The very best participant on this planet has made his presence felt in his first event of the season as Scottie Scheffler backed up his Thursday 63 with a Friday 64 to submit a number one line of 17 coming into the weekend on the 2026 American Categorical. Scheffler is bogey-free by way of two rounds on the American Categorical, as he has torched La Quinta Nation Membership and the Nicklaus Event Course, profiting from splendid desert situations.
The shortage of wind has given the three-course rotation for this event little protection towards the perfect gamers on this planet, and nobody has attacked them higher than Scheffler.
The No. 1 golfer on this planet will now transfer over to the Stadium Course at PGA West, which presents a much bigger problem than the opposite two programs throughout the ultimate 36 holes. Scheffler is happy about enjoying a course that rewards nice play and punishes errors.
“That golf course is loads harder than these different two, ball-striking-wise. You have to get the ball in play,” Scheffler mentioned. “You may shoot a low quantity on the market, however you’ve got gotta actually be getting the ball in play. It may punish you fairly fast. There’s a whole lot of water on the golf course. I believe it is a actually good problem. I believe it is an incredible course when it comes to, while you’re hitting it nicely and also you’re placing the ball in place, you’ll be able to shoot a very low quantity. And if not, you are gonna get punished fairly severely for it.”
Becoming a member of Scheffler on the prime of the leaderboard is 18-year-old Blades Brown, who performed his sixth consecutive aggressive spherical of golf on Friday after taking part in a Korn Ferry Tour occasion situated within the Bahamas from Sunday to Wednesday.
Brown additionally performed the Nicklaus Event Course on Friday and got here out of the gates firing, going 8 below by way of his first seven holes (beginning on the again 9) to firmly put himself on 59 watch. Brown bought to 12 below by way of 15 holes, which means he wanted only one birdie on the ultimate three holes to submit the sixteenth spherical of 59 or higher in PGA Tour historical past.
Brown could not capitalize on the par-5 seventh or a terrific tee shot on the par-3 eighth, leaving himself needing a birdie on No. 9 — his 18th — to shoot a 59. After bombing a drive, he had only a hole wedge left for his method and stuffed it inside 5 toes to arrange a brief birdie putt.
Sadly for Brown, he pushed his birdie putt off the fitting edge and completed par-par-par to shoot 60 and submit a course report on the Nicklaus Event Course.
“Completely … in fact I did, yeah,” Brown mentioned with amusing when requested if he felt added stress on the final three holes. “I simply caught to my recreation plan. I mentioned I will execute photographs that I can management, and sadly, I wasn’t in a position to get the job completed this time. However I’m so stoked to have shot 60 on the PGA Tour.”
Over at La Quinta Nation Membership, Andrew Putnam matched Brown with a 12-under 60 to tie the course report, however he likewise could not make a birdie on his closing gap to shoot 59. Putnam’s 60 got here after a lackluster 72 on Thursday, shifting him up 114 spots into the highest 20 of the leaderboard.
Brown’s 60 vaulted him 50 spots and right into a share of the lead with Scheffler heading into the weekend. Like Scheffler, he’ll play his third spherical on the harder Stadium Course earlier than the 54-hole lower will get made and everybody finishes on Pete Dye’s check within the desert.
Leaders
T1. Scottie Scheffler, Blades Brown (-17): With a 54-hole lower, we cannot see repairings till Sunday, which implies Scheffler and Brown will not play collectively on Transferring Day. Maybe that would assist younger Brown, who will get a minimum of an additional day with out the added stress and stress of going toe-to-toe with the sport’s greatest golfer. It will be arduous to observe up his Friday 60, however he is in line for the perfect end of his younger profession after making three cuts in eight begins in 2025 however failing to notch a prime 25 end.
Scheffler, in the meantime, is seeking to do one thing he is by no means completed in his illustrious profession up to now: win in considered one of his first 5 occasions of the season. If anybody is constructed to proceed going low on the Stadium Course, it is Scheffler, and he’ll have his eyes on a wire-to-wire victory to open his 2026 marketing campaign.
Contenders
3. Si Woo Kim (-16)
T4. S.H. Kim, Matt McCarty (-15)
T6. Eric Cole, Rickie Fowler, Nico Echavarria, Wyndham Clark, Jacob Bridgeman, Nick Taylor (-14)
T12. Russell Henley, Patrick Cantlay, Ben Griffin and three others (-13)
Whereas Kim didn’t submit a 60, his 7-under effort on the Stadium Course was wildly spectacular to maintain tempo with Scheffler earlier than he will get a crack at La Quinta Nation Membership on Saturday. Clark’s 64 on the Stadium Course was the low spherical of the day there, as he climbed into the highest 10 and can likewise transfer to La Quinta CC to try to make up extra floor within the third spherical.
Past these two, a number of heavy-hitters are lurking within the prime 20 with Fowler, Griffin, Henley and Cantlay all plodding alongside properly to offer themselves a glance going into the weekend.
If the wind stays gentle all weekend, there will likely be extra scores within the low 60s, and gamers may have loads of alternatives to make massive strikes up the leaderboard. The problem for all of them is the title on the prime as Scheffler will get to get pleasure from these situations like the remainder, and he is a tough man to catch.
With nearly every other participant within the lead, this is able to nonetheless really feel like a wide-open event given what’s attainable on these programs, however Scheffler’s presence makes it much more unlikely he creates an enormous opening for these nicely again within the pack. That mentioned, we noticed {that a} 59 could possibly be within the playing cards this week, and for many who nonetheless have a crack at La Quinta CC or the Nicklaus Event Course on Saturday, they’re going to have visions of an analogous transfer to what we noticed from Brown and Putnam on Friday.
Ending in model
Tony Finau hasn’t had the scoring gear wanted to contend to this point this week, however he gave himself a lift going into the weekend along with his method on his closing gap on Friday, holing out from the golf green with a wedge for eagle on No. 9 on the Nicklaus Event Course.
That moved him to eight below for the event and into T61 going into Saturday. With the lower nonetheless to be settled, Finau’s eagle to shut out his second spherical may show crucial to his possibilities of getting a Sunday tee time.
2026 American Categorical up to date odds, picks
Odds through DraftKings Sportsbook
- Scottie Scheffler (+134)
- Si Woo Kim (+410)
- Ben Griffin (+1450)
- Wyndham Clark (+1650)
- Patrick Cantlay (+1850)
- Blades Brown (+1950)
- Jacob Bridgeman (+2100)
With scoring this good and a leaderboard this crowded, you need to take a number of swings at some longer photographs — particularly those that get one other spherical not on the Stadium Course. On the similar time, with Scheffler in first, you most likely do not need to get overly aggressive in including positions outdoors of Scottie.
Clark is especially attention-grabbing given he will get La Quinta CC and seems to be in significantly better kind to begin 2026 than we noticed from him in 2025. He is a man that may go low and his low spherical of the week to this point is on the Stadium Course, which implies he ought to have loads of confidence on Sunday if he will get right into a place to contend. I additionally would not hate a nibble at Sam Burns additional down the board at 92-1. He is simply 5 photographs again and has been recognized to get red-hot with the putter and submit some actually low scores.
