The PGA Tour 2026 American Express kicks off on Thursday, January 22, with the opening round in La Quinta, California. Full American Express start times for Thursday’s first round can be found at the bottom of this post.
Recommended start time for round 1
While Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy dominated the headlines in 2025, and rightly so, Ben Griffin was having a breakout season of his own. The 29-year-old captured his first three PGA Tour wins to go from obscurity to household name.
The stellar year earned him a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team and a nomination for Player of the Year.
Unlike Scheffler and a number of other stars making their season debut this week at the American Express, Griffin makes start No. 2. He played the Sony Open in Hawaii last week, where he finished T19.
On Thursday, Griffin begins his tournament at the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West, one of three courses hosting the American Express this week.
Griffin will begin the opening round on Thursday at 1:31 PM ET, playing alongside his U.S. Ryder Cup teammate Patrick Cantlay.
You can watch Thursday’s first round of the 2026 American Express from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM ET on Golf Channel. PGA Tour live on ESPN+ will provide exclusive early streaming coverage from 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET, in addition to featured group and hole coverage on Thursdays.
Check out the full Round 1 start times for the American Express below.
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American Express 2026 start times for Thursday: Round 1 (ET)
La Quinta Country Club – Tee #1
11:30am – Bud Cauley, Sam Stevens
11:41 am – Ludvig Aberg, Harris English
11:52 am – Haotong Lamprecht
12:03 – Adam Long, Kevin Streelman
12:14 – Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose
12:25 – Tony Finau, Max Greyserman
12:36 – Rickie Fowler, Nico Echavarria
12:47 – Russell Henley, Akshay Bhatia
12:58 – Blades Brown, David Ford
1:09 PM – Matt Kuchar, Camilo Villegas
1:20 PM – Keith Mitchell, Zach Johnson
1:31 PM – Sepp Straka, Sam Burns
1:42 PM – Luke Clanton, Keita Nakajima
La Quinta Country Club – Tee #10
11:30 am – Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen
11:41 am – Will Zalatoris, Daniel Berger
11:52 am – Patrick Fishburn, Jackson Suber
12:03 pm – Lanto Griffin, Erik van Rooyen
12:14 – Cam Davis, Andrew Novak
12:25 – SH Kim, Frankie Capan III
12:36 – Peter Malnati, Brice Garnett
12:47 – Kevin Yu, Karl Vilips
12:58 – Adrien Saddier, Gordon Sargent
1:09 PM – William Mouw, Matt McCarty
1:20 PM – Alex Smalley, Max McGreevy
1:31 PM – Taylor Pendrith, Nick Taylor
1:42 PM – ST Lee, Chandler Blanchet
Pete Dye Stadium Course – Tee #1
11.30am – Sahith Theegala, Patrick Rodgers
11:41 am – Joe Highsmith, Aldrich Potgieter
11:52 am – Ponting Nyolm, Jeffrey Kang
12:03 – Seamus Power, Taylor Moore
12:14 PM – Davis Thompson, Michael Brennan
12:25 – Alejandro Tosti, Marcelo Rozo
12:36 – Michael Kim, Denny McCarthy
12:47 – Nick Dunlap, Gary Woodland
12:58 – Austin Smotherman, Neal Shipley
1:09 PM – Jason Day, Alex Noren
1:20 PM – Charley Hoffman, Brandt Snedeker
1:31 PM – Brian Harman, Max Homa
1:42 PM – AJ Ewart, Adrien Dumont de Chassart
Pete Dye Stadium Course – Tee No. 10
11:30am – Kevin Roy, Mac Meissner
11:41 am – Tom Kim, Lee Hodges
11:52 am – John VanDerLaan, Zecheng Dou
12:03 – Rico Hoey, Ryo Hisatsune
12:14 – Kurt Kitayama, JT Poston
12:25 – Chan Kim, Michael Blok
12:36 – Joel Dahmen, Beau Hossler
12:47 – Harry Hall, Ryan Gerard
12:58 – Jason Dufner, Danny Walker
1:09 PM – Adam Svensson, Carson Young
1:20 PM – Andrew Putnam, Patton Kizzire
1:31 PM – Stephen Jaeger, Brian Campbell
1:42 PM – Kris Ventura, Jimmy Stanger
Nicklaus Tournament Course – Tee #1
11:30am – Takumi Kanaya, Doug Ghim
11:41 am – Emiliano Grillo, Mackenzie Hughes
11:52 – Pierceson Coody, Jordan Smith
12:03 – Matti Schmid, David Lipsky
12:14 – Sami Valimaki, Matthieu Pavon
12:25 – Emilio González, Sudarshan Yellamaraju
12:36 – Chad Ramey, Harry Higgs
12:47 – Jacob Bridgeman, Chris Kirk
12:58 – Hank Lebioda, Dylan Wu
1:09 PM – Austin Eckroat, Adam Schenk
1:20 PM – Chandler Phillips, Andrew Landry
1:31 PM – Steven Fisk, Jonathan Vegas
1:42 PM – Dan Brown, Zach Bauchou
Nicklaus Tournament Course – Tee #10
11:30am – Vince Whaley, Mark Hubbard
11:41 am – Billy Horschel, Min Woo Lee
11:52 am – Jesper Svensson, Kensei Hirata
12:03 – Rafael Campos, Matt Wallace
A
12:25 – John Parry, Isaiah Salinda
12:36 – Tom Hoge, Eric Cole
12:47 – Wyndham Clark, Robert MacIntyre
12:58 – Justin Lower, Sam Ryder
1:09 PM – Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Scott
1:20 pm – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Rasmus Hojgaard
1:31 PM – Patrick Cantlay, Ben Griffin
1:42 PM – Ricky Castillo, Davis Chatfield
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