#205 THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

#205 THE AMERICAN EXPRESS 

3 Courses Pete Dye West Stadium

PGA West  Nicklaus Tournament

La Quinta Country Club  Course

LaQuinta CA  Jan 13-19, 2025

Purse $$8.5M up $200K 2%

HISTORY 

Tournament established in 1960 as “The Palm Springs Golf Classic”.  From 1965 to 2019 It was renamed “The Bob Hope Desert Classic”.  It is a full entertainment event with concerts on Fri.

By  Little Big Town & Sat. Journey.  Last years winners was Nick Dunlap who then turned pro the next week and won his 2nd tournament The Barracuda Tahoe which was held the same week as THE OPEN in July.  It has a unique format with pros and amateurs for the first 3 RDs with all pros playing with an amateur.  Cut is after the 3rd RD, and remaining players play the Pete Dye Stadium Course.  Several top players skipped this tournament.

Scheffler & Spieth for medical reasons, McIlroy, Schauffele, Morikawa, Matsuyama, Hovland, Aberg will wait for The Farmers or Pebble Beach. 

FAVORITES 

1 SJ Im 12/1 Only has 2 PGA wins Honda in 2020, Shriners in 2021, can’t see him winning.

2 Justin Thomas 12/1 Has shown signs of getting back in fall but I have to see consistency.

3 Sam Burns 14/1 He has been up & down all last year, can’t see him winning.

4 Patrick Cantlay 18/1 I think he has the best chance of the top 5 of winning.

5 Tony Finau 22/1 He seems to always be in contention but fades in 3rd or 4th RD.

6 Tom Kim 30/1 I thought he could win last week but finished  65th, not ready to win yet.

7 Wyndham Clark 33/1 Had a great 3rd RD at Sentry finished 15th, he could win.

8 Max Greyserman 35/1 I have no doubt he will win this year but not yet. 

9 Kurt Kitayama 35/1 Finished 37th last week and should not be in the top 10.

10 Si Wo Kim 35/1 Has 4 PGA wins including this tournament in 2021 by 1 stroke over Cantlay.

MY WINNER Patrick Cantlay his game has been inconsistent, last win BMW 2021 but with this field may get his 1st win in 4 years.  Too good a golfer to not get a win this year.  

Otherwise, as it was last year, a lesser known name may win.

MY LONG-SHOT I would love it to be Max Greyserman but I picked him too many times in the past.  So my pick is Wyndham Clark.  If he is hot he could win like at Pebble Beach last year. 

OTHER LONG-SHOTS

Eric Cole 55/1 Played well last week except for 2 holes which cost him the tournament.

Nicholas Echavarria 60/1 Lost in a playoff last week and may be fuel to play well this week.

Sepp Straka 65/1 He finished 15th at Sentry and played well. 

C. Bezuidenhout 80/1 Finished 2nd last year got 1st place money, Dunlap was an amateur.

SPECIAL INFORMATION

The 17th is an island green similar to 17 at Sawgrass (Players Championship 3/6-9, 2025).

They will only play this hole twice, so watch it when you can.  Last year 36 balls found water.