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11
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Tornato per una seconda apparizione dopo aver mancato il taglio dell’anno scorso. Tuttavia, stava lottando contro i sintomi della mononucleosi che lo avrebbero accompagnato per un po’. Una volta ripresosi, sarebbe diventato il primo giocatore del TOUR per green colpiti e avrebbe registrato sei top 15.
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10
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No one is more eager to get his season started than the 31-year-old Brit in his tournament debut. Dating back to the 2025 Masters, he’s cashed in 19 straight. His win at the DP World Tour Championship was one of nine top 10s.
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9
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Ah, the value of rest. After performing at a consistently high level for most of 2025, he ended the year with a pair of missed cuts, but he was back in midseason form at Waialae with a personal-best T6. T21 at PGA WEST last year.
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8
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This is the 50th anniversary of Johnny Miller’s successful title defense. It’s the only time it’s happened in the 66-year history of the tournament. Straka put a bow on a two-win 2025 with a solo third at the Hero Challenge.
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6
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Given that he led the TOUR in putting in 2025, it was strange to watch him scuffle, which he did early and again a little bit later, but he ended on an upswing. His solid slate at PGA WEST includes two T6s among four top 20s.
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5
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Although he’s always a threat when par is of value, the SoCal native also and always has had the gear to compete on slick tracks like this week’s set. Since 2019, he’s 6-for-6 with four top 10s, including a T5 last year.
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4
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Think he’s feelin’ it right now? With a P2 in Mauritius (to qualify for the Masters) and a solo second at Waialae in his last two events, the ingredients are there for a breakout season. This is his second start at PGA WEST.
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3
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In the books as a married man with a T19 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. It wasn’t the prettiest of performances, but he was the only one inside the top 30 with as many as two rounds over par. T9-T7 the last two trips to PGA WEST.
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2
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It’s never about how you start; it’s always about how you finish. He closed out a T4 at the Sony Open in Hawaii with a field-low, bogey-free, 7-under 63. It extended his streak of top 10s in official events worldwide to four.
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1
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Back at PGA WEST after missing last year’s edition to heal from the holiday hand injury, but it didn’t prevent him from snagging a fourth consecutive Player of the Year award. Solo third among four top 25s in five starts here.
Per usual, the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA WEST serves as the host of The American Express. The Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA WEST and La Quinta Country Club help shoulder the load. For each of the first three rounds, the field will be split evenly to play each one time, and with an amateur throughout the sequence. Once three rounds are official, the low 65 and ties will survive the cut and play only the Pete Dye Stadium Course for the finale without amateurs.
The action will be anything but breathless, but that’ll be one way to describe the absence of wind for a good portion of the tournament. Not that it’s always like this in the La Quinta area at this time of year, but it is the expectation.
So are eagles and birdies. The triumvirate of par-72 tracks on which the tournament is contested yields the lowest or among the lowest scoring averages in relation to par of all courses the PGA TOUR visits. The ease serves as a tradeoff for debutants who might feel like they’re back in school, cramming for finals, what with triple the work in the same amount of time. Eliminating the variable of the weather is Mother Nature’s version of grading on a curve.
But a curveball cannot be ruled out later in the week, the timing of which could drop a hammer on first-timers, especially. The worst outcome of a weather pattern might result in flapping trousers during the third round, give or take. Or not at all. That’s the funky thing about low-pressure systems in these parts. Because they can be unpredictable, it’ll be best to capitalize on the opportunities presented across the first two days
Once upon a time, all three courses were pushovers, but the recent renovation of the Stadium Course has separated it from its co-hosts. In its debut in ideal conditions last year, the new setup stood tall for a scoring average of 71.348. That was more than two strokes harder than each of the previous two editions, and easily its highest since wild weather was the story in 2017. Meanwhile, Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta checked in last year at 68.248 and 68.595, respectively, very much in line with their expected targets.
So, with the potential for wind on the horizon, drawing the Stadium Course in the third round will be preferred. Although it might seem counterintuitive, because of the level of skill among professional golfers, it is more challenging to go low in the wind on easier courses than it is chasing pars on harder tests. In the same conditions, scoring on easier courses rises more than scoring on more difficult counterparts.
All grasses on all 54 holes are overseeded as you’d expect. As a nod to the amateurs more than the potential for wind, greens should be governed to about 11 ½ feet on the Stimpmeter. The worst of the rough shouldn’t be taller than 2 inches.
All yardages are the same as last year. The Stadium Course is the longest at 7,210 yards, Nicklaus Tournament Course is 7,147 yards and La Quinta is 7,060 yards. The sizes of the greens increase proportionally to the course length. So, the targets on the Stadium Course are about 7,000 square feet, or about 30-percent larger than what they were pre-renovation and when the course was a little shorter.
Put it all together and the objective remains to hit greens and pour in the par breakers.
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