The American Express Preview

Sports Illustrated Golf's John Schwarb is breaking down the top storylines from The American Express from The La Quinta Country Club.

Transcript

00:00 This is John Ford with SI Golf.

00:02 After a couple glorious weeks in Hawaii, the PGA Tour comes to the mainland for the West Coast Swing and a stop in the California desert,

00:09 which has more great scenery on your TV if it's frosty outside your window.

00:13 The American Express is one of the Tour's more unique events, contested over three courses at the PGA West in a Pro-Am format.

00:20 The pros play one round on each of the three courses, and then a cut is made for Sunday,

00:24 when everyone takes on the Pete Dye Stadium course to chop up the $8.4 million purse.

00:29 Some 22 of the top 50 in the world rankings are here this week, which isn't bad given the spot on the schedule.

00:35 Scotty Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, and Wyndham Clark are top 10 players teeing it up.

00:40 As for other notables, remember Daniel Berger?

00:43 The four-time Tour winner and 2021 Ryder Cup member has been out for 18 months with a bad back but is returning this week.

00:50 He's playing as a Southern California PGA Section champion, meaning we'll see him next week at Torrey Pines, too.

00:56 Who is not here? The defending champion John Rom, who of course has left for Lyft.

01:01 The Amex winner before that, Hudson Swafford, is also with Lyft, so the most recent champ in the field is 2021 winner Si Woo Kim.

01:08 Enjoy this week in the desert, with tons of birdies and more I Wish I Was There views.