Hoffman won his first PGA Tour title at this event back in 2007, holding held off John Rollins in a playoff on a windy weekend with sub-freezing temperatures. It was a celebrity pro-am known as the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic back then, a West Coast landmark frequently played by Hollywood stars and U.S. presidents.

Charley Hoffman won The American Express golf tournament, then the Bob Hope Classic, in January of 2007. That was four months before Blades Brown was born. On Friday, with the 17-year-old Brown playing his second round as a pro, Hoffman found himself outplaying the youngster, though just barely, to take the lead in the desert’s PGA Tour event.

Sepp Straka held off Justin Thomas by two shots at The American Express to claim his third PGA Tour title; the 31-year-old Austria was on the verge of becoming the first tour player since 2022 to play 72 bogey-free holes in a victory,