Scottie Scheffler commits to 2023 American Express in January, joins Patrick Cantlay

Scottie Scheffler, who finished second at the 2022 Hero World Challenge, has announced his commitment to the upcoming American Express, which is scheduled to be played next year from January 19 to 22 at the Pete Dye Stadium Course and the Nicklaus Tournament Course.

In the 64th rendition of the championship, three of the top six golfers will compete against each other to earn $1.44 million in prize money.

Having finished 25th at the 2022 American Express, Scottie Scheffler is finally back in the race to clinch the trophy.

Scottie Scheffler (Image via Getty)

2022 turned out to be in favor of Scheffler, who won four of the seven championships he participated in and regained the Masters' trophy.

In addition to Scottie Scheffler, World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay will play in the championship. Previously, Cantlay participated in the 2020 American Express Golf Championship and finished second in the tournament.

They will be joined by World No. 6 Xander Schauffele and several other top-ranked golfers. Pat McCabe, the executive director of American Express, said in an interview:

"We're excited by the caliber of the players, ; we're excited by the (Southern California) ties with Xander and Patrick. There is a lot going on in the world of golf right now, but we are happy to have them here, too, for the fans. We are also happy to have them here for our pro-am participants."

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American Express also announced an increase in purse

The tournament will have 156 participants like last year and will take place at two golf courses. The final round is slated for Sunday, January 22, where the 65 professionals will tie to play at the Stadium course.

Besides Scottie Scheffler, Xander, and Patrick, the championship will feature professional golfers like Tony Finau and Sungjae Im.

Pat McCabe also revealed that the tournament is not committed to the top-ranked players but will also feature low-ranked golfers.

In one of his interviews, McCabe said:

"We are excited for those four, but we also have five past champions. You take Sungjae, you take half of the International Presidents Cup team. So you start going down the list, and it is pretty darn solid beyond those marquee names. In the next couple of weeks, we hope to have some more announcements as the guys’ schedules take shape. This month is really the time for them to plan that.”

It was announced on Wednesday that the purse for the championship had been increased to $8 million from $7.6 million. Brendan Steele joined the media from his home in Orange County on Wednesday to say:

"I really enjoy coming out there and playing. I came out the last year early with my dad and did a practice round early, and it's just such a nice place to go and a fun place to play. I really enjoy the rotation the way it is."

Phil Mickelson and Hudson Swafford will miss this year's tournament as both have joined the rival LIV Golf Series and were suspended from playing on the PGA Tour.