Scottie Scheffler Pulls Away To Win The American Express
If you were hoping for a dramatic, nail-biting finish to kick off the 2026 PGA Tour season, I have some bad news. Scottie Scheffler is back, and frankly, he’s tired of letting other people touch the trophy.
In a performance that felt equal parts inevitable and terrifying for the rest of the tour, Scheffler turned the final round of The American Express into a casual Sunday stroll. He started the day one shot back of Si Woo Kim, but by the time the back nine rolled around at the Pete Dye Stadium Course, the tournament had turned into a race for second place.
Scheffler carded a final-round 66 to finish at 27-under par, securing a four-shot victory that felt significantly wider than the scorecard suggests. It’s his 20th career win, his first of the 2026 season, and yet another reminder that we are living in the Scheffler era.
Scheffler Joins the Tiger and Jack Club
With this win, Scheffler becomes the third-fastest player to reach 20 PGA Tour victories. He did it in 151 starts. The only two guys who got there faster? Tiger Woods (95 starts) and Jack Nicklaus (127 starts). That’s not just good company; that’s the Mount Rushmore of golf.
Furthermore, Scheffler is now just the third player in the modern era to rack up 20 wins and four majors before turning 30. He’s 29 years old. He has the rest of the year to add to that total, and considering he’s won 14 times in his last 35 starts, betting against him feels like setting money on fire. Oh, and he also secured a lifetime membership to the PGA Tour with this win. Not that he needed the job security.
The $100 Million Man
If the trophies weren’t enough, Scheffler’s bank account got a nice little boost on Sunday, too. The $1.656 million winner’s check officially pushed his career on-course earnings past the $100 million mark.
He joins Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players to ever crack nine figures in earnings. But here is the kicker: Scheffler did it in record time. Sure, purses are bigger now than in Tiger’s prime, but you still have to actually win the money. Scheffler is currently treating the PGA Tour prize fund like his personal ATM, and nobody seems to have the PIN code to stop him.
How Sunday Unfolded
For a brief moment early in the round, it looked like we might have a contest. Scheffler bogeyed the second hole, and the collective golf world held its breath. Was the machine malfunctioning? Nope. Just recalibrating.
Scheffler immediately went on a tear, rattling off four birdies in his next seven holes to snatch the lead. When he nearly chipped in for eagle on the par-5 11th (settling for a tap-in birdie), you could practically hear the rest of the field sigh in defeat. By the time he birdied the 12th, the lead was four, and the engraver could have started working on the trophy.
He even had the luxury of making a double bogey on the famous island-green 17th hole. Most players would crumble after dunking a ball in the water there. Scheffler? He had such a massive cushion that it didn’t even matter. He could have played the 18th hole with a putter and still won.
The Teenager and the Challengers
While Scheffler was busy making history, there was a pretty incredible subplot unfolding in the final group. Blades Brown, an 18-year-old phenom who graduated high school two weeks ago, started the day in contention.
Brown, who owns perhaps the greatest golf name since Woods, shot a 74 on Sunday to finish T18. He made a double bogey on the 5th that derailed his momentum, but let’s be real: the kid was playing in the final group with the World No. 1. He held his own. We’re going to be seeing much more of him.
Meanwhile, Kim, who started the day with the lead, couldn’t keep pace with the Scheffler steamroller. Jason Day, Ryan Gerard, Matt McCarty, and Andrew Putnam all finished tied for second at 23-under, a distant four shots back. They played great golf; they just happened to be playing in a tournament where Scheffler decided he wanted to win.
What’s Next For Scheffler?
The scary part? This was his first start of the season. In 2024, he won seven times. In 2025, he won six times. He’s already on the board in January of 2026. He’s striking the ball better than anyone on the planet, his putting is solid, and his mental game is bulletproof.
Scheffler is currently chasing the career Grand Slam—he just needs a U.S. Open to complete the set. Based on what we saw in the desert this week, would you bet against him getting it this June?
For now, the rest of the PGA Tour has a few days to recover before the Farmers Insurance Open. They’re going to need it. The Scheffler train has left the station, and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon.
