The American Express 2026 preview, picks & analysis

Scottie Scheffler makes his long-awaited return to competitive action at this week’s American Express. Putting aside the Hero World Challenge, he has not been seen since the Ryder Cup - a week he will not want to remember. And his last proper 72-hole tournament was the Procore Championship - which he won!

So will the world number one be rusty or will he carry on where he left off last year? My money is on the world number one continuing to dominate the PGA Tour in the year that lies ahead of us and I fully expect him to be there or thereabouts this week.

This will be Scheffler’s sixth AmEx, though he missed last year’s tournament while recovering from a freak hand injury. He finished a career-best third in his debut in 2020 and boasts three straight top-25 finishes after a missed cut in 2021.

Joining Scheffler in playing are Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, Ben Griffin, Justin Rose and Sepp Straka, who is the defending champion. Will Zalatoris will also make his return from injury, having not competed on the PGA Tour since last year’s PGA Championship because of a back injury that required surgery.

Last year’s field featured just two top-10 players.

While Rory McIlroy and Scheffler rightly grabbed most of the headlines in 2025, surely the golfer who can feel most satisfied with his year was English veteran Rose. At an age when he could be forgiven for having an eye on the Champions Tour, he nearly won The Masters, only losing out to McIlroy in a playoff. He has turned down the chance to captain Europe at next year’s Ryder Cup because he is utterly convinced that he still has something to offer the team as a player - and it is difficult to argue with him.

He began the year ranked 52nd in the world and ended it in 10th place. It all started to turn around for him at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which was won by McIlroy. Rose finished tied third. He then finished tied eighth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before his runner-up finish at Augusta National. Rose was sixth at the Scottish Open, tied 16th at The Open and won the FedEx St Jude.

I have to say that I have been surprised that MacIntyre has opted to begin his season on the PGA Tour, choosing to miss the Dubai Invitational and Dubai Desert Classic. Last year was a big one for the Scot. He finished second at the US Open after JJ Spaun holed that unlikely putt on the final green, starred for Europe at the Ryder Cup and then came home and claimed the weather-affected Dunhill Links at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews. His commitment to the PGA Tour indicates his determination to take his career to the next level and I will be extremely surprised if he does not add to his Canadian Open title in 2026. MacIntyre is sneaky long and also possesses a world-class short game.

Luke Clanton has some way to go before making in into the top 10 in the world rankings but is determined to do so. You will remember that Bryson DeChambeau famously gained a huge amount of distance by bulking up. He employed some extreme measures before finally realising he had taken things too far.

Surprisingly, Clanton has also been focusing on putting on weight during the off-season in an effort to find more distance. And to do so he has been eating huge amounts of food in an effort to improve his stamina.

He has been speaking to the PGA Tour and said: "I just need to help the body out, recovery-wise."

Clanton played an abbreviated rookie season last year and decided that if he was to compete with the world’s best on a constant level then he had to put on up to 15 pounds. His target is to reach 180 pounds. He says that all the walking and travel involved in competing on the PGA Tour actually make it extremely difficult to maintain your weight, never mind increase it. And he says that stress does not help either.

Much of Clanton’s early success on the PGA Tour came before he officially acquired membership. He had a pair of runner-up finishes during a stretch in the summer of 2024 while away from college. That put him on the brink of status through the Tour’s University Accelerated Program, which he secured early in 2025 with made cuts at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Cognizant Classic. 

He turned pro in June and began playing full-time at the RBC Canadian Open, but made just eight of 13 cuts and registered just one top-30 finish. It was partly the fickle nature of the sport, as he couldn’t align all parts of his game in the same week. 

"Travel is the hardest thing out of all of this," Clanton said. "You know, I think, the golf kind of stays the same, but travelling in and out three weeks in a row, four weeks in a row, it's definitely different.

"I have a great trainer who’s been helping me out a lot. I mean, I'm 165 pounds, so I know if I put on a few pounds, maybe if I have had to swing at 80 per cent, now I can swing at 60 per cent and produce the same numbers.

"I am going to be just shoving down food. It's going to be brutal. We were talking about calorie intake and how many meals I need and I was like, it's got to be five meals a day. So I'm going to feel fat for a couple weeks, but I'm excited, I mean, that's something that I've always kind of wanted to do and I've never really had time to do. So this offseason has been fun, just a lot of food."

It will be fascinating to see if it all pays off for a golfer who has all the tools to become one of the best on the planet.

Twelve months ago, Austria's Sepp Straka picked up his third PGA Tour title, winning the American Express by two shots. He had an astonishing week, only dropping his first shot at the 16th and then adding another at the last when the tournament was already in the bag.

It ended his hopes of breaking the tournament scoring record. Nevertheless, he still finished on 25 under par after a final round of 70.

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2016 by Jason Dufner, in 2017 and 2022 by Hudson Swafford, in 2018 and 2023 by Jon Rahm, in 2019 by Adam Long, in 2020 by Andrew Landry, in 2021 by Si-woo Kim, in 2024 by Nick Dunlap and last year by Sepp Straka.

The Course:

PGA West was designed by Pete Dye and has had a facelift since last year. It is a par 72 measuring 7,300 yards. It’s a Pete Dye course, so you know that means there are plenty of water hazards and a great deal of sand. But the fairways are generous, so expect some spectacular scoring. The standout holes are the island green 17th and the fearsome 18th, which also features a lot of water.

Prize Money:

The total prize fund is $8.5m with the winner collecting $1.5m and 500 FedEx Cup points.

How You Can Watch:

Thursday, January 22, Friday, January 23, Saturday, January 24, Sunday, January 25, Sky Sports Golf, 4.30pm.

To Win:

Scottie Scheffler. Who else?

Each Way:

Robert MacIntyre. Has moved to a different level

Each Way:

Sam Burns. World-class

Five to Follow:

Scottie Scheffler. Looking to win here for th first time

Robert MacIntyre. Great Scot

Sam Burns. Does everything so well

Ben Griffin. Had a dream 2025

Justin Rose. Evergreen

Five Outsiders to Watch:

Luke Clanton. Has a massive future ahead of him

Joel Dahmen. Needs to make the most of his chances

Max Homa. Make or break year

Matt Kuchar. Can he be a contender again?

David Lipsky. Has his moments