The PGA Tour's West Coast Swing has kicked off in exciting style at The American Express with three days of pulsating action so far across three of California's stand-out courses.
As ever, the scoring has been particularly low on the Pete Dye Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club with any number of players still in the running for victory ahead of round four.
However, the three players in the final group are likely to receive the most support, with Si Woo Kim leading on 22-under and Scottie Scheffler and Blades Brown only one stroke behind.
Whichever player follows in the footsteps of Sepp Straka will bank themselves more than $1.6 million after the overall prize purse was increased by $400,000 from 2025's event.
The American Express' $9.2 million total payout in 2026 is marginally higher than last week's Sony Open in Hawaii ($9.1m) but will remain the second-lowest payout in a full-field tournament until the Valspar Championship in March.
Nevertheless, even the runner-up - should they finish without company - will secure just over $1 million initially. Several factors mean that the amount of money PGA Tour golfers actually see drops significantly once all is said and done, but it will still be a very nice payday indeed.
Everyone who finishes inside the top-20 is likely to earn in excess of six figures while even those who make the cut but finish among the lowest places come Sunday afternoon are still on track to pick up a check for in the region of $20,000.
Away from the financial rewards, there is also a bundle of 500 FedEx Cup points on offer for the winner - a total which can go a long way towards securing a spot at the Tour Championship in August.
Below is the full prize money breakdown for the 2026 American Express, with the maximum amount listed for each position before ties are taken into account and based on 65 players making the cut.
THE AMERICAN EXPRESS PRIZE MONEY BREAKDOWN
Position |
Prize Money |
|---|---|
1st |
$1,656,000 |
2nd |
$1,002,800 |
3rd |
$634,800 |
4th |
$450,800 |
5th |
$377,200 |
6th |
$333,500 |
7th |
$310,500 |
8th |
$287,500 |
9th |
$269,100 |
10th |
$250,700 |
11th |
$232,300 |
12th |
$213,900 |
13th |
$195,500 |
14th |
$177,100 |
15th |
$167,900 |
16th |
$158,700 |
17th |
$149,500 |
18th |
$140,300 |
19th |
$131,100 |
20th |
$121,900 |
21st |
$112,700 |
22nd |
$103,500 |
23rd |
$96,140 |
24th |
$88,780 |
25th |
$81,420 |
26th |
$74,060 |
27th |
$71,300 |
28th |
$68,540 |
29th |
$65,780 |
30th |
$63,020 |
31st |
$60,260 |
32nd |
$57,500 |
33rd |
$54,740 |
34th |
$52,440 |
35th |
$50,140 |
36th |
$47,840 |
37th |
$45,540 |
38th |
$43,700 |
39th |
$41,860 |
40th |
$40,020 |
41st |
$38,180 |
42nd |
$36,340 |
43rd |
$34,500 |
44th |
$32,660 |
45th |
$30,820 |
46th |
$28,980 |
47th |
$27,140 |
48th |
$25,668 |
49th |
$24,380 |
50th |
$23,644 |
51st |
$23,092 |
52nd |
$22,540 |
53rd |
$22,172 |
54th |
$21,804 |
55th |
$21,620 |
56th |
$21,436 |
57th |
$21,252 |
58th |
$21,068 |
59th |
$20,884 |
60th |
$20,700 |
61st |
$20,516 |
62nd |
$20,332 |
63rd |
$20,148 |
64th |
$19,964 |
65th |
$19,780 |
