Three of the six top players in the Official World Golf Ranking including the reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler are among the early commitments to the American Express in January.
These three players give the desert’s PGA Tour event a strong starting point to matching its field from January last year, when 16 out of the 50 top ranking players played in the professional desert tournament.
Scheffler was 25th in the 2022 American Express. Scheffler won four of the next seven tournaments, including the Masters, and rose to No. He was ranked No. 1 in the ranking and became one of the most highly-regarded players in golf. Scheffler currently ranks second in the world, behind Rory McIlroy.
Patrick Cantlay is the FedEx Cup champion in 2021. He has also made an early commitment. Cantlay is number 4. The ranking was 4th and Cantlay was also the runner up in 2020 American Express. No. 6 Xander Schauffele was a three-time winner of the 2021-22 season. Schauffele won in the Zurich Classic team competition with Cantlay in 2022.
Brendan Steele said, “I really enjoy going out there and playing,” and he joined the tournament’s press conference on Wednesday via phone from Orange County. Steele is a native of Idyllwild, and considers the American Express his hometown event. “I went out with my dad last year and played a practice round. It’s a great place to go and such a fun place. The rotation is great.
The 64th edition of the tournament will take place Jan. 19-22, 2023 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course and Pete Dye Stadium Course, both at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club. This course is part of the 51st-year event’s three-course rotation. The event will feature 156 pros competing on the first three days, along with 156 amateurs who play the three courses one at a time. Sunday’s final round will see the Stadium Course being played by the lowest 65 pros and ties.
Tony Finau, who was a three-time winner of the 2022 World Cup and No. Sungjae im, ranked 19th worldwide, is 12th in the rankings.
The purse will increase from $7.6m in 2022 to $8m, and the winner will earn $1.44m next month. Pat McCabe, tournament executive director, said that he hopes Wednesday’s announcements are not the last big names the tournament will encounter in the next six weeks.
McCabe stated, “We are thrilled by the caliber and excitement of the players, as well as the (Southern California), ties with Xander or Patrick.” There is so much going on in golf right now, but we are glad to have them there for fans. They are also welcome to join our pro-am players.
McCabe said, “We are excited about those four, however we also have five past champions.” You take Sungjae and you get half the International Presidents Cup team. You can see that the list is solid beyond these marquee names as you begin to look at it. As the schedules of the guys start to take shape, we will have more announcements in the coming weeks. They should plan this month.
Two nights of concerts will be held at PGA West’s driving range. Gwen Stefani will perform Friday night, and Darius Rucker will perform Saturday.
The 2022 champion Hudson Swafford and the 2023 host Phil Mickelson will not be playing in 2023. Both Mickelson and Swafford signed earlier this year to be on the LIV tour rival and were therefore exempt from PGA Tour events.
