It’s time for the legendary tournament now known as The American Express to tee up! The American Express Desert Classic was made famous by Bob Hope and his famous friends as well as its three-course structure. As always, the field for this tournament is a nice mix of solid big- name players, as well as value, picks down the odds list.
As mentioned above, the event takes place on three courses in La Quinta, California. The courses are the La Quinta Country Club, the PGA West Stadium Course, and the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course. Players rotate on the three courses with the final round returning for another day on the Stadium Course links.
It makes for a fun mix of camera work and commentary as coverage switches around. Plus, there’s always some celebrity sightings to keep an eye open for – especially during the pro-am which is returning after being cut due to Covid-19 last season.
Jon Rahm enters as the lone favorite this week at +600 as he won this event in 2018 in a playoff against Andrew Landry. The event has finished in a playoff 3 of the last 10 with all ten being won by 2 strokes or less. This is not a tournament that sees one play dominate the field by a bunch of strokes. The last time that happened was when Tom Kite won by 6 strokes over the field back in 1993.
Patrick Cantlay follows Rahm at +900 with numbers spreading out quickly through the top-five as well as throughout the odds list. Here are the top-five favorites through +2000 to win the American Express / Desert Classic outright.
Jon Rahm +600
Patrick Cantlay +900
Scottie Scheffler +1800
Sungjae Im +2000
Tony Finau +2000
2022 The American Express Preview
Where: La Quinta, California
Courses: La Quinta Country Club, PGA West Stadium Course, and the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course
Par: 72 (All three courses) 7,060 (LQ) 7,140 (S) 7,181 (NT)
When: January 20-23, 2022
Purse: $7.5 million
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
The American Express continues its Bob Hope Desert Classic history by utilizing several area courses with the final day of play for PGA pros coming on Sunday at the Stadium Course.
The Stadium Course is a classic California set of links. It was designed by Pete Dye and features deep bunkers, immaculate green landing areas with manicured natural boundaries. Several holes play over, and around water. Bunkers are dotted everywhere on all of the course so expect plenty of great recovery shots from the sand.
The grass is Bermuda, with native grasses. Opportunities for birdies are available on several shorter par-five holes. Long irons, wedges, and a hot putter will be critical on par-3’s as everyone will be trying to shave shots on the par-5 holes heading into Sunday.
2022 The American Express Picks
Jon Rahm +600
Jon Rahm won this tournament in 2018 and finished in 2nd place last week at the Tournament of Champions. Last season he won the U.S. Open and came close to winning the Open (British) Championship with a T3 finish. Not to mention, he finished 2nd at the PGA Tour Championship. Last season he only was cut once and had to withdraw only one time due to a Covid test. He’s the hottest golfer in the field this week with a No. 1 ranking by the OWGR.
Scottie Scheffler +1600
Scottie Scheffler is playing great golf. This could be the week that he grabs his first PGA victory as he’s been close to doing that here in the past with a solo third-place finish in 2020. Coming into this week he’s carded a solo 2nd place at the Hero, a T2 at the Houston Open, a solo 4th at Mayakoba, and was part of Team USA for the win at the Ryder Cup.
Abraham Ancer +2500
Abraham Ancer finished T5 during this event last year and had a 2nd place finish the year prior and a T18 in 2019. Ancer seems to move around these courses with confidence and looks to be building up for another strong run at this edition of the American Express Desert Classic. Ancer grabbed his first PGA win last season at the St Jude Invitational.
Others: Patrick Reed comes in at +3300 and could be considered a good value pick. The same also goes for Will Zalatoris who is at +4000 heading into Thursday’s opening round. Of course, my sentimental side will be pulling for Phil Mickelson +10000.
Tips for Betting on PGA Majors
2022 The American Express Betting Lines
Jon Rahm +600
Patrick Cantlay +900
Scottie Scheffler +1800
Sungjae Im +2000
Tony Finau +2000
Corey Conners +2200
Abraham Ancer +2500
Matthew Wolff +2800
Seamus Power +2800
Talor Gooch +2800
Patrick Reed +3300
Russell Henley +3300
Will Zalatoris +4000
Cameron Tringale +4000
Justin Rose +4000
Alex Noren +5000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +5000
Rickie Fowler +5000
Si-Woo Kim +5000
Carlos Ortiz +6600
Jhonattan Vegas +6600
Luke List +6600
Charles Howell III +8000
Brian Harman +8000
Gary Woodland +8000
Chris Kirk +8000
Adam Hadwin +8000
Cameron Champ +8000
Jason Day +8000
Sebastian Munoz +8000
Michael Thompson +8000
Phil Mickelson +10000
Adam Long +10000
Brendon Todd +10000
Chez Reavie +10000
Russell Knox +10000
Harold Varner III +10000
Lanto Griffin +10000
Brendan Steele +10000
Lucas Glover +10000
Kevin Streelman +10000
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +10000
Taylor Moore +10000
Tom Hoge +12500
Emiliano Grillo +12500
Andrew Landry +12500
Doug Ghim +12500
Aaron Rai +12500
Patton Kizzire +12500
Kramer Hickok +12500
Denny McCarthy +12500
Danny Lee +12500
Hayden Buckley +12500
Patrick Rodgers +12500
Troy Merritt +12500
Andrew Putnam +12500
Dylan Frittelli +15000
Matthew Nesmith +15000
Wyndham Clark +15000
Taylor Pendrith +15000
Francesco Molinari +15000
John Huh +15000
Zach Johnson +15000
Brandt Snedeker +15000
Alex Smalley +15000
Henrik Norlander +15000
Vincent Whaley +15000
C T Pan +15000
Rory Sabbatini +15000
Scott Piercy +15000
Adam Svensson +15000
Chad Ramey +15000
Adam Schenk +15000
Martin Laird +15000
Hudson Swafford +15000
Robert Streb +20000
JJ Spaun +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Brian Stuard +20000
Davis Riley +20000
Nick Hardy +20000
Harry Higgs +20000
Scott Stallings +20000
Dylan Wu +20000
Hank Lebioda +20000
Greyson Sigg +20000
Sepp Straka +20000
Sahith Theegala +20000
Graeme McDowell +25000
Cameron Young +25000
Andrew Novak +25000
Ryan Moore +25000
Pat Perez +25000
Joseph Bramlett +25000
Ben Kohles +25000
James Hahn +25000
Jason Dufner +25000
Tyler Duncan +25000
Tyler McCumber +25000
JT Poston +25000
Wesley Bryan +25000
Brice Garnett +25000
Doc Redman +30000
Bronson Burgoon +30000
David Lipsky +30000
Nate Lashley +30000
Kevin Tway +30000
Max McGreevy +30000
Brandon Wu +30000
Sam Ryder +30000
Roger Sloan +30000
Luke Donald +30000
Peter Uihlein +30000
Peter Malnati +30000
Anirban Lahiri +30000
Chan Kim +30000
Camilo Villegas +30000
Richy Werenski +30000
Lee Hodges +30000
Chesson Hadley +30000
Jonathan Byrd +30000
Austin Cook +30000
Nick Watney +30000
Kurt Kitayama +30000
Justin Lower +30000
Kevin Chappell +30000
Trey Mullinax +30000
Sung Kang +30000
Brandon Hagy +30000
Jim Herman +30000
Jimmy Walker +50000
Seth Reeves +50000
Brett Drewitt +50000
Michael Gligic +50000
Austin Smotherman +50000
David Skinns +50000
Scott Gutschewski +50000
Brian Gay +50000
Curtis Thompson +50000
Seung-Yul Noh +50000
Bill Haas +50000
Chris Stroud +50000
Dawie Van Der Walt +50000
John Pak +50000
Paul Barjon +50000
Davis Love III +50000
Kelly Kraft +50000
Martin Trainer +75000
James Hart Du Preez +100000
Jonas Blixt +100000
T.j. Vogel +100000
Kyle Mendoza +100000
Mark Wilson +100000
Access winning sports predictions from the world’s most profitable handicappers.
