Min Woo Lee of Australia and Pierceson Coody share the first-round lead and Scottie Scheffler is one off the pace at The American Express after Thursday’s action in La Quinta, Calif.
Lee and Coody each shot 10-under-par 62 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course to open the tournament. Coody ran off seven birdies in a row on the back nine.
“I seem to get going hot whenever it kind of snowballs,” Coody said. “So I don’t know what it is, I’m not thinking anything different. Yeah, I know that I’ve rattled off a few like this where I made a bunch in a row and it’s kind of just the style of this week.”
The players in this week’s field will play the first three rounds at three separate courses, one round apiece at the Pete Dye Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club. The cut will come Saturday after 54 holes, with the top 65 and ties advancing to Sunday’s round at the Pete Dye Stadium Course.
Lee, 27, earned his first PGA Tour victory last March at the Houston Open.
“I think golf is — you can very easily get ahead of yourself,” Lee said. “There’s still three more days. You still got to get yourself in contention. Yes, I played one of the easier courses, so the other waves are going to get these conditions as well. So just go out there and try to play the best and stick to your processes.”
Lee, who made four birdies in a row down the stretch, said he went to a different putting grip “only like a week and a half ago.”
“It’s good that you see results straight away,” he said. “But that was pretty much the anxiousness that I had. I didn’t know how it would go on the greens and it turned out well.”
Scheffler started his first round of the 2026 season by making six birdies through eight holes at La Quinta Country Club. His birdie pace slowed down, but he finished off a bogey-free round and was tied for first in the field in greens in regulation (17 of 18).
“I was really sharp on the front nine,” Scheffler said. “Made some nice putts. Hit some good iron shots. A lot of good tee balls. I wasn’t as sharp as I hoped to be on the back nine, but I scrambled pretty well and I was able to post a good score.”
He’s part of a large tie at 9-under 63 that also includes Australia’s Jason Day at the Stadium Course; Patrick Cantlay, Ben Griffin, Vince Whaley, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim at the Nicklaus Tournament Course; and S.H. Kim of South Korea and Matt McCarty at La Quinta Country Club.
Day’s score was the lowest number recorded at the course considered the most difficult of the three.
“Irons felt great, the short game felt good and I putted really nice today,” the veteran said. “Just got to work on the driver a little bit. Some of the drives were a little off. But overall I feel pretty solid.”
Will Zalatoris, making his first start since the 2025 PGA Championship after having disk replacement surgery on his back, shot a 7-under 65 at La Quinta C.C.
Defending champion Sepp Straka of Austria settled for an even-par 72 at La Quinta.
–Field Level Media
