Scottie Scheffler makes his 2026 debut amid palm trees and desert at The American Express

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Scottie Scheffler always keeps score. His most recent competition before starting the PGA Tour season was at home in Dallas when Si Woo Kim took some cash off the world's No. 1 player, only to have to give most of it back from a separate game.

Scheffler has been competing without big consequences during his long offseason. Now the score counts for 156 players — the largest domestic field of regular PGA Tour stops this year — at The American Express when it starts Thursday over three courses.

The practice range at PGA West was unusually busy on Monday, and it only got more crowded the next two days. There is new equipment to try, but mainly it's the final check on whatever tweaks or improvements have been made.

''I love playing this event to start,'' Scheffler said. ''You get a good gauge of where you're at just based upon you're not really playing in so many conditions, and you've got to be sharp around this place in order to make enough birdies to compete.''

Scheffler is golf's best player for a reason. Along with two majors among his six PGA Tour titles last year, he hasn't finished out of the top 10 since last March. And yet as much as he loves coming to the California desert, he hasn't had a top 10 at The American Express since his first time in 2020.

The largest field in a year when the PGA Tour is shrinking is a product of players being spread out over PGA West (Nicklaus and Palmer tournament courses) and La Quinta Country Club.

It's also the strongest field in more than two decades for this tournament, highlighted by Scheffler and including 13 of the top 30 in the world ranking.

''It's more tournament rust,'' former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark said.

He has spent the last two years starting his season at Kapalua for The Sentry, a winners-only field plus the top 50 from the FedEx Cup. It was a relaxing start to the year with wide fairways, gorgeous views and a small field. It was canceled this year over a water dispute that burned out the Plantation course in September.

''You prefer Kapalua because you're playing the Tournament of Champions,'' Clark said. ''But I like starting here. You're guaranteed three rounds, you have good weather, you kind of play in a dome, so you get to see where your game is at.''

Clark played in the Bahamas and the mixed-team event in Florida. Scheffler played only the Hero World Challenge the last three months of the season, spending more time in the gym to get healthy and to feel rested. Justin Rose can claim to have some form of competition — he made an albatross in the TGL match Tuesday night in Florida.

Ludvig Aberg has gone two months since playing Dubai in the European tour finale, working at home in Florida with a brief trip to Sweden.

He is a newcomer to this tournament, but not the area. Aberg said the Nicklaus Tournament course looked familiar when he saw it, perhaps from playing a casual round when Texas Tech was in town to play a college tournament elsewhere. Courses don't often stand out in this oasis — manicured green grass, white sand, brown desert and dormant grass outside the ropes, blue water from all the various hazards — and great weather.

Sepp Straka is the defending champion — this is the 50-year anniversary of Johnny Miller being the last back-to-back winner of this tournament.

It was the start of a great year for Straka, who went on to win a signature event and play in his second Ryder Cup (both European victories). Aberg went the other direction, winning a signature event at Torrey Pines and then not getting another great result until beating Patrick Cantlay in a pivotal singles match at the Ryder Cup.

''Last year was interesting,'' he said. "Somewhere between Torrey and Augusta I started swinging it not very good. There were some technical tendencies I've been working on and tired to figure out. I've always just done it and then it happens, whereas now I feel like I have a lot more knowledge and understanding. So 2025 was great for that.

''But I'm excited to feel the adrenaline and the juices,'' he said, ''and this is best place to do that.''