The debut of Scottie Scheffler in 2026 now has an official date. There are no surprises, but there is confirmation. The World Number One sticks to his tradition and will play next week at The American Express in California. It will be his first tournament after the Hero World Challenge, where he finished in fourth place.
Scheffler will test his spectacular streak of consecutive top 10 finishes in world-ranking tournaments at La Quinta. The last time he finished outside the top ten was at the THE PLAYERS Championship back in March, even before the Majors season began. Impressive.
With Scheffler’s arrival, the main pieces of the global golf board will already be on the table. Moreover, out of the top 20, there are only two players who, by their own decision, are delaying their debut in 2026. The first is Xander Schauffele, the top player who is taking the most rest by far. His last tournament was the Baycurrent in October and, for now, he has no official return date, although everything indicates that he will play the Farmers Insurance Open in two weeks. Among other things, because it is played in his hometown, San Diego.
The other top 20 player delaying his return to competition is Cameron Young. However, the New Yorker at least played the Hero World Challenge last December. He finished in tenth position. His worst result since he opened his record on the PGA Tour by winning the Wyndham Championship has been eleventh.
As we mentioned, Schauffele and Young have postponed their return to activity by their own decision. The other is Justin Thomas, although in his case, it is due to script demands. In mid-November, he underwent surgery to correct some disc issues in his back and already announced that he would miss the first tournaments of the year.
As it stands, next week we will have seven of the world’s top ten competing simultaneously between The American Express and the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Namely: Scheffler, McIlroy, Fleetwood, Henley, MacIntyre, Griffin, and Rose. Of all of them, only Rory and Tommy will play in Dubai. The absentees are the aforementioned Schauffele and Thomas, as well as J.J. Spaun, who has indeed started the season with his participation this week in the Sony Open.
By the way, the Dubai Desert Classic has already issued its invitations. To the already known ones of Dustin Johnson and Joaquín Niemann, the Indians Sharma and Sandhu are added, as well as the Englishman Eddie Pepperell.
