American Express: Early commitments from Phil Mickelson, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler a strong start for event

It’s the question asked about this time every year concerning The American Express PGA Tour event: Who’s playing?

For all the appeal of concerts and non-golf activities at tournaments these days, including The American Express, the PGA Tour’s greatest appeal is the star power of its golfers. What a leader board looks like on Sunday afternoon does as much to elevate a tournament in the eyes of the golf world as anything else that happens tournament week.

Officials at The American Express tournament didn’t confirm many names for the 2022 event during their media day Thursday at PGA West in La Quinta, but what the tournament did say holds great promise for the event just six weeks away.

That starts with the tournament host, who also just happens to be the reigning PGA Championship winner, Phil Mickelson. Mickelson’s PGA win in May at Kiawah Island might have been the highlight of the year, and since then he has continued to win, just on the PGA Tour Champions rather than the PGA Tour itself. But a major champion in the field of the desert event is always a boost. Mickelson is also No. 36 in the world rankings.

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Two other players announced were Scottie Scheffler and Tony Finau. Both were members of the victorious U.S Ryder Cup team, and they are 11th and 12th in the Official World Golf Rankings, respectively. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the desert’s PGA Tour event struggled to get anyone in the top 30 in the rankings to play, so having two players in the top 12 already in the field shows the tournament’s field continues to improve.

And, of course, there is the defending champion, Si Woo Kim, who held off a charging Patrick Cantlay last year for a one-shot win. Cantlay shot 61 in the final round on the Stadium Course at PGA West, but Kim made birdies on the 16th and 17th holes for his third PGA Tour victory.

While that’s all that tournament officials could say this week, they expect more big names in the coming days and weeks. Speculation will center around two players, world No. 1 Jon Rahm and the reigning FedEx Cup champion and player of the year, Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay certainly played well enough to win the event last year and and also posted a top-10 finish in the desert in 2019.

Who will be added?

Rahm won the tournament in 2018 and was sixth in 2019. He was entered in last January’s field but withdrew the week of the tournament when he tweaked a muscle in a workout session days earlier. Rahm is certainly a name the tournament believes will play this year and would be a major addition to the event.

One question fans ask is who would they like to see in the tournament who has never played in the event before. With so many opportunities for players, regular season events like The American Express can’t attract every player. Certainly, players like Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, two top young players both in the top 10 in the world rankings, would be players any tournament would want. But there are no guarantees or even hints yet that those players could commit to play in the desert.

Every tournament has its wish list for players, and there is no way for a tournament to assure any of those players show up at the event. The American Express is fortunate that players like Finau and Paul Casey have relationships with American Express and that tournament operator SportFive has representation deals with players like Mickelson and Rahm. Not every player in a 156-player field will be star caliber, and some will be golfers who fans haven’t heard of from the Korn Ferry Tour.

Filling a tournament field can be almost a matter of luck as much as it is hard work by tournament staff. The 2022 American Express is starting with a strong core of players for its field with more big names on the way. For a tournament that 10 years ago struggled to get any big names in the field, that’s a pretty good start for January's tournament.

Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer, he can be reached at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4633. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_Bohannan. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: American Express: Phil Mickelson, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler give event star power