2026 American Express: 3 major storylines to know

The PGA Tour has returned stateside this week for the American Express and there are a number of amazing things happening.

Chris Gotterup took home the first event of the season at the Sony Open in Hawaii, but who will join him? Will we get a new winner so early? Will it be a familiar face? There are a lot of questions to answer.

Here are 3 storylines to pay attention to.

This is a unique event on the PGA Tour as there are a lot of moving parts. Literally.

It is one of two events that involves a pro-am format (obviously Pebble Beach) and one of four (Pebble, the Farmers Insurance Open, and the RSM) that is played across multiple courses.

Players will rotate between PGA West’s Pete Dye Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament Course, and La Quinta Country Club across the first three days where they will be playing with amateurs. The low 65 and ties will then play as professionals on Sunday t the Stadium Course to round things out.

It is impossible to talk about professional golf these days and not bring up the number one player in the world. Scottie Scheffler will indeed be in the field and it is particularly interesting after he missed the event last year while dealing with his hand injury.

Scheffler’s best finish at the American Express was third all the way back in 2020, well before he achieved the status that he currently holds. As Scheffler is sitting on 19 career PGA Tour victories at the moment a win would make him the first player since Tiger Woods to reach 20 before the age of 30. Tiger’s 20th win notably came at the 2000 U.S. Open when he was 24… Scottie is 29 for context.

This week will mark the return of Will Zalatoris and it will be the first time we see him since May of last year as he underwent back surgery to deal with herniated discs. It is going to be his first start since last season’s PGA Championship.

Zalatoris had 3 different top-25 finishes last season before having to cut the year short, but his best finish at the American Express specifically was a tie for sixth back in 2022. The event will serve as his 99th start on the PGA Tour.