Weekly PGA Recap: All Aboard the Scheffler Express

In Scottie Scheffler's historic run of dominance the past few years, there was one accomplishment that had eluded him: a win in his first start of a season.

Well, bad news, golfers -- as if you needed anymore where Scheffler is concerned -- the world No. 1 can cross that off his to-do list.

Scheffler cruised to victory at The American Express on Sunday, by four strokes over a quartet of golfers, including Jason Day, who, as odd as this may sound, really should have won this tournament. We'll explain in a bit.

As is the case every time Scheffler wins these days, there are a number of historical reference points. Most notably, this was his 20th career win, earning him lifetime membership on the PGA Tour. He is the 40th player to reach that milestone.

It took Scheffler 151 starts to reach 20 wins, second to only Tiger Woods since 1970. Woods did it in 95 starts. By comparison, it took Rory McIlroy 205 starts.

Scheffler is also the first player since Woods to reach 20 wins before turning 30 years old, and his 1,442 days between winning his first and 20th tournaments are second to Woods, who needed 1,351 days.

Naturally, in his victory news conference he was asked a comparison question about Woods, and Jack Nicklaus.

"I mean, any time you can get mentioned with those guys it means you're doing some stuff right," Scheffler said. "At the end of the day it's not something that will occupy many of my thoughts day-to-day. When I was thinking about getting ready for this week I was just trying to prepare and do the best that I could. Hopefully we'll get out of here tonight and get ready to gear up again, get some rest, and then get ready to kind of do it all over again in a couple weeks. I don't spend too much time thinking about the milestones or anything like that."

Scheffler will take this coming week off and return two weeks from now in Phoenix.

He won eight times two years ago and six times last year in a season shortened a bit by the hand surgery he underwent after that Christmas dinner accident.

Adding that all up, Scheffler has won 15 times in 43 starts since the beginning of 2024. So while it seems he wins almost every time out, he doesn't, and not even close.. But when you look at each tournament individually, it's obvious to think he can and will win.

On the other hand, now that he won his first start of 2026, he still has a chance to run the table and win every week. He had never before won his first start in a season. 

"There's always a certain amount of rust when it comes to playing competitive golf," Scheffler said. "I think you come out here, you can simulate as best you can at home, but you can only get into the heat of the moment when you're posting a score and you're in contention when you're at a tournament."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Jason Day
It's not often when a golfer loses by four shots that you can say he should've won the tournament. But here us out. Day opened with a 63 on Thursday at the Stadium Course, by far the hardest among the three tracks in play at the Amex. Then he shot 64 there on Sunday. That was a whopping seven strokes better than Scheffler shot on the Stadium. But Day managed only a 71 (at La Quinta) and 67 (at Nicklaus) the other two days. Guys were shooting 62s and 63s there. So Day easily could've/should've found four or five more shots those two days. All that said, this was a great start to the season for Day, who didn't win in 2024 or '25 and had fallen out of the top-50 in the world. He led the field in both Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and Putting. Day is now back up to 33rd in the OWGR, virtually assuring a spot at the Masters.

Ryan Gerard
Two tournaments into 2026, two runners-up. And if you count Gerard's final start of 2025 in South Africa, that's three straight second-place showings, That's good, right? Unless you're Scheffer, yes. Gerard was also solo second last week at the Sony. He had a very good 2025 season, one in which he made it to the second playoff event. But he was held back from an even better season by his putter with a ranking of 154th in SG: Putting. So far in two tournaments in 2026, Gerard is ranked 32nd in putting. Obviously a very small sample size. But if he can just be in the top-100 in putting, he would win tournaments.

Matt McCarty
McCarty shared runner-up and now stands at a career-high 34th in the OWGR. He had a strong finish to 2025, finishing 14th in Japan, third in Utah and eighth at the Australian Open. And now this, after a T55 at the Sony. McCarty ranked 17th in putting last season but only 116th on approach. Through two starts this season, he's ranked 29th on approach.

Andrew Putnam
Putnam finished last season 114th in the FedExCup Standings. So getting starts won't be easy. But securing a share of second place at The Amex -- his best finish on Tour in more than three years -- will help immensly. He's now third in the latest Aon Swing 5, which covers two more tournaments and will send five players to the Pebble Beach Signature Event next month.

Si Woo Kim
Kim was the 54-hole leader but could muster only an even-par 72 on Sunday. The 2021 Amex winner wound up T6. Kim will be in all the Signature Events and probably all the majors. He moved up to No. 37 in the OWGR.

Sam Stevens
Stevens is off to a good start to 2026, with a T31 at the Sony and a T6 at The Amex. Now he heads to the Farmers, where he was runner-up last year. Stevens moved up to No. 40 in the OWGR.

Sahith Theegala
Theegala tied for eighth, his best showing on Tour since the 2024 Procore. Theegala spent much of last season injured, so this has to be a great boost to his confidence. He ranked third in The Amex field in SG: Putting.

Haotong Li
One of the 10 DP World Tour dual members, Li tied for eighth and now has made the cut in both starts this season. Li is up to No. 69 in the world rankings, certainly within range of the top-50 spot needed to qualify for the Masters.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay tied for 13th in his season debut. The clock continues to tick since his last win way back at the 2022 BMW Championship.

Wyndham Clark
It was a brutal 2025 for Clark, who had a mere two top-10s in 24 starts. At least one of them was at the Open Championship (T4). But he has a lot to prove that his great stretch spanning 2023 and '24, with three wins including a major, was not an aberration. Clark tied for 13th at The Amex, opening his season in the right way.

David Ford
The former North Carolina star has a PGA Tour card by virtue of winning the 2025 PGA Tour University race. He will have to perform better than he has to keep his card for next season. Ford opened with a T50 at the Sony and just added a T13 at The Amex, one of his best showings on Tour.

Blades Brown
Brown entered the final round a stroke off the lead, and what a story that would've been if the 18-year-old found a way to win. But paired with Scheffler, he blew up to a 2-over 74 and plummeted to a tie for 18th. That's still Brown's best showing on Tour and completed an incredible week. The phenom played the Korn Ferry event in the Bahamas from Sunday to Wednesday, tying for 17th, then flew to California for The Amex. Eight straight days of tournament golf is incredibly hard, maybe mentally more than physically.

Rickie Fowler
Fowler opened his 2026 season with a tie for 18th. Remember, he's coming off a bounceback season in which he finished top-50 in the standings to qualify for every Signature Event.

Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris' 2025 PGA Tour season ended after the PGA Championship in May due to another back surgery. He returned to make one start in South Africa in December. At The Amex, he tied for 18th. Encouraging, yes, but Zalatoris now has had two procedures on his back. So we shall see how he fares long-term.

MISSED CUTS

Justin Rose, Alex Noren, Tony Finau, Akshay Bhatia, Sepp Straka, Michael Thorbjornsen. These cuts were after 54 holes, so they weren't that terrible. Straka was the defending champion.

DP WORLD TOUR

Patrick Reed won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic by four shots over Andy Sullivan and a field that was far weaker than the one in last week's Dubai Invitational in which Reed finished 26th. This win was his first since the 2024 Hong Kong Open and moved him to 29th in the world -- a ranking that is not easy to attain for a LIV golfer. Reed of course will be in the Masters in April and should participate in all the majors this season.

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