Scottie Scheffler’s latest win was a fantasyland escape from winter’s fury

There has always been a fantasyland vibe to Palm Springs’ annual golf tournament, the classic and dry Desert Classic. You know: How could there be a golf tournament there? That was the case back when the event was a five-round supporter with Bob Hope running the show, and it’s still true today, like the four-round American Express. Of course, no one told Scottie Scheffler, the world’s best golfer, that AmEx is one big magic trick. Won the Amex on Sunday without drama or fuss. He did not make chariot wheels.

Scheffler, with his gangster beard and mischievous demeanor, is so not the desert. But he played his golf ball on emerald-green desert fairways and rough grass-colored layovers and over man-made lakes, taking prisoners in his usual and tactful way. The future World Golf Hall of Fame inductee (Pinehurst, 2041) puts a clinic green that is as smooth and flat as it sounds on a new pool table. The only person who could beat him was Tiger 2000, and Tiger 2000 has already left the building. Scheffler doesn’t fill a void. He is a Scheffler and that is more than enough.

I’ve gone to the desert to sample the tournament – taking Bentley-striped golf carts and IMAX sound systems – and maybe you have too. But this year I’m watching on TV, and I think you are too. For nearly 70 years, this desert tournament has sold sunshine and spectacle for golfers and, back in the day, celebrities. In 2026 that was as true as ever.

Outside, the streets of our neighborhood were quiet and still as the snow continued to fall and swirl. There was no alternative but to “hide in the place.” (Originally a Cold War phrase.) But on TV, the fantasyland vibe was alive and well. Scheffler can beat others, but TV magic is still TV magic. Professional golf would be lost without it. Thanks for your service, Scottie. A long Sunday came and went.

In other golf news, Rory McIlroy (among many others) has said that one day he would like to see the British Open return to one of the best courses in the world, Muirfield, Scotland, within sight and sound of the Firth of Forth. (Jack Nicklaus named his course outside Columbus, Ohio, after it.) Others would like to see the Open return to Turnberry, now called Trump Turnberry. It’s a spectacular course, in Hawaii on Scotland’s West Coast, where Tom Watson won the Open in 2009 (well, he won something) and in 1977, by a shot over Nicklaus.

IR&A has shown no interest in engaging with Donald Trump. The PGA of America and the USGA, the same. The PGA Tour will reach Trump Doral in late April. LIV Golf will do the same in August, at the Trump Course in Bedminster, NJ These are the facts of life, the way of golf, in our upcoming news feed. On Sunday, they weren’t there. We can get into a little cocoon, at least for the afternoon. On Monday morning, four US senators released an angry letter to the Department of the Interior, seeking to find plans to manage public golf in Trump’s capital.

Over the weekend, Augusta found itself covered in snow and ice. That’s news in Augusta, Ga., (reference here) not, of course, Augusta, Maine. That’s bad news about the construction work going on at The Patch, dear Augusta muni. Good news for azalea watchers come Masters week. Warm winters lead to early blooms, and that has been a problem for some years now. It won’t be this year. Sunday, April 12, should be great. Rory will put a blue coat on someone, unless it’s his. Another day in the life of a cocoon. Is that too bad? Actually there is a correct answer: No, it is not. It is necessary.

Did you watch Blades Brown this weekend? You’re eighteen years old and you had a 60 putt on Saturday? On Sunday he played with Scottie Scheffler and tried to get into this week’s tournament at Torrey Pines. Maybe you have a teenager in the house. You may have found yourself wondering what you would do, if you were the parent of a true golf savant a teenager in the child’s age. McIlroy turned pro at a young age. Arnold Palmer was almost 25 when he turned pro, after working in the Coast Guard and as a paint salesman in Cleveland. His first full year on tour was in 1955.

In 1973, he won the Bob Hope Championship for the fifth time. He loved the desert, snow breaks and cold of Latrobe, Pa., where he and Winnie raised their daughters and Bay Hill, Orlando, where citrus growers were always worried about frost that killed the fruit this time of year. Winnie Palmer followed Arnold into the desert with some reluctance – the whole fantasyland thing wasn’t for her – but she was enjoying her outdoor winter swim all the same. In victory, Scheffler and his wife and child were eager to board their plane back home to Dallas, back to the real world. Dallas was getting snow and the asphalt was frozen, but that’s where Scheffler wanted to be. He is a homebody but his game is going well.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@golf.com