Scottie Scheffler Reaches Another Milestone With American Express Win

On a much, much lighter scale, the American Express had a 1962 U.S. Open vibe entering the final round.

Of course, that was when a 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus topped Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole playoff at Oakmont for his first professional victory.

Fast forward to 2026 at the PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Course in Palm Springs, Calif., where 18-year-old phenom Blades Brown, who nearly shot 59 in Round 2, found himself in the final pairing with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (they were one stroke back of Si Woo Kim’s 54-hole lead).

Unlike Nicklaus at Oakmont, though, David couldn’t slay Goliath. Scheffler—again—proved that he belongs in the conversation with Nicklaus, Palmer, Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan, starting his year with a victory in ease, his 14th on Tour in the last two years and 20th overall, securing him a lifetime PGA Tour membership.

“To be honest, I had not really thought about that very much,” Scheffler said. “I mean, that’s a pretty cool feat to get to.”

Scheffler, with a final-round 66, finished at 27 under par for a four-stroke triumph over Jason Day, Andrew Putnam, Ryan Gerard and Matt MaCarty, while Brown shot a Sunday 74 to place T18.

MORE: Final results, payouts from the American Express

It seems every time Scheffler tees it up, he does something historic. What did he accomplish this time?

He reached 20 wins in the second-fewest starts ever (151), behind only Woods. The 29-year-old also joins Woods and Nicklaus as the third player to win 20 times before age 30. Plus, he’s now with Woods and Nicklaus as the only players to win four or more majors and 20 wins before turning 30, and sits with Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only to crack $100 million in career earnings.

1 start. 1 win. 🏆

Scottie Scheffler dominates @TheAmExGolf with a 4-shot victory! pic.twitter.com/6x3E2pa7CV
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 25, 2026

“Any time you can get mentioned with those guys, it means you're doing some stuff right,” Scheffler said. “At the end of the day, it’s not something that will occupy many of my thoughts day-to-day. When I was thinking about getting ready for this week, I was just trying to prepare and do the best that I could.”

So how did Scheffler do it?

Despite a bogey on his second hole, Scheffler separated himself from the pack on one of the Tour’s birdie-fest layouts by shooting 4 under on the front. The back? He was 4 under on Nos. 10 through 16, before splashing his tee shot on the Stadium Course’s par-3 17th. Still, a double bogey added no suspense; Scheffler’s lead dipped to four. It did, however, prevent him from having a chance to break the tournament’s scoring record (30 under).

Statistically, Scheffler was a ball-striking machine, per usual. He ranked fourth in the field in both strokes-gained total and strokes-gained off the tee and third in driving distance (323 yards), with his lowest category this week being driving accuracy, in which he was T56 in the field (60.71%).

Brown, meanwhile, rinsed his tee shot on the par-5 5th en route to a double bogey and never regained his momentum. Perhaps, he was burned out, having played eight rounds in eight days (he finished T17 at last week’s Sunday-Wednesday Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas). A birdie on the last would have gotten him into the top 10 and next week’s Farmers Insurance Open, but he bogeyed. Yet, there are still lessons from his time in the desert.

“I have so much to take away from this week,” he said. “Getting to play with Scottie Scheffler in the final group at 18 years old is—I had to pinch myself couple of times just to make sure I was, you know, this was real. Not the Sunday that I would have liked, but I overall had so much fun playing the American Express.”

Maybe one day, Brown will get his Nicklaus-esque moment. For now, though, it’s Scheffler at the top, a steep drop off, and then everyone else.

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