PGA Tour Betting Picks and Guide: The American Express (2022)
The Tour heads back to the mainland this week as La Quinta Country Club in Coachella Valley, CA will play host to the first full-stop tournament of the year. With 150+ players in action, this stop will also welcome back amateurs into the fold and is headlined by a former winner in Jon Rahm.
Let’s take a closer look at the entire field and see where the value remains.
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Previous Winners of The American Express
- 2021: Kim Si-Woo
- 2020: Andrew Landry
- 2019: Adam Long
- 2018: Jon Rahm
Course Preview (La Quinta Country Club)
This a unique event in that it features three different courses, of which all golfers will get one crack at before a Saturday cut and a Sunday go around the Stadium Course. Each playing as Par 72s, all three also come in at less than 7,200 yards which makes them slightly below average vs. the rest of the Tour.
Despite being relatively short, all of these courses, especially the Stadium Course, provide unique challenges. Specifically, 16-18 are some of the most challenging holes on the entire Tour and look for no lead to be safe heading into Sunday.
Relevant Betting Stats
- Driving Accuracy
- Smaller Greens
- Bermuda Greens
- Par 4 Efficiency
- SG: Approach
Outright Betting Picks
Sung-Jae Im (+1800 on DraftKings Sportsbook)
With Rahm and Patrick Cantlay appropriately the two big favorites in this one, we look a little further down the board for value and find it in Sung-Jae Im. Before missing the cut last week in the Sony, Im finished T8 at Kapalua in what was his first start of the 2022 calendar year.
Since starting the 2021-22 season in September, however, Im finished 19th or higher in four of five starts including a solo 9 at the CJ Cup and a win at the Shriner’s Open. The wins follow a theme for Im showing a propensity to go low to start seasons.
Looking back at his January events since turning 2018, in the 47 rounds played, Im has a Strokes Gained average of 1.21, putting him #7 in this field. A large part of that success has been here at PGA West, where in three straight appearances he’s finished no higher than T12.
Look for a rested Im to go low in this one as he sets himself up for what should be a tremendous 2022 season for the 23-year-old South Korean.
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