Up next is the American Express in La Quinta, California, which is a rare event that features three courses. Each player of this 156-man field will play one round at each of the Pete Dye Stadium Course (par 72, 7,210 yards, POA overseed greens), the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course (par 72, 7,147 yards, POA overseed greens) and La Quinta Country Club (par 72, 7,060 yards, POA trivialis/ryegrass overseed greens). Then, there will be a top-65 and ties cut and the players who advance will return to the Dye Stadium Course for the final round. With two of the four rounds at this par 72, the Dye Stadium Course is the host of the American Express. At this event a year ago, Sepp Straka (-25) won by two strokes.
Below, I have featured my two favorite bets for the American Express on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Ben Griffin to win (+2000)
These odds are just too long for Griffin right now. The 29-year-old has finished inside the top-12 in six of his last seven starts, including a runner-up at the World Wide Technology Championship, which he followed up with a win at the Procore Championship in his next start. Griffin has shot under par in 24 of his last 28 rounds and the 29-year-old ranks second in total strokes gained when we compare this field’s last 24 rounds, trailing only Scottie Scheffler.
Not only is Griffin playing incredible golf, he has improved in each of his three starts at the American Express, finishing T-32, T-9 and T-7, in that order. Griffin has shot 67 or better in eight of his 12 rounds at this event and he ranks second among this field in strokes gained per round at the Pete Dye Stadium Course, which is the host venue of the American Express. Since that T-7 at last year’s American Express, Griffin has won three times on the PGA TOUR and he has moved himself up 60 spots in the world golf rankings to a career-best No. 8.
The first of these three wins was at the team-based Zurich Classic with Andrew Novak as Griffin’s partner and this victory is very notable, as this tournament was played at the Dye-designed TPC Louisiana. With Griffin being a great iron player and putter – he finished top-25 in both SG APP and SGP last season – his game is perfect for Dye courses and he needs to be included on your betting card this week at this +2000 price.
Rasmus Hojgaard for a top-10 finish including ties (+400)
While Hojgaard has never competed at an American Express before, the Dane is a great bet to finish inside the top-10 this week. Hojgaard is coming off a T-7 at the DP World Tour Championship in November, marking his fourth top-10 finish in his last eight starts worldwide. Two of these finishes were runners-up and he finished T-3 at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October, which like this week, was his debut at that event.
Hojgaard has shot under par in 14 of his last 16 rounds and he ranks fifth in total strokes gained when we compare this field’s last 24 rounds. Another positive sign for this week is that Hojgaard’s best finish on the PGA TOUR last season was a runner-up at the Zurich Classic. Hojgaard competed with his brother Nicolai as his teammate that week and as noted above, the Zurich Classic was played at TPC Louisiana, which was designed by Dye.
Hojgaard having this near-win at a Dye track on his resume bodes well for his chances at the American Express and he should provide a high finish in his debut at the event this week.
