PGA Tour players know that change is coming to their tour. But even the biggest star on the tour these days says he doesn’t know what that change will look like.
“I’m as curious as you guys,” world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said with a smile when the subject of a smaller PGA Tour came up at The American Express tournament in La Quinta.
The chatter of a smaller field and tournaments going away on the PGA Tour can’t be avoided by the players on the tour these days. Tour officials have floated the idea of starting the PGA Tour season after the NFL’s Super Bowl, played in February. The talk also has the tour eliminating tournaments for the 2027 season, which could bring more of the top players together more often. The conversation was at the Sony Open in Hawaii, a tournament that certainly seems endangered by looming changes. And it is a subject at The American Express this week.
“Yeah, I hear there’s some change in the air. I have no idea what that looks like,” Scheffler said. “If you want those answers, you got the wrong guy.”
Details of what the new tour might look like are being worked out by the PGA Tour Policy Board and top officials at PGA Tour headquarters in Florida. Asked about the future of The American Express this week, Scheffler said he is a fan of most PGA Tour events.
“The tour does a really good job of setting up great events. I think the communities that we play in have been tremendous over the years,” Scheffler said. “And I haven’t really, couldn’t really name a tournament that I went and played that I didn’t really like.”
That is evident in the fact that Scheffler has played in The American Express six times in the last seven years including this year, missing only the 2025 event because of hand surgery.
Other players are following a similar stance, waiting for details but loving the desert event.
“I don’t know too much about that. I just try to play golf,” Min Woo Lee said after starting the tournament with a 10-under 62. “I love this tournament. It’s a great place to start the year. Great courses and lots of fun and make some birdies. So it is nice to have in the schedule, because the signature events are very hard and major-like, so it is nice to be able to hit it in the rough and actually hit it on the green.
“So I would love it to be in the schedule and I would love it to just be there next year and years coming,” Lee added.
Sepp Straka has a reason to like the desert’s PGA Tour event, having won The American Express last year, the first of two wins in 2025 for the Austrian native.
“I’s awesome to be back, for one. It’s a great event. I liked it before I won,” Straka said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s perfect weather, it’s like a dome out here. Great way to start the season, especially when Birmingham, (Alabama, his home now) is about to be in an ice storm.”
While there is a scarcity of specifics about what a new schedule could look like, players were happy to talk about what it is about The American Express they like.
“I’ve met some pretty cool people along the way. Last year playing with Tony Finau, playing with Danny Ainge (basketball star), that was pretty fun. Stuff like that,” said Will Zalatoris. “Playing one year with (sports broadcaster) Jim Gray.”
“The weather’s always perfection,” Zalatoris added. “We always talk about how La Quinta (Country Club’s) greens are some of the best greens we putt on all year long. So it’s just such a great week to get back going because, even though it is a pro-am and there is just a slight bit of a relaxed atmosphere to it, we’re obviously starting off our season and wanting to compete and win.”
For now, there seems to be no timetable for the tour to announce changes. While that gives tour officials time to analyze each tournament, it also leaves individual tournament officials and communities waiting for word if they stay on the tour or if 2026 could be the end of their events.
Scheffler, the four-time PGA Tour player of the year, says he appreciates what each tournament gives to tour members.
“They do such a good job of taking care of us. The golf courses are always in great shape. The people are always great and excited to have us playing there in their cities,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, I think there is some changes coming, I couldn’t tell you what they are, but we’ll see.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Players profess love for American Express as PGA changes add uncertainty
Reporting by Larry Bohannan, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
