“The” American Express

Nothing screams spring is coming like waking up on the couch on a Sunday to the whispering announcers and drained putts of a golf tournament few people care about. It is an experience that brings you back to life, makes you want to grab the sticks, maybe even get a range session in and fine tune those skills instead of firing 92s all the time. Sadly, for most of us in the Midwest the only place we will be golfing for 4 more months is Top Golf. However, there is something around to fill that void, other than beer, and it’s gambling on the bastards that just got to play in Hawaii the past two weekends and will now be teeing it up in California. If this does not do the trick feel free to hammer beers instead.

This week the PGA Tour pros will be teeing it up at 3 different courses in Cali for “The” American Express. While we are on the topic, what a tournament name, didn’t sugar coat it at all, just their company that is it, why put “championship” or “open” when you can be a total baller and be “The” American Express. The boys will be playing on the La Quinta course, Nicklaus Tournament course and the PGA West Stadium course. In all seriousness, it is a pretty cool tournament that is being played on U.S. soil. Ignore the tournament in Abu Dhabi, we disavow that tournament. Both the La Quinta and the Nicklaus Tournament courses are scorable so we should be able to watch somebody go 30 strokes lower than we normally do. However, the PGA West course is a little more interesting and specifically is allegedly known for being originally laid out with so much difficulty that pros refused to play it. Get pumped up for a 54-hole cut line, awesome tournament name, Jon Rahm and Si Woo Kim both in the field?!? Time for the picks.

Alright to make this easy, we’ve got a top 20, top 10, winner and matchup pick.

Top 20 – Tom Hoge +400 – An absolute STEAL at +400 Hoge is 5th in strokes gained in approach this season and finished T6 2 years ago. Talor Gooch +140 honorable mention, the Gooch man will be on a tear after having to play with Kevin Na last weekend.

Top 10 – Tony Finau +200 – Come on, we all knew it was coming. Tony finished 4th last year and if he does piss a win away here you still win money. 

Winner – Sungjae Im +2200 – Everyone is hammering Cantlay and Rahm this week, and they may be right, I refuse to eat the chalk though. Im has finished T12 and T10 his last two attempts at this tournament and has the birdie power to run away with it.

Matchup – Corey Conners over Abraham Ancer – I don’t hate Abe at this course I just really think Conners is going to show up. Risky bet for sure but Conners ball striking wins this one.

Golf (gambling) is back. Grab a beer, take a nap, enjoy it.