The American Express Round 1: Min Woo Lee and Pierceson Coody Fire 62s as Scheffler Lurks

The desert came out calm, the greens were receptive and the scoreboard at The American Express looked like a slot machine paying out all afternoon. Ten under was the number to beat, and two players hit it on the same course.

Min Woo Lee and Pierceson Coody each shot 10-under 62 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West to share the first-round lead on Thursday. Right behind them sits a nine-man logjam at 63 that includes world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, making the first start of the 2026 season, and Jason Day, whose 63 came on the hardest course in the rotation.

Two Hot Streaks, One Number

Coody's round turned into a highlight reel on the back nine. Seven straight birdies, then a closing par, and suddenly the scoreboard had a new name at the top. Coody said afterward that the hot stretches tend to build on themselves once they start.

"I seem to get going hot whenever it kind of snowballs," Coody said, per Field Level Media.

Lee got to the same number with two separate bursts, three straight birdies around the turn and four in a row late. The 27-year-old Australian won a first PGA TOUR title at last March's Houston Open, and Lee was quick to point out that the Nicklaus course is one of the easier tracks in the rotation.

"There's still three more days," Lee said.

That is the right read. The American Express rotates the 156-player field across the Nicklaus Tournament Course, La Quinta Country Club and the Pete Dye Stadium Course for the first three rounds, with a cut after 54 holes to the top 65 and ties. Everyone in the field still has to take a turn on the Stadium Course, and Sunday's final round is played there.

Scheffler Wastes No Time

The world No. 1 has a reputation for shaking off rust quickly, and Thursday did nothing to change that. Scheffler went out at La Quinta and made five birdies in the first six holes on the way to a front-nine 30.

"I was really sharp on the front nine," Scheffler said.

The back nine was a grind by comparison, but Scheffler still finished bogey-free with nine birdies and 17 of 18 greens in regulation. The one green Scheffler missed produced the shot of the day. On the par-4 17th, a tee shot hit a fan and left Scheffler punching out from under a tree. The next shot was a chip that dropped for birdie.

The 63 is a strong opening statement at an event where Scheffler's best finish is a tie for 11th in 2023. It is also the first start for a player who has won four straight PGA TOUR Player of the Year awards.

Day's Quiet Masterpiece

If you want the round of the day by degree of difficulty, look at Day. The Stadium Course played nearly four shots harder than the Nicklaus course and just over three harder than La Quinta, according to the AP, and Day still posted 63 there, the lowest score on that layout.

"Irons felt great, the short game felt good, and I putted really nice today," Day said.

Day's only complaint was with the driver, which the veteran plans to work on. Everyone else in the 63 group played one of the two easier courses. Patrick Cantlay, Ben Griffin, Vince Whaley, Robert MacIntyre and Si Woo Kim did it on Nicklaus. S.H. Kim and Matt McCarty did it at La Quinta. Eight more players shot 64.

Whaley summed up the conditions best, per the AP. "If you can't hit a 6-iron out here, you're not going to hit a 6-iron good anywhere," Whaley said.

Comebacks and Stumbles

Will Zalatoris shot 7-under 65 at La Quinta in a first start since the 2025 PGA Championship. Zalatoris had disk replacement surgery on the back in the meantime, and a 65 is a very good sign.

Blades Brown, the 18-year-old who played a Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas that finished on Wednesday and flew to Palm Springs on a private flight, opened with a 67 on almost no rest.

Not everyone enjoyed the conditions. Defending champion Sepp Straka shot even-par 72 at La Quinta and is already 10 shots behind. Rickie Fowler, playing for the first time since the BMW Championship, made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on the back nine at La Quinta. Brian Harman took a two-shot penalty for hitting the wrong ball on the 10th, which Golf Channel reported belonged to an amateur.

What Friday Brings

The first lesson of The American Express is always the same: low numbers on Thursday guarantee nothing until every player has seen all three courses. Lee and Coody have a one-shot cushion, but both have yet to take on the Stadium Course. Scheffler, Day and the rest of the 63 club are lurking, and in conditions this calm, a one-shot lead can disappear in a single hole.

Friday rotates the field again, and the Stadium Course remains the stiffest test on the property for whoever draws it.

For more detail, see the PGA TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) and its story on Scheffler's opening 63 (opens in a new tab).

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap and Scheffler story), AP, Field Level Media. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.