Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Rankings and the winner of nine tournaments worldwide this year, will return to the desert in January for the 66th annual The American Express PGA Tour event in La Quinta.
The American Express also officially announced that Nick Dunlap, who became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event with his one-shot victory in La Quinta last January, has also officially entered the 2025 tournament.
Scheffler and Dunlap join a growing list of committed players to The American Express, to be played Jan. 16-19 at three courses in La Quinta. Billy Horschel and Sam Burns, both top-20 players in the world, and Tom Kim, ranked 21th in the world, have announced they will play in the event at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club.
Scheffler’s ninth win of the year came Sunday in the Hero World Challenge thanks to a final-round 63. Now a winner of 13 official PGA Tour events in the last three seasons, Scheffler’s 2024 included his second Masters title as well as wins at The Players Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial. In addition to the win at the unofficial Hero tournament, Scheffler won the gold medal at the Paris Summer Olympics in men’s golf. Scheffler earned just over $29 million in official money for the season.
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His year was also known for his arrest while trying to get into the player’s entrance at the PGA Championship in Kentucky in May. Scheffler eventually was booked on four charges, but returned to the course to play his second round. A few weeks later, charges against Scheffler were dropped.
Scheffler will be playing in his sixth The American Express event, the first coming in 2020 when he finished third.
Dunlap, the 2023 U.S. Amateur champion, earned several notable firsts in his 2024 season, including his first PGA Tour win while playing The American Express as an amateur and a sponsor’s invitee. He turned pro just days after the victory and played 23 events. In July, Dunlap won the Barracuda Championship in Truckee, becoming the first golfer in tour history to win as an amateur and as a pro in the same calendar year.
Tickets for The American Express are now available at theamexgolf.com. The week includes concerts on the PGA West driving range after play on Friday and Saturday. Country band Little Big Town will perform Friday while Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Journey will perform Saturday.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler commits to American Express in La Quinta