Scottie Scheffler’s ‘volcanic’ reason why The American Express is real start to season

Scottie Scheffler had a solid start to his 2024 PGA Tour season at The Sentry. He finished tied for fifth in Kapalua.

Scheffler didn’t play last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Instead, he took the week off to prepare for his fifth straight start at The American Express.

Ahead of the tournament on Wednesday, he detailed the importance of this week and the PGA West swing overall.

“Kapalua is a great, fun event, but you don’t get a good feel for where your game’s at,” Scheffler said. “You’re playing on the side of a volcano, and the wind’s blowing hard, and it’s a different type of golf course. Come here to the desert. There’s not many conditions; you get a good gauge of where my game’s at going into the rest of the year.”

Scheffler has a strategy for each of the three courses this week. He wants to hit a lot of fairways and greens to give himself a look. The biggest adjustment will be to the speed of the greens and the style of sand traps the PGA West has to offer.

His quote is interesting because, like Kapalua, people tend to go low at the American Express. A lot of birdies will be made this week, much like the last two weeks have shown.

“I feel like on the easier courses on Tour, you can’t get behind because it’s so much harder to catch up… So you got to hit the ground running and start making birdies early,” he said.

Since his rookie season, The American Express had been where he started his season until The Sentry was moved to the beginning of the 2024 season as a Signature Event.

The former Texas Longhorn also enjoys the Pro-Am aspect.

At the American Express, the cut doesn’t happen until after 54 holes to give players a chance to play all three courses involved this week. Each guy will take on La Quinta, Stadium and the Nicklaus course.

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Two years ago, he credited this event for jump-starting his year. Scheffler was outside the cutline by three shots with three holes to go on the Stadium Course.

“I chipped in for eagle on 16 and made a 30-footer for birdie on 18 to make the cut on the number,” Scheffler said. “Then I went out on Sunday and had a really good round. I finished 20th or 25th, something like that.”

He would take that momentum into Torrey Pines and then Phoenix, where he won his first event in 2022.

“It’s a good gauge. It’s a good practice week. It’s a fun event to come play and compete,” Scheffler said.

Scheffler will play alongside Patrick Cantlay for the first three days and they will tackle the La Quinta track first.

They tee off at 12:14 p.m. ET on the first tee. Day 2 will see them on the Nicklaus Course, going off the 10th tee at 11:41 a.m. ET. For the third round, they will tee off on the first tee at 1:31 p.m. on the Pete Dye Stadium course.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.