3 Lessons From La Quinta: How Scottie, Si Woo and Blades Took Different Paths to the Top

The leaderboard at The American Express through 54 holes told three different stories about how to compete at the highest level. You had Scottie Scheffler crushing it off the tee, Si Woo Kim getting up and down from everywhere, and 18-year-old Blades Brown rolling in everything he looked at on the greens.

Each player took a different path to contention, and each one offers a lesson you can apply to your own game this weekend.

Scheffler led the entire field in strokes gained off the tee at 2.099. He was crushing it, averaging 319 yards and hitting his longest drive 371 yards. But here’s what’s interesting: his driving accuracy was just 61.90%, ranking T105 in the field.

Did that stop him from being aggressive? Not even close.

Scheffler understood something fundamental about modern golf strategy. When you have a legitimate weapon, you use it. He didn’t try to steer it down the middle. He didn’t play scared. He let it rip and trusted that his length would create easier approaches, even if he occasionally missed fairways.

Your Action Item: Identify your best club or shot and build your strategy around it. If you’re a great wedge player, don’t worry about reaching every par 5 in two. Lay back to your favorite distance. If you putt well, be more aggressive with approaches to give yourself more birdie looks. Stop trying to fix every weakness and start maximizing what you do well.

Kim’s stat line jumps off the page in one category: 100% scrambling. He got up and down all 11 times he missed a green. That’s not luck. That’s skill meeting preparation.

What makes this even more impressive is that Kim wasn’t hitting it particularly close to the pins. He made 77 feet 7 inches of putts, ranking 57th in the field. He wasn’t holing everything from everywhere. He was just consistently getting the ball up and down when he needed to.

Kim also converted 80% of his sand saves. When he got in trouble, he had the short game skills to bail himself out. That’s what allowed him to post 21 birdies with only one bogey.

Your Action Item: Spend 20 minutes before your next round working on basic up and downs from 20 yards. Hit five chips, then putt them out. Don’t move to the next spot until you get up and down at least three times. This isn’t about learning trick shots. It’s about building confidence that when you miss a green, you can still save par.

The kid made 128 feet of putts through three rounds, ranking sixth in the field. He gained over two strokes on the field with his putter and averaged just 1.58 putts per green in regulation.

But what stands out from his interview is his mindset. When asked about that 45-footer on 18, he said, “That’s what you practice for. That’s what late nights that you’re going out to putt and pretending that you have a putt to win the Masters, that right there is what it’s all about.”

Brown made 75 feet of putts over his final three holes. He trusted what he’d been working on and let it happen. No steering. No fear. Just pure, confident putting.

Your Action Item: When your putter gets hot during a round, stay aggressive. Don’t start trying to lag everything close. If you’ve made three putts in a row from 15-20 feet, keep being aggressive from that range. Confidence on the greens is fragile. When you have it, ride it as long as you can.

Three players, three paths to contention, three lessons for your game. Scheffler showed us to lean into our strengths. Kim proved that scrambling keeps rounds alive. Brown demonstrated the power of confident putting.

You don’t need to be perfect at everything. Pick one of these lessons and apply it this weekend. Your scorecard will thank you.