Xander Schauffele withdraws unexpectedly from PGA Tour event

Xander Schauffele has withdrawn from this week's American Express.

The PGA Tour star was the highest-ranked player in the field. 

No reason has been given yet as to why the two-time major champ has decided not to play. 

He has been replaced in the field by Philip Knowles, the official PGA Tour communications department confirmed on Monday. 

Schauffele's decision to withdraw comes less than a week after he made his TGL debut. 

The reigning Open champion played in the first match of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's simulator golf league last Thursday in Florida. 

Woods, 49, makes his debut in the new venture tomorrow.

Some golf fans were speculating whether Schauffele's withdrawal may have been linked to tiredness. 

Schauffele represented the New York team alongside Rickie Fowler and Matthew Fitzpatrick. 

The trio were convincingly beaten 9-2 by The Bay's Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Aberg. 

There were also the inevitable rumours linking the American with a switch to LIV Golf on the eve of the breakaway tour's third full season. 

The American Express begins on Thursday. 

The 156-man field will play a three-course rotation at La Quinta, with a cut after Saturday's third round. 

The top 65 and ties will play Sunday's final round at the Pete Dye Stadium Course. 

Nick Dunlap is the defending champion. 

Dunlap won the long-running Tour stop 12 months ago as an amateur. 

He was the first player to do so since Phil Mickelson in 1991. 

The American Express is also without World No.1 Scottie Scheffler. 

Scheffler cut his hand over the Christmas holidays and needed surgery to remove shards of glass. 

He was expected to return this week but has delayed his comeback.

American Express field 2025

Andersen, Mason
Berger, Daniel
Bezuidenhout, Christiaan
Bridgeman, Jacob
Brown, Blades +
Bryan, Wesley +
Buckley, Hayden
Burgoon, Bronson
Burns, Sam
Campbell, Brian
Campos, Rafael
Cantlay, Patrick
Capan III, Frankie
Castillo, Ricky
Cauley, Bud
Chandler, Will
Clark, Wyndham
Cole, Eric
Cone, Trevor
Cummins, Quade
Dahmen, Joel
Davis, Cam
Day, Jason
Del Solar, Cristobal
Dickson, Taylor
Dufner, Jason
Dunlap, Nick
Echavarria, Nico
English, Harris
Finau, Tony
Fishburn, Patrick
Fisk, Steven
Fowler, Rickie
Garnett, Brice
Gerard, Ryan
Ghim, Doug
Glover, Lucas
Goodwin, Noah
Gordon, Will
Gotterup, Chris
Greyserman, Max
Griffin, Ben
Griffin, Lanto
Grillo, Emiliano
Haas, Bill
Hadley, Chesson +
Hadwin, Adam
Hall, Harry
Hardy, Nick
Harman, Brian
Higgs, Harry
Highsmith, Joe
Hisatsune, Ryo
Hodges, Lee
Hoey, Rico
Hoffman, Charley
Hoge, Tom
Horschel, Billy
Hoshino, Rikuya
Hossler, Beau
Hubbard, Mark
Hughes, Mackenzie
Im, Sungjae
Johnson, Zach +
Kanaya, Takumi
Kim, Chan
Kim, Michael
Kim, Si Woo
Kim, Tom
Kirk, Chris
Kisner, Kevin
Kitayama, Kurt
Kizzire, Patton
Knapp, Jake
Kohles, Ben
Kuchar, Matt
Lashley, Nate
Lee, K.H.
Lipsky, David
List, Luke
Lower, Justin
Malnati, Peter
Manassero, Matteo
Martin, Ben
McCarthy, Denny
McCarty, Matt
McGreevy, Max
Meissner, Mac
Mendoza, Kyle #
Mitchell, Keith
Molinari, Francesco
Montgomery, Taylor
Moore, Taylor
Mouw, William
Mullinax, Trey
Norlander, Henrik
Norrman, Vincent
Novak, Andrew
Onishi, Kaito
Pak, John
Palmer, Ryan
Paul, Jeremy
Perez, Victor
Peterson, Paul
Phillips, Chandler
Poston, J.T.
Potgieter, Aldrich
Putnam, Andrew
Ramey, Chad
Reavie, Chez +
Riedel, Matthew
Riley, Davis
Rodgers, Patrick
Rosenmueller, Thomas
Roy, Kevin
Rozner, Antoine
Ryder, Sam
Salinda, Isaiah
Schauffele, Xander
Schenk, Adam
Schmid, Matti
Sigg, Greyson
Silverman, Ben
Skinns, David
Smalley, Alex
Snedeker, Brandt
Spaun, J.J.
Stevens, Sam
Straka, Sepp
Streelman, Kevin +
Suber, Jackson
Svensson, Adam
Svensson, Jesper
Taylor, Nick
Thomas, Justin
Thompson, Davis
Thorbjornsen, Michael
Thornberry, Braden
Todd, Brendon
Tosti, Alejandro
Valimaki, Sami
van Rooyen, Erik
Vegas, Jhonattan
Velo, Kevin
Ventura, Kris
Villegas, Camilo
Walker, Danny
Whaley, Vince
Widing, Tim
Willett, Danny
Young, Cameron
Young, Carson
Yu, Kevin
Zalatoris, Will

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