Masters champ Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay lead early commitments to American Express

Three of the top six players in the Official World Golf Rankings, including reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, are among the early commitments for The American Express PGA Tour event in La Quinta next month.

Those three players give the desert’s PGA Tour event a strong start to matching its field from last January, when 16 of the top 50 players in the rankings played in the desert's professional tournament.

Scheffler participated in the 2022 American Express, finishing 25th. But it was what Scheffler did after The American Express, winning four of his next seven tournaments including the Masters and rising to No. 1 in the rankings, that elevated him to one of the most sought-after players in golf. Scheffler is currently ranked second in the world behind Rory McIlroy.

Patrick Cantlay, the 2021 FedEx Cup champion, is also an early commitment to the La Quinta tournament. Cantlay is No. 4 in the rankings and the runner-up in the 2020 American Express. Another early commit is No. 6 Xander Schauffele, a three-time winner in the 2021-22 season. One of Schauffele's victories in 2022 came in the team competition at the Zurich Classic along with Cantlay.

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"I really enjoy coming out there and playing," said Brendan Steele, who joined the tournament's media day on Wednesday by phone from his home in Orange County. Steele grew up in Idyllwild and considers The American Express his hometown tournament. "I came out last year early with my dad and did a practice round early and it's just such a nice place to go and a fun place to play. I really enjoy the rotation the way it is."

The 64th American Express will be played Jan 19-22 at the Pete Dye Stadium Course and the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club, which is part of the event's three-course rotation for the 51st year. The event will again feature 156 pros playing the first three days with 156 amateurs, each playing the three courses once each. Sunday’s final round will feature the low 65 pros and ties playing the Stadium Course.

Top players from around the world

Also among the early commitments to The American Express are Tony Finau, a three-time winner in 2022 and No. 12 in the rankings, and Sungjae Im, who is ranked 19th in the world.

The tournament also announced a purse increase to $8 million, from $7.6 million in 2022, with the winner next month earning $1.44 million.

Tournament executive director Pat McCabe said he hopes the announcements Wednesday are not the only big names the tournament will see in six weeks.

"We're excited by the caliber of the players, we are excited by the (Southern California) ties with Xander and Patrick," McCabe said. "There is a lot going on in the world of golf right now , but we are happy to have them here, too, for the fans. We are also happy to have them here for our pro-am participants.

"We are excited for those four, but we also have five past champions," McCabe added. "You take Sungjae, you take half of the International Presidents Cup team. So you start going down the list and it is pretty darn solid beyond those marquee names. In the next couple of weeks, we hope to have some more announcements as guys' schedules take shape. This month is really the time for them to plan that."

The tournament will also feature two nights of concerts on the driving range at PGA West. The Friday concert will be pop star Gwen Stefani, while the Saturday concert will feature country star Darius Rucker.

Not playing in 2023 will be the 2022 champion, Hudson Swafford, or the host of the tournament the last three years, World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson. Both Mickelson and Swafford signed earlier this year to play on the rival LIV tour and are suspended from playing in PGA Tour events.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Masters champ Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele join American Express field