The PGA TOUR is back in action, as the West Coast swing gets underway with The American Express in California this week.
After Round 1, Min Woo Lee and Pierceson Coody share the lead at -10, with big names like Scottie Scheffler, Si Woo Kim, Robert MacIntyre, Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay and Ben Griffin all sitting T3 just one stroke back. Let’s take a look at a few of my golf best bets for Round 2 on Friday, highlighting some tantalizing options on DraftKings Sportsbook.
This tournament is a little tricky to track through the first three rounds since the event uses a three-course rotation, so players haven’t played the same courses until the end of Round 3, which is when the cut is this week. The Pete Dye Stadium Course (SC) is much harder than La Quinta Country Club (LQ) and the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course (NT). Day was the only player on the Stadium Course to rank in the top 20, and only seven players from that course ended up the top 50. The course disparity is definitely something to keep in mind and will make a major impact on how the leaderboard looks at the end of the day on Friday. In theory, the players who have played two rounds on the non-Stadium courses have a huge advantage after two rounds before playing the more difficult layout on Saturday.
With that understanding in place, let’s break down a few of my top picks for this Friday.
Scottie Scheffler End of Round Leader (+128)
The top golfer in the world actually doesn’t have the shortest odds to be the end-of-round leader, since Jason Day (+100) was so impressive on the tough layout. However, Scheffler showed no signs of rust in his first event of 2026, and opened with nine birdies in a bogey-free round at La Quinta Country Club. I wouldn’t back Scheffler to have the lead if he was playing the Stadium Course, but his second round will be at the Nicklaus Course, which played very easy relative to par. The only two golfers ahead of him are Lee and Coody, who each played the Nicklaus Course yesterday and now face the tougher Stadium Course. Even if they continue to play well, they’ll likely fade a bit, while Scheffler has a great opportunity to keep his foot on the gas and zoom into the lead before heading to the Stadium Course on Saturday. While this isn’t the spiciest pick on the board, getting it at plus-money feels like good value after Scheffler was back to his reliable, consistent excellence in Round 1.
Pierceson Coody Under 69.5 (-105)
Even though he’s on the most difficult course in the rotation, Coody should be able to keep it rolling after his sensational start on Thursday. Coody had 10 birdies, including a streak of seven straight on his back nine. I highlighted all the reasons I like Coody for a big week before the tournament teed off, and he definitely delivered in Round 1. He only has to go -3 or better to get under this prop, and I think the 26-year-old Texan is set up for a breakout season, which he should be able to continue on Friday while staying in contention, even though he’s likely to fade a bit just due to the course difficulty.
Matchup Round 2: Taylor Pendrith (-115) over Sepp Straka
While Straka is the defending champ at this tournament and clearly can get on big-time birdie runs, he struggled badly in his first round of 2026. Straka did finish T3 in the Hero World Challenge, but other than that tournament, he hasn’t played on the PGA TOUR since last year’s TOUR Championship. He struggled to an even-par 72 on Thursday, even on the scorable La Quinta Country Club. He opened with nine straight pars before making a pair of birdies on the back nine, which he wiped out with a bogey and double-bogey to drop to +1, before a birdie on the closing hole.
Pendrith played the same track and shot a 67 to finish five strokes better than Straka on Thursday. He bogeyed his second hole of the day, but finished on a great run, making birdies on five of his last eight holes. Unlike Straka, Pendrith has shown a little more form this year, since the 34-year-old Canadian made his debut last week in Hawaii, where he finished T6. With better form coming to the event, and a strong first round, I think he can take down the champ in this head-to-head Round 2 matchup.
