THE AMERICAN EXPRESS HAS STARPOWER

by Publisher CoachellaValley | January 18, 2023 12:10 pm

PGA TOUR GOLF EVENT AT PGA WEST AND LA QUINTA COUNTRY CLUB, the American Express, was finalized on Friday with 153-of-156 players set for the 64^th-annual tournament January 19-22.

LA QUINTA, CALIF. – One of the best Iplayer fields in recent memory at The American Express was finalized on Friday with 153-of-156 players set for the 64^th-annual tournament from January 19-22.

As one of the PGA TOUR’s longest-tenured golf tournaments, The American Express is a 72-hole event – which also includes 156 amateurs over 54 holes (three rounds) – and its 2023 champion will earn $1,440,000 (from a record $8 million purse) and 500 FedExCup points.

“Ever since our title sponsor, American Express, came aboard in 2020, we have made it a top priority to elevate our field incrementally each year, and I think we are meeting that goal,” said Pat McCabe, Executive Director of The American Express.

“As we embark on our fourth iteration of The American Express next week, I believe we can make a claim to sporting the best field of any full-field event in the current PGA TOUR season to date.”

The American Express features five of the top seven golfers, including the top four American players, in the Official World Golf Ranking. Among the tournament’s leading golfers are reigning Masters champion and World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler; Long Beach native, UCLA product and World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay; World No. 5 Jon Rahm, the tournament’s 2018 winner and 2021 U.S. Open champion from Spain; World No. 6 Xander Schauffele, the Tokyo Olympics Gold medalist and seven-time PGA TOUR winner; and World No. 7 Will Zalatoris, the 2022 U.S. Open and 2022 PGA Championship runner-up.

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Also including 10 of the world’s top 19-ranked golfers, The American Express field is bolstered by World No. 12 Tony Finau, who has won three of his five PGA TOUR titles in the past six months, World No. 13 Sam Burns and World No. 14 Tom Kim, the 20-year-old Korean sensation. Burns won three of his four PGA TOUR titles in the 2021-22 season. After joining the PGA TOUR as a Special Temporary Member in July, Kim became the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice on TOUR before his 21^st birthday.

The American Express Record $8 Million Purse[2]

World No. 17 Cameron Young, the 2022 Arnold Palmer Award winner (PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year), and 2021-22 PGA TOUR FedExCup runner-up and two-time PGA TOUR winner Sungjae Im (World No. 19) are also committed to play.

The American Express plays across PGA WEST’s Stadium Course (host venue) and Nicklaus Tournament Course and celebrates its 51^st year of play at La Quinta Country Club from Thursday, Jan. 19 to Saturday, Jan. 21. The final round is played exclusively on the PGA WEST Stadium Course on Sunday, Jan. 22. It is the first PGA TOUR regular season event in the continental United States in 2023 and kicks off the TOUR’s West Coast swing.

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By the numbers, The American Express field features:

• Ten major champions – Scottie Scheffler (2022 Masters), Jon Rahm (2021 U.S. Open), Jimmy Walker (2016 PGA Championship), Danny Willett (2016 Masters), Zach Johnson (2007 Masters, 2015 Open Championship), Jason Day (2015 PGA Championship), Justin Rose (2013 U.S Open), Jason Dufner (2013 PGA Championship), Lucas Glover (2009 U.S. Open) and Stewart Cink (2009 Open Championship).
• Six Americans (Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young) and eight internationals (Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Cam Davis, Sungjae Im, Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, K.H. Lee, Sebastian Munoz and Taylor Pendrith) who played in the 2022 Presidents Cup.
• Fifteen golfers who reached The TOUR Championship last season and finished in the top 30 of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup playoffs – Scottie Scheffler and Sungjae Im (FedExCup runners-up), Xander Schauffele (No. 4 FedExCup), Patrick Cantlay (No. 7), Tony Finau (No. 9), Tom Hoge (No. 10), Corona, Calif. native Aaron Wise (No. 13), Jon Rahm and J.T. Poston (tie for No. 15), Cameron Young, World No. 23 Brian Harman (No. 21), Sam Burns (No. 24), K.H. Lee (No. 27), former Chino Hills, Calif. resident and 2020 Pepperdine graduate Sahith Theegala (No. 28) and Will Zalatoris (No. 30).
• Eight past tournament champions – Si Woo Kim (2021 champion), Andrew Landry (2020), Adam Long (2019), Jon Rahm (2018), Jason Dufner (2016), two-time winner Bill Haas (2010 and 2015 champion), Brian Gay (2013) and Jhonattan Vegas (2011).
• 78 PGA TOUR winners who have combined to win 220 PGA TOUR titles.

Other notable PGA TOUR stars in The American Express field include PGA TOUR fan favorite and Riverside County native Rickie Fowler and Idyllwild native and UC Riverside graduate Brendan Steele. Sponsor exemptions were awarded to Sung Jang, John Pak, Taiga Semikawa, Caleb Surratt and Gunner Wiebe.

The Southern California PGA section champion exemption into The American Express is Michael Block, who plays out of Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif. and last week was named the PGA of America’s 2022 national PGA Professional Player of the Year.

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Daily ticket options for The American Express are on sale at the tournament’s website, www.theamexgolf.com[6]. American Express Card Members receive a 20% discount on any online ticket price (terms apply).

2023 The American Express Final Field (153 of 156 players) as of Jan. 13, 2023

Albertson, Anders

Alexander, Tyson

An, Byeong Hun

Armour, Ryan

Barnes, Erik

Bezuidenhout, Christiaan

Blair, Zac

Block, Michael #

Bramlett, Joseph

Brehm, Ryan

Burmester, Dean

Burns, Sam

Cantlay, Patrick

Cink, Stewart

Clark, Wyndham

Cole, Eric

Cone, Trevor

Cook, Austin

Daffue, MJ

Dahmen, Joel

Davis, Cam

Day, Jason

Detry, Thomas

Dou, Zecheng

Dufner, Jason

Duncan, Tyler

Echavarria, Nico

Eckroat, Austin

Endycott, Harrison

English, Harris

Finau, Tony

Fowler, Rickie

Frittelli, Dylan

Garnett, Brice

Gay, Brian

Ghim, Doug

Gligic, Michael

Glover, Lucas

Gordon, Will

Goya, Tano

Grant, Brent

Griffin, Ben

Grillo, Emiliano

Haas, Bill

Hadley, Chesson

Hadwin, Adam

Hahn, James

Haley II, Paul

Hall, Harry

Harman, Brian

Harrington, Scott

Hickok, Kramer

Higgo, Garrick

Higgs, Harry

Hodges, Lee

Hoge, Tom

Hossler, Beau

Hubbard, Mark

Huh, John

Im, Sungjae

Jaeger, Stephan

Johnson, Zach

Kang, Sung +

Kim, Michael

Kim, S.H.

Kim, Si Woo

Kim, Tom

Kirk, Chris

Kizzire, Patton

Knowles, Philip

Knox, Russell

Kodaira, Satoshi

Laird, Martin

Landry, Andrew

Lashley, Nate

Lee, Danny

Lee, K.H.

Lingmerth, David

Lipsky, David

List, Luke

Long, Adam

Lower, Justin

Malnati, Peter

Martin, Ben

Matthews, Brandon

McCarthy, Denny

McGreevy, Max

Merritt, Troy

Mitchell, Keith

Montgomery, Taylor

Moore, Ryan

Moore, Taylor

Muñoz, Sebastián

NeSmith, Matthew

Norrman, Vincent

Novak, Andrew

Núñez, Augusto

Pak, John +

Pendrith, Taylor

Piercy, Scott

Poston, J.T.

Putnam, Andrew

Rahm, Jon

Rai, Aaron

Ramey, Chad

Reavie, Chez

Riley, Davis

Rodgers, Patrick

Rose, Justin

Roy, Kevin

Ryder, Sam

Sabbatini, Rory

Schauffele, Xander

Scheffler, Scottie

Schenk, Adam

Schmid, Matti

Schwab, Matthias

Semikawa, Taiga +

Shelton, Robby

Sigg, Greyson

Smalley, Alex

Stanley, Kyle

Steele, Brendan

Stevens, Sam

Streb, Robert

Stroud, Chris

Stuard, Brian

Suh, Justin

Surratt, Caleb +

Tarren, Callum

Taylor, Ben

Taylor, Nick

Theegala, Sahith

Thompson, Davis

Thompson, Michael

Todd, Brendon

Tway, Kevin

van Rooyen, Erik

Vegas, Jhonattan

Walker, Jimmy

Watney, Nick

Werbylo, Trevor

Werenski, Richy

Westmoreland, Kyle

Wiebe, Gunner +

Willett, Danny

Wise, Aaron

Wu, Brandon

Young, Cameron

Young, Carson

Yu, Kevin

Yuan, Carl

Zalatoris, Will

+ Sponsor Exemption

# Section Champion

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