Livescore
As the 2025 American Express tees off this week, it marks the 10th year that the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West has been the host course of the event. Before rejoining the PGA Tour event in 2016, the Stadium Course had been played just one time in the tournament, the famed 1987 tournament when the pros complained about the course long and loud.
The course was taken out of the rotation after that year, in part because of the pros’ complaints and in part because amateurs struggled on the difficult track. But finally in 2016, the Stadium Course returned to the tournament and immediately began producing memorable moments.
Here are five of the most memorable shots in the Stadium Course since its 2016 return to The American Express:
Jason Dufner
Year: 2016
Hole: Par-3 17th
The shot: A chip from off the putting surface between rocks.
The story: Dufner seemed like he was in huge trouble when his tee shot on the par-3 rolled through the putting surface and nestled in the rocks around the island green. Dufner’s ball found an area between some rocks but still left him with a tough chip with the possibility his club head could hit a rock on the swing. Instead, Dufner hit a low chip that scampered across the green and hit the flagstick, leaving him just one foot for his par. Dufner called it a lucky break, and he went on to win in a two-hole playoff over David Lingmerth.
Si Woo Kim
Year: 2021
Hole: Par-3 17th
The shot: An 18-foot putt for a go-ahead birdie.
The story: Kim held the lead entering the final round of the tournament, but playing six groups ahead was Patrick Cantlay, who sizzled for 11 birdies and a 61 to take the lead. Kim birdied the 16th to tie for the lead again, then faced a lengthy birdie on the island green at 17 that could have been three-putted under the pressure put on by Cantlay. Instead, Kim rolled the 18-footer in to regain the lead, showing a bit of emotion with a fist pump as the putt dropped. A routine par on the 18th gave Kim his first PGA Tour win since 2017.
Patrick Cantlay
Year: 2021
Hole: Par-4 18th
The shot: A 37-foot birdie putt
The story: Kim might have won the tournament in 2021, but Cantlay’s round of 61 broke the Stadium Course tournament record by two shots. What added pressure to Kim coming down the stretch was Cantlay’s round, especially the way he capped it. On a difficult green to putt, Cantlay faced a 37-foot birdie putt, perhaps hoping to two-putt for a par to retain a share of the lead. Instead, the putt dropped, giving Cantlay the course record and a momentary lead.
Adam Long
Year: 2019
The hole: Par-4 18th
The shot: A 13-foot putt for birdie
The story: Sometimes a shot is not difficult for its execution as much as for the pressure of the moment. That was true for Long in 2019. Playing just his sixth PGA Tour event as a 31-year-old rookie, Long was paired in the final threesome with Adam Hadwin and one of the tour’s all-time winningest players, Phil Mickelson, who led at 22-under entering the last round. But Long outplayed Hadwin and Mickelson and reached the final green tied for the lead with his playing partners. Hadwin made par from a bunker behind the green and Mickelson burned the cup with a 40-foot birdie putt. Faced with the pressure of the moment, Long calmly rolled in his birdie putt for an unlikely one-shot victory.
Hudson Swafford
Year: 2017
Hole: Par-3 17th
The shot: A tee shot to within 18 inches of the hole
The story: In one of the soggier years for the tournament, Swafford was being chased by Adam Hadwin, who had shot a 59 the previous day at La Quinta Country Club. Leading by just one shot, Swafford nailed a nearly perfect 8-iron from 168 yards, with the ball stopping dead less than two feet from the hole for seemingly a kick-in birdie. Hadwin would make his own long putt for a birdie on the hole, but Swafford tapped in to retain his one-shot lead on the way to his first victory on tour.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: PGA West Stadium Course produces memorable The American Express moments
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