In what might be the strongest field in the tournament in decades, next week’s American Express PGA Tour event in La Quinta will feature eight of the top 13 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, led by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler is one of five players ranked in the top 10 who will play in the four-day, three-course, $9.2 million event. Others include No. 5 Russell Henley, No. 7 Robert MacIntyre, No. 8 Ben Griffin and No. 10 Justin Rose. Justin Thomas, ranked ninth and who finished second in the tournament last year, will not be in this year's tournament because of recent back surgery.

Scheffler had played in The American Express each year since 2020 but missed last year's tournament after hand surgery because of a kitchen accident on Christmas Day. He returns to the desert tournament off a year that saw him win two majors, the PGA Championship and the British Open, in addition to four other events on the PGA Tour. Scheffler has won the PGA Tour player of the year award four consecutive years.

Sepp Straka, the 2025 American Express champion, is ranked 12th in the world and is back in the field along with No. 11 Harris English and No. 13 Alex Noren. Others in the top 25 of the OWGR include Ludvig Aberg (18th), former U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick (21st), Sam Burns (24th) and Patrick Cantlay (25th). That gives the tournament 12 of the top 25 players in the rankings, compared to eight of the top 25 in 2025 when both Scheffler and Xander Schauffele had committed to the event but withdrew with injuries. The 2026 event has 27 of the top 50 players in the rankings.

The tournament features a finalized field of 156 pros, making it the largest event on the PGA Tour in 2026 as other fields shrink under new PGA Tour regulations. The large field is possible because The American Express is the only event on tour playing three courses and with a 54-hole cut. The tournament is played on the Pete Dye Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club.

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Pat McCabe, executive director of The American Express, said there is no doubt his tournament’s field has been helped by the cancellation of The Sentry, traditionally the season-opening event in Hawaii. The Sentry was canceled for 2026 because of drought and water delivery issues on Maui.

“I think because of that change in schedule we have seen an influx of players who maybe wouldn’t historically play our event, and we are thankful for that,” McCabe said. “Guys like Adam Scott, guys like Max Homa, we actually did just get Ludvig Aberg. So I think that’s got something to do with it.

“But again, as I talk about all of the time, we’ve got a phenomenal board of directors at Impact Through Golf that are so influential in this community and around the country, a phenomenal title sponsor in American Express that these players have got a relationship with,” McCabe added.

Scott, Aberg and Fitzpatrick will be making their first starts in The American Express next week as well as making their 2026 debuts. Homa has played in the desert tournament just once.

Other top names in the field include past major champions winners Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman and other top 50 players including Min Woo Lee, Sungjae Im and Akshay Bhatia. High-profile players just outside of the top 50 committed to The American Express include Bill Horschel, Jason Day and Scott.

Other well-known golfers in the field include Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, Tom Kim and PGA Tour U graduate from 2025 Luke Clanton. Past champions in the field include Si Woo Kim, Jhonnatan Vegas, Adam Long, Andrew Landry, Jason Dufner, Charley Hoffman and Nick Dunlap, who won the tournament in 2024 as an amateur, making him the first amateur to win on the tour in PGA Tour in 33 years.

Sepp Straka looks down at his ball before his tee time on one of the Pete Dye Stadium Course during the final round of The American Express at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025.

The tournament gave three of its four sponsor’s exemptions to Blades Brown, who made his professional debut at 17 at the tournament last year, and tour veterans Zach Johnson and Camillo Villegas.

The field could still change before next week. The tournament still has one sponsor’s exemption it can hand out and any golfer finishing in the top 10 at the Sony Open in Hawaii who is not already in The American Express.

McCabe says the strong field in 2026 is not particularly American Express’ response to talk of the PGA Tour cutting back on tournaments in 2027. McCabe said the field is just the latest step in The American Express improving its fields since American Express joined the tournament as title sponsor in 2020, the first year a young rising Scheffler played in the event.

The Beers for Birdies box, now placed for a view of the 16th green as well as 17, at the PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Course in La Quinta, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.

“I still think the PGA Tour and the powers that be are identifying what the future will look like and again, as we have discussed before, we haven’t heard anything,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: American Express field includes top PGA star Scottie Scheffler