The American Charley Hoffman (-16) and the Filipino Rico Hoey (-16) took advantage of their round at the Nicklaus Tournament Course, the course that is proving to be the easiest of the three played in rotation during the first three rounds, to lead the leaderboard of the American Express. With scorecards of 63 strokes, nine under par, they climbed seven positions in the standings to co-lead the PGA Tour tournament being held this week in the desert of the Coachella Valley.
The two leaders, one native and the other raised in Southern California, still have to play the most challenging course, the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West, where the final round will be played on Sunday, but they take a privileged position ahead of Justin Lower (-15), who played the same course, and Mark Hubbard (-15) and Sepp Straka (-15), who tackled the Stadium Course after fully exploiting the Nicklaus Tournament in the first round and leaving their turn at La Quinta for Saturday.
Rico's boys out supporting the co-leader 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/4W7DuvuxfV
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 17, 2025
The best example to demonstrate the difference between each course is what happened this Friday to J.J. Poston (-6). After leading the tournament following the first 18 holes, in which he sealed a spectacular round of 62 strokes, ten under par, on the easiest course of the three, he struggled yesterday with a 76 at the stadium, which caused him to drop more than 50 positions on the leaderboard. Thus, until the round concludes this Saturday, it will not be easy to know who will really fight for victory on Sunday.
However, in the upper part of the leaderboard, important names of the tournament are starting to appear, such as Jason Day (-14), J.J. Spaun (-14), who came close to winning last weekend at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Nick Taylor (-13), who ended up winning it in an exciting playoff, Justin Thomas (-13), or Rickie Fowler (-13), who, along with Camilo Villegas (-10), was the protagonist of the best round of the day, with ten under par… of course, at the Nicklaus Tournament Course, the scene of a birdie festival.
Target practice for @JDayGolf 🎯😮💨
He's currently T2 after this birdie at the turn.
📺 @PGATOURLIVE pic.twitter.com/lsqkz6BaT2
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 17, 2025
Patrick Cantlay (-12), Will Zalatoris (-12), and Dough Ghim (-12) also took advantage of their presence on Friday at the easiest course to position themselves. Meanwhile, the very young Blades Brown (-8), a player just 17 years old making his professional debut this week with a sponsor’s invitation, recovered from the demanding start of the first round to post a great 64 at the Nicklaus Tournament, climbing to 40th place and giving himself a chance to make the cut on Saturday.
Hoffman, one of the leaders, interestingly won his first professional title at this tournament… 18 years ago. Back then, the event was still called the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. At 48 years old, he sits atop the leaderboard after a round with ten birdies and one bogey. He hasn’t won since 2016, but after several years with serious back problems, he seems to be very recovered and ready to make the most of his remaining time on the circuit before trying his luck on the Champions Tour.
“Competition is fun. I like walking down the streets and being asked ‘how old are you?’ and telling them ‘I’m 48’ because they look at me as if to say: ‘you’re 48 and still playing?’. In these times when we are reaching 100 players, those my age on the PGA Tour are a thing of the past, I don’t think it will be seen very often in the future. But I’ll try to fight here as much as I can,” he said, clearly referring to the planned reduction of fields for the tour.
Hoey, on the other hand, was a star at the University of Southern California, very close to Rancho Cucamonga where he moved as a child and grew up. He is seeking his first title in his second full season on the tour. He has been playing on courses around Palm Springs since he was five years old and, as he demonstrated today, the Nicklaus is one of his favourites: “I’ve played junior tournaments here, I feel at home. The weather is fantastic, we have no wind… it’s easier this way. It’s great to see my name up there and to be able to keep up with guys like Hoffman, Cantlay, Rickie… that’s all I’m trying to do”.
