Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm headline strong American Express field
10 of the top 19 players in the world will tee it up at La Quinta next week with the World No.2 Scottie Scheffler headlining the field.
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and Sentry Tournament of Champions winner Jon Rahm will headline a strong field at The American Express in California next week.
Scheffler and Rahm will be joined by Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris at La Quinta. The event will have an $8 million prize purse, $12 million less than the average fund of the new Elevated Events in 2023.
Rahm won for the eighth time on the PGA Tour last week in Maui, shooting 10-under in the final round at the Plantation Course to capitalise on a collapse by Collin Morikawa.
In 2022, the Spaniard was seen and heard describing the set-up at The American Express as a "putting contest." The former World No.1 came tied 14th this time 12 months ago.
Rahm won the event in 2018. The PGA Tour announced the field on Friday and players can still qualify with a win at this week's Sony Open or a top-10 finish.
Five of the top seven players in the Official World Golf Ranking are committed to The American Express (January 19-22):
No. 2 Scottie Scheffler
No. 4 Patrick Cantlay
No. 5 Jon Rahm
No. 6 Xander Schauffele
No. 7 Will Zalatoris
Full field: pic.twitter.com/Xb9SsJevvv— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) January 13, 2023
Tony Finau, Sam Burns, Tom Kim, Cameron Young and Sungjae Im also add depth to the field in what will be just the third PGA Tour event of 2023.
Five of the top seven players in the world will play the three courses La Quinta has to offer next week. Last year's renewal, which was won by Hudson Swafford for the second time in his career, had only two top-10 players and a purse of $7,600,00.
Jason Day, Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Stewart Cink and US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson are all set to compete too, while Rickie Fowler is also set to appear for the fourth year in a row.
"It is great weather, it is of course the support of American Express and the title sponsorship that they have brought to the table, that helps," said Pat McCabe, the executive director of The American Express.
"Some of these guys have been coming for years and they have built relationships with some of our pro-am players or they are able to use all of the great amenities here in the Coachella Valley."
