LA QUINTA, Calif. — New year, same Scottie Scheffler.

The world’s No. 1 player loves coming to the California desert early in the season to take stock of his game and get into tournament shape. There’s wasn’t much wrong Sunday in The American Express.

Scheffler made birdie on half of his holes, going from a two-shot deficit early to a lead that stretched to six shots late before he closed with a 6-under 66 for a four-shot victory.

“There’s always a certain amount of rust when it comes to playing competitive golf,” Scheffler said. “You can simulate as best you can at home, but you can only get into the heat of the moment when you’re posting a score and you’re in contention when you’re at a tournament. So it’s nice to see some of the stuff that I’ve been being practicing and working on has paid off.”

He had four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the front nine to blow past 18-year-old Blades Brown and everyone and the rest of the field.

Scheffler won for the 20th time on the PGA Tour — all in the last four years — to earn a lifetime membership. More indicative of his dominance in the game is winning nine of those 20 tournaments by four shots or more.

He also joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to have 20 PGA Tour titles and four majors before turning 30.

“Pretty wild,” Scheffler said. “It’s been a great start to my career. It’s been special. I try not to think about that stuff too much. I was just trying to do the things I needed to do to be prepared.”

The world’s No. 1 player briefly shared the stage with Brown, who finished high school two weeks ago and tied for 17th in a Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas that finished Wednesday. He’s the first player to play eight straight days of PGA Tour-sanctioned competition.

Whether the fatigue caught up with him or simply the moment — he was trying to become the youngest PGA Tour winner in 95 years — it ended quickly.

Elsewhere:

n Patrick Reed kept everyone at bay and closed with an even-par 72 for a four-shot victory in the Dubai Desert Classic, his first European tour title that moves him back into the top 30 in the world for the first time since he joined LIV Golf. Reed also made enough money from the Rolex Series event that it should cover his European tour fines for playing in the Saudi-backed rival league, assuming he can sort out a new LIV contract.

n Stewart Cink won the PGA Tour Champions’ season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship on Saturday, closing with an 8-under 63 for a three-stroke victory. The 52-year-old Cink finished at 23-under 193 at Hualalai. He won his second straight event after closing last season with a victory in Phoenix in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.