The American Express Preview 2021

The American Express Preview 2021

• Dates: January 18-24, 2021
• Where: La Quinta, California
• Courses: Stadium Course at PGA WEST – Host (72/7,147) Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA WEST (72/7,181)
• Defending champion: Andrew Landry
• Purse: $6,700,000 ($1,206,000/winner)
• FedExCup points: 500 to the winner
• Format: 72-hole stroke play
• Field: 156

Things to Know

• Four-time major championship winner Brooks Koepka poised to make The American Express debut
• 2002, 2004 The American Express winner and tournament host Phil Mickelson returns for an 18^th start in the event
• Andrew Landry seeks to become the first player to successfully defend The American Express title since Johnny Miller (1976)
• Reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Scottie Scheffler returns after a solo-third at The American Express in 2020
• Tournament will be played on two courses, rather than three, and without traditional pro-am format due to COVID-19 restrictions
• PGA TOUR, in conjunction with American Express, tournament officials and the Mickelson Foundation, recently announced a commitment of more than $1 million to support local charities in the Coachella Valley ahead of the event

Field Notes

• 11 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, including No. 10 Patrick Cantlay, No. 11 Patrick Reed and No. 12 Brooks Koepka
• 13 of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings, led by No. 7 Patrick Cantlay
• Eight of the 30 players who qualified for the 2020 TOUR Championship
• Five winners in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season: Hudson Swafford (Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship), Martin Laird (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open), Patrick Cantlay (ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD), Brian Gay (Bermuda Championship) and Kevin Na (Sony Open in Hawaii)
• 12 past champions of The American Express (14 titles): Steve Jones (1989), Phil Mickelson (2002, 2004), Charley Hoffman (2007), Pat Perez (2009), Mark Wilson (2012), Brian Gay (2013), Patrick Reed (2014), Bill Haas (2010, 2015), Jason Dufner (2016), Hudson Swafford (2017), Adam Long (2019), Andrew Landry (2020)
• Two FedExCup champions: Bill Haas (2011), Brandt Snedeker (2012)
• Nine major championship winners (20 titles): Phil Mickelson (5), Brooks Koepka (4), Zach Johnson (2), Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Lucas Glover, Steve Jones, Francesco Molinari, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel, Jimmy Walker, Gary Woodland

A look back at 2020 The American Express

Pos	Player	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Andrew Landry	66	64	65	67	262 (-26)
2	Abraham Ancer	68	67	66	63	264 (-24)
3	Scottie Scheffler	65	64	66	70	265 (-23)
T4	Bud Cauley	68	64	71	65	268 (-20)
T4	Sepp Straka	69	65	68	66	268 (-20)

More on 2020 champion Andrew Landry

• Won his second PGA TOUR in his 80^th start on TOUR at age 32 years, 5 months, 12 days
• Birdied the final two holes to claim the win
• 26-under total tied Adam Long’s winning total from 2019, the best since the Stadium Course was introduced in 2015
• Victory came two years after losing in a playoff to Jon Rahm
• Last player to successfully defend The American Express title: Johnny Miller, 1976
• 15-for-15 recording under-par scores in four previous appearances at the event (MC/2016, P2/2018, T28/2019, Won/2020)
• One top-10 in eight starts during the 2020-21 season (T4/The RSM Classic)
• Maiden PGA TOUR victory came at the 2018 Valero Texas Open

The American Express and the FedExCup

• 15^th of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season (most since 1975)
• Five winners of The American Express in the FedExCup era have gone on to qualify the TOUR Championship (D.J. Trahan/2008, Patrick Reed/2014, Bill Haas/2015, Jason Dufner/2016, Jon Rahm/2018); all 14 have advanced to the BMW Championship
• Best FedExCup finish by a champion of The American Express that season: 19^th (Jason Dufner, 2016)
• Bill Haas has earned the most FedExCup points of any player at The American Express since the points structure changed in 2009 (1,515)

Current FedExCup Standings

Pos.	Player	Points
1	Dustin Johnson	1,018
2	Harris English	960
3	Joaquin Niemann	826
4	Justin Thomas	784
5	Bryson DeChambeau	783
6	Stewart Cink	737
7	Patrick Cantlay	717
8	Viktor Hovland	706
9	Carlos Ortiz	686
10	Kevin Na	627

Player Notes

Brooks Koepka

• Scheduled to make first appearance in The American Express
• Winner of seven PGA TOUR titles, including two at the U.S. Open (2017, 2018) two at the PGA Championship (2018, 2019)
• In four starts this season, finished in the top 10 at the Vivint Houston Open (T5) and Masters Tournament (T7)
• Making his first TOUR start since the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN in December (MC)
• In search of first PGA TOUR victory since the 2019 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational; winless season in 2019-20 was his first since 2015-16
• Finished 2019-20 No. 104 in the FedExCup standings; previous-worst finish in first five seasons on TOUR: 35^th (2015-16)

Phil Mickelson

• World Golf Hall of Fame member and The American Express tournament host poised to make 18^th start in the event
• Winner of The American Express in 2002 and 2004
• 44 PGA TOUR wins and 196 top-10s in 634 starts
• Since turning 50 in June, has won both events played on PGA TOUR Champions (Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National, Dominion Energy Charity Classic)
• A win this week would make him the winningest TOUR player in the state of California; currently tied with Tiger Woods at 14

Kevin Na

• Birdied the 72^nd hole at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii to claim his fifth career PGA TOUR title and extend his streak of consecutive seasons with a win to four (2018 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, 2019 Charles Schwab Challenge, 2019 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, 2021 Sony Open in Hawaii)
• With the win, moved to No. 10 in the FedExCup
• Three top-10s in 15 prior starts at the event (T8/2010, T5/2011, T3/2016)
• Making his 425^th career PGA TOUR start

Matthew Wolff

• Winner of the 2019 3M Open
• In first two starts of the season, finished second at the U.S. Open and lost in a playoff at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

• Poised to make his second start at The American express (T61/2020)
• Has amassed five top-10 finishes in 34 PGA TOUR starts
• Comes into the week at No. 14 in the FedExCup standings and No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking

Scottie Scheffler

• Comes off a third-place finish in his first start at The American Express in 2020 (65-64-66-70—265/-23)
• Collected six top-five finishes in his PGA TOUR rookie season of 2019-20, with The American Express being his best; voted 2019-20 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year by his peers
• Posted a second-round 12-under 59 en route to T4 honors at the 2020 THE NORTHERN TRUST

Sungjae Im

• Poised to make a third start in The American Express (T12/2019, T10/2020)
• With eight sub-par scores in the event, is a collective 35-under par
• Has made 10 starts this season, highlighted by a T2 at the Masters Tournament
• Owns 16 top-10 finishes in 73 PGA TOUR starts, including his first TOUR win (2020 The Honda Classic)

John Augenstein

• 23-year-old Kentucky native scheduled to make his fourth start on the PGA TOUR and first as a professional
• Three previous TOUR starts: 2019 RBC Heritage/MC, 2020 U.S. Open/MC, 2020 Masters Tournament/T55
• One of two amateurs to make the cut at the 2020 Masters Tournament (Andy Ogletree/T34)
• As a senior at Vanderbilt University, was named SEC Player of the Year and, for a fourth time, All-America
• Member of the victorious Walker Cup Team in 2019

Tournament records and history

• 18-hole score: 59 (David Duval/R5/1999, Adam Hadwin/R3/2017); one of two tournaments with multiple sub-60 scores (other: A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier)
• Best 72-hole score since becoming a 72-hole event in 2012: 260 (Patrick Reed/2014)
• Largest margin of victory: 6 (Rik Massengale/1977, Tom Kite/1993)
• Best come-from-behind win: 7 (David Duval/1999)
• Playoffs: 21 (most recent: 2018/Jon Rahm def. Andrew Landry)
• Holes-in-one since 1983: 54 (most recent: Carlos Ortiz/R4/2020)

VIA PGA TOUR