Following a two week stay in Hawai’i, the PGA Tour returns to the mainland for the first time in 2023 with The American Express in La Quinta, Calif. opening the five-tournament West Coast Swing with the familiar pro-am and three-course format in place. Along with the Pebble Beach tournament this is one of two events featuring amateurs. Pros will be grouped with amateurs for the first three rounds with cuts after 54 holes. Sunday’s final round will be played on the PGA West Stadium Course, which is widely considered the most difficult of the three being used. Five of the world’s top-10 golfers are scheduled to peg it up with No. 4 Jon Rahm the betting favorite. Rahm won here in 2018 and started the year with a comeback title at the TOC giving him three victories in his last four starts between the PGA and DP World Tours. Visit BookMaker.eu for a complete list of betting odds when you’re ready to place a wager.
Odds to Win The American Express
Jon Rahm +600
Scottie Scheffler +1000
Patrick Cantlay +1000
Tony Finau +1400
Cameron Young +2000
Will Zalatoris +2000
Xander Schauffele +2000
Sungjae Im +2000
Tom Kim +2200
Sam Burns +3000
Si Woo Kim +3000
Brian Harman +3000
Tom Hoge +4000
Taylor Montgomery +4050
Cameron Davis +4500
Aaron Wise +4300
Andrew Putnam +5000
Sahith Theegala +5000
K.H. Lee +5500
J.T. Poston +5500
Adam Hadwin +6000
Rickie Fowler +6500
Jason Day +7000
Wyndham Clark +7000
Joel Dahmen +8000
Denny McCarthy +7500
Justin Rose +8000
Taylor Pendrith +8000
Davis Riley +8000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +8000
Odds Analysis
Tony Finau +1400
I backed the favorite in this section the last two weeks, which is something I typically don’t do. Rahm paid off with a win at Kapalua and is back after a week’s rest. But Finau is as high as I’m going this week with his strong start to the year and history in this event giving him value. You can’t overlook the close to last season and he got the new campaign going with a solid T7 at Kapalua. He earned a top-5 here two years ago with a T14 in 2020 and makes his fourth straight start giving him familiarity with the format.
Brian Harman +3000
Harman has put together a sneaky good season so far and he’s been a fixture in this event with plenty of success along the way. He is coming off his worst finish of the season with a T32 at the Sony Open, but he’s also secured a pair of runner-up finishes and has scored below par in every round. He placed among the top-25 in all six of his paydays here with a pair of podiums.
Taylor Montgomery +4050
Montgomery is either going to flame out or win a tournament . I’m betting on the latter. The season is just a few months old and Montgomery has to be considered the favorite for rookie of the year after his start. He kept rolling with a T12 last week at Waialae, his seventh top-15 in eight starts. He grabbed third at Napa to start the campaign and has been consistently great. Now it’s time to make the final hurdle.
Andrew Putnam +5000
Another player flashing solid form with a history of success at La Quinta, Putnam is a good value pick at his price. First he’s made the cut in all nine starts this season and 13 straight dating back to last season. He was T2 at the ZOZO and a third-round 62 vaulted him into the top-5 at the Sony Open. He’s also 5 for 5 in this tournament with three of those ending in a top-20.
Will Zalatoris +2000
Showing no signs of his injury layoff, Zalatoris looked good capturing a T11 at Kapalua scoring 69 or lower across the board. Being a first timer at the AMX last year didn’t faze Zalatoris, who carded a second-round 61 and closed with a 67 to capture a share of sixth-place. I was turned off by his price originally because of his injury, but Z-man has been consistently good for so long.
Courses: PGA West Stadium Course; PGA West Nicklaus Course; La Quinta CC
The three course format is more out of necessity than by design. With amateurs competing along with a full field of pros, having everyone complete a round before darkness sets in requires multiple layouts. Pros and ams will each play PGA West Stadium Course, Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club over the first three days with the cut rule in effect after Round 3. Those surviving the cut will play the final 18 holes on the Stadium Course, which is considered the most difficult typically playing two or more strokes harder on average. It plays around 7,100 yards at par-72 with five scoreable par 4s that are less than 410 yards. There are hazards to watch out for, including heavy rough, strategically placed bunkers and water in play on nearly half the holes.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
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