, it’s much harder to catch up, so you have to keep up the pace here.”
Scheffler will head to the Nicklaus Tournament Course on Friday, where most of the players on the leaderboard played on Thursday. The La Quinta Country Club and Nicklaus Tournament Course averaged scores under 4 and 5 under, respectively, but the Stadium Course bore the brunt of the difficulties for players.
Jason Day proved worthy of the challenge in the first round, posting a 9-under 63 on the Stadium Course to lead the field in terms of strokes gained and with two birdie opportunities ahead of him.
leader
T1. Minwoo Lee, Pierceson Coody (-10): After winning last season in Houston, Lee went into a bit of a lull, but he came out of it at the end of 2025 and returned to Australia, where he put up some great results. His play back home carried over into this year’s first round, where the electric Australian made 10 birdies without a drop shot on Thursday. Lee credits his early success to slightly strengthening his left hand grip during the offseason.
“I was a little apprehensive at first,” Lee said. “The first round this year was a little swingy…no change…but it’s something we’ve been working on in the offseason, so we didn’t really know how it was going to go….It was a great day to get some birdies.”
contestants
T3. Scottie Scheffler, Robert McIntyre, Siu Kim, SH Lee, Vince Whaley, Matt McCarty, Ben Griffin, Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay (-9)
T12. Billy Horschel, Sam Stevens, Jordan Smith, Matthew Pavon, Andrew Novak, Tom Hoge, Eric Cole, Jacob Bridgman (-8)
McIntyre hit his putter on his knee midway through last week’s Sony Open and wasn’t too happy with his play heading into the weekend in a new position. The left-hander, who hit a low round of the day Sunday, said his wedge play (along with a new putter, of course) is finally starting to work together. On Thursday at the Nicklaus Tournament Course, he had the same club dialed in, with 10 birdies on his scorecard and just one drop shot on the par-5 15th.
“I tried to pick up some speed,” McIntyre said. “Let’s hit it a little longer off the tee. It wasn’t much. All I was trying to get was about 6 yards. I think I did that. But other than that, it was a wedge play. I really need to adjust my wedge play. I didn’t hit it close enough with the wedge. When you’re a good putter, the closer you go, the better. The closer you get to the hole, the better your chances are. … I felt really good with the wedge today and last week, so that’s a good sign.”
There is no rest for the weary
When was the last time you played golf for eight days in a row? Well, when was the last time you played competitive golf for eight days in a row? Fresh off a top-20 finish in the Bahamas on the Korn Ferry Tour, Blaze Brown hopped on a private jet in time for a tee time in Palm Springs (he earned points for a top-20 finish in Myrtle Beach last year) and is in the midst of such a run.
Brown opened with a bogey-free 67 at La Quinta Country Club in what can only be described as polar opposite conditions, with winds gusting all week in the Bahamas and suffocating Thursday at American Express.
“After I finished my round, I took a quick shower and headed to the airport. Then I hopped on a giant one-flight jet,” Brown said. “Feren Rajput, he escorted me well to get here. It was a six-hour flight. I think it was his jet. So it was awesome. It was my first time flying privately. It was beautiful.”
“I got here last night around 8 p.m. I bought a Panda Express, bought some groceries, went to bed and started sleeping at 10. Then I woke up around 5 and got here a little early and hit a few putts. It was blowing 30 miles an hour the whole way, but when I got here it was perfect. So two completely different situations. But today was a lot of fun. And (a) it was a bogey-free round. I’m open to any day of the week.”
Updated 2025 American Express odds and picks
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook
- Scotty Scheffler: +185
- Jason Day: +1000
- Ben Griffin: +1100
- Robert McIntyre: +1400
- Patrick Cantlay: +1600
- Lee Min Woo: +1700
- Shime Kill: +1800
- Pierceson Coody: +2000
Despite Scheffler’s score and Day’s blitz on the Stadium Course, chances are still wide open in this tournament. I still believe in Cantlay and McCarty. Both had a great first match. If there’s a player to add, it might be Kim, the defending champion. His putter, which struggled in Hawaii, sounds rejuvenated and may be hitting the ball as crisply as anyone other than Scheffler.
