The American Express Best Bets, Odds, and Betting Preview

The Hawaii swing is in the books and now it's time for the PGA Tour to begin it's desert swing, starting with The American Express in California.

The American Express is one of the more difficult events on the PGA Tour's calendar to handicap given the fact it's played on three separate courses with two of them having no video or shot link data. At the end of the day, we should target golfers who will aim at flag sticks and rack up birdies, no matter where they're playing.

In this article, I'm going to break down everything you need to know to wager on this event, including my best bet.

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Odds to Win the American Express

The American Express How to Watch and Purse

• Date: Thursday, January 18 - Sunday, January 21
• Purse: $8.4 million ($1.512 million winner's share)
• Defending champion: Jon Rahm

The American Express Air Time

• Thursday: 3pm - 7pm et (Golf Channel)
• Friday: 3pm - 7pm et (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 3pm - 7pm et (Golf Channel)
• Sunday: 3pm - 7pm et (Golf Channel)

• Thursday-Friday 9am et - end of round (PGA Tour Live on ESPN+)
• Saturday-Sunday 11:30am et - end of round (PGA Tour Live on ESPN+)

The American Express Notable Golfers in the Field

Scottie Scheffler: The No. 1 ranked golfer in the world will make his second start of 2024 after finishing T5 at The Sentry two weeks ago. He hasn't had a ton of success at this event throughout his career, finishing no better than 11th over the past three seasons.

Chris Kirk: The winner at The Sentry, Chris Kirk, followed it up with a T18 finish at the Sony Open. Now, he returns to an event he finished T3 at last season. Can he carry his momentum from Hawaii to the main land?

Picks for The American Express

Sungjae Im to Win

Sungjae Im has everything we're looking for as a potential winner of this event. First of all, he has a great history here, finishing 18th or better in all five of his starts at The American Express. Secondly, he's in solid form having finished T5 at The Sentry two weeks ago.

Lastly, he's a birdie machine who fires at pins all over the course. He was 28th in birdie average last season and he just set the record for the most birdies in a 72-hole event at The Sentry.

He checks all the boxes and is my No. 1 bet to win this week.

Min Woo Lee to Win (+3300)

I'm extremely high on Min Woo Lee this season. He has played in a unmber of PGA Tour events, including T21 or better in all four majors, and now finally has full PGA Tour membership for the 2024 season.

He has two wins in hist last five worldwide starts including a win at the Australian PGA Championship and a T6 finish at the PGA Tour's Zozo Championship in October.

His one knock against him is that this is his first time competing at The American Express, but even with that being the case, he's absolutely worth a bet at his current price tag.

Taylor Montgomery to Win (+5000)

Taylor Montgomery has been historically known for his putting, and we saw that in his last 2023 start at the RSM Classic, gaining +2.59 strokes on the field with his flat stick. Where he struggled in 2023 was his approach play.

We saw the opposite with him at the Sony Open last week. He posted a solid T13 finish, but you'd be surprised to look at his numbers and see that he gained +1.81 strokes with his approach play but just +0.06 with his putter. If he figured something out with his irons, now is the time to bet on him because the putter is still there, despite an average performance with it last week.

It also helps that he finished T5 at this event last season, so he knows what it takes to compete at PGA West.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

You can check out all of Iain's bets here!