Scottie Scheffler will make his season debut as the PGA TOUR returns to the mainland United States for one of the TOUR’s longest-standing events.

The American Express for 2026 boasts perhaps its strongest field ever, with major champs, top-ranked players and plenty of the game’s biggest stars descending onto the Coachella Valley.

Here’s everything you need to know.

FIELD NOTES: World No. 1 and reigning Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler makes his 2026 debut at the event he was supposed to start 2025 at – if not for a Christmastime ravioli incident. Scheffler leads a group of eight of the top 13 players in the Official World Golf Ranking who are teeing it up. … Will Zalatoris is set to play his first PGA TOUR event since the PGA Championship in May. Zalatoris has been bogged down with injuries for most of the last three seasons, but he did play the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour in December, where he finished 15th. … Some event debutants include major champs Matt Fitzpatrick and Adam Scott, plus world No. 18 Ludvig Åberg. … Amongst those in the top 10 in the world who are playing include Russell Henley, Ben Griffin, Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre, who fired a 7-under 63 Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii – the low round of the day – to finish T3. … Sepp Straka, who sits at No. 12 in the OWGR, will return to defend. No one has gone back-to-back at this championship since Johnny Miller in 1974-75. … With it being a Presidents Cup year, there is also plenty of past competitors – and new hopefuls – who are teeing it up. Tony Finau, Max Homa (playing The American Express for just the second time) and Sahith Theegala are some of the Americans in the field, while Scott is one of eight Internationals teeing it up.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Blades Brown is set to make quite the trip. Brown, who is teeing it up on the Korn Ferry Tour this week (which is, of course, a Sunday-Wednesday event), will try to make the quick turnaround from The Bahamas to California in order to play on the TOUR on Thursday. Brown shot a second-round 64 at The American Express in 2025 but ended up missing the cut. … Harry Higgs is teeing it up for the fourth time at The American Express. Higgs, who finished No. 132 in the FedExCup Fall, has made three straight cuts at The American Express, with his best finish coming in 2024 when he ended up T18. … Zach Johnson is back in action at The American Express, teeing it up for the 16th time. He found the weekend at the Sony Open last week. … Another veteran is also returning to The American Express in Camilo Villegas. Villegas had a tremendous run a year ago, where he finished T7.

SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: The American Express is the second event that players can participate in to earn points towards the Aon Swing 5 for the earliest part of the calendar year. The top five FedExCup points earners in the Sony Open, The American Express, Farmers Insurance Open and WM Phoenix Open will earn spots in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am via the Aon Swing 5. … With his solo third at the Sony Open, Patrick Rodgers leads the way, followed by Lee Hodges and Davis Riley, who finished T6 in Hawaii. … Jake Knapp is also in the mix along with Pierceson Coody, S.H. Kim, Kevin Roy and Sudarshan Yellamaraju, who notched a top-15 finish Sunday in his debut as a PGA TOUR member.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points.

COURSE: Three courses will once again be in use for The American Express.

• Pete Dye Stadium Course: 7,210 yards, par 72
• La Quinta Country Club: 7,060 yards, par 72
• Nicklaus Tournament Course: 7,147 yards, par 72

Players will rotate across the three venues from Thursday through Saturday, followed by a 54-hole cut to the top 65 players and ties. The final round will be played at the Pete Dye Stadium Course. The American Express is known for low scores, with an average winning total of 26 under across the last seven iterations. The field is greeted with a desert landscape and player-friendly conditions in accordance with the pro-am format.

72-HOLE RECORD: 259, Nick Dunlap (2024)

18-HOLE RECORDS: 59, David Duval (Round 5, 1999 at PGA WEST/Palmer), Adam Hadwin (Round 3, 2017 at La Quinta CC); Stadium Course record: 61, Patrick Cantlay (Round 4, 2021); Nicklaus Tournament record: 61, Will Zalatoris (Round 2, 2022), Sam Burns (Round 2, 2024)

LAST TIME: Sepp Straka’s 2-under Sunday effort was enough to hold off a hard-charging Justin Thomas to capture The American Express in 2025. Straka had fired back-to-back rounds of 8 under heading into the finale and was steady when he needed to be in the final round, birding three of his first seven holes. He went bogey free for the week until the 70th hole of the tournament and at that point, his win was inevitable.

Thomas finished runner-up, while Justin Lower and Jason Day finished tied for third, three shots back of Straka.