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And just like that, the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season is in the third event of 2022, with The American Express scheduled to start this Wednesday at Pete Dye Stadium Course, in La Quinta, California. This is also going to be the first of the year in mainland America and will look to sustain the momentum of the thrilling finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week, won by Hideki Matsuyama via a playoff. Last year, Si-Woo Kim won the event and took home the grand prize worth $1.206 million. Well, the winner of this edition of The American Express will receive an even fatter check, with the total purse ballooning from $6.7 million in the past two years to $7.6 million this time around. With that said, let’s now dive into our 2022 The American Express prediction at the end of this preview.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the 2022 The American Express odds for 20 of the players in the field.
Jon Rahm +600
Patrick Cantlay +750
Scottie Scheffler +1900
Tony Finau +2100
Sungjae Im +2100
Corey Conners +2400
Talor Gooch +2900
Abraham Ancer +2900
Matthew Wolff +3100
Seamus Power +3200
Patrick Reed +3400
Russell Henley +3600
Si-Woo Kim +3800
Justin Rose +4600
Cameron Tringale +4600
Will Zalatoris +4600
Rickie Fowler +5000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +5500
Alex Noren +6500
Luke List +7000
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Favorites to win 2022 The American Express
Jon Rahm(+600). Rahm has made just two starts so far this season. He missed the cut in the first one at the Fortinet Championship back in September before taking a long break from the PGA TOUR action. Rahm was back at it last week and instantly caught fire, as he finished second overall with a 33-under-259, on the strength of a 61 score in the third round. Moreover, Rahm has done great at the Pete Dye Stadium Course in three career starts there. The last time he played there was in 2019 when he finished sixth at the Desert Classic presented by Workday. Before that, he topped the 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge by breaking away from Andrew Landry in a playoff to finish with a 22-under-266. Rahm is 3/3 at the Pete Dye Stadium Course, with his worst finish being a 33rd place in the 2017 edition of the CareerBuilder Challenge.
Patrick Cantlay (+750). Patrick Cantlay (+750). The 29-year-old Californian closed out the 2021-21 PGA TOUR season like a house on fire. He went 4/4 in his final four starts of that campaign, which included back-to-back wins at the BMW Championship and at the TOUR Championship. As for this season, he’s made quite an entrance with his only start thus far, as he placed fourth at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to take home 135 FedExCup points. Also last year, he finished runner-up to Kim Si-woo at The American Express with a 22-under-266.
Scottie Scheffler (+1900). Scottie Scheffler (+1900). It may come as a surprise to some that Scheffler has yet to win a PGA TOUR event so far in his pro career. But Scheffler topping an event is only a matter of time based on the way he’s progressing. Last season, Scheffler went 24/29 with eight top 10s, which included a runner-up and third-place finishes. Although he got cut in the 2021 edition of The American Express, it shouldn’t be forgotten that he placed third in his debut at Pete Dye Stadium Course in 2020. He is also 4/5 this season with a fourth at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and a T-2 at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open.
Sleepers to win 2022 The American Express
Will Zalatoris (+4600). He’s never played a PGA TOUR event at Pete Dye Stadium Course, so there’s a bit of a mystery surrounding Zalatoris for his upcoming start there. He’s also not seen action since finishing with a T-7 at the QBE Shootout last December, so he’s coming into this week’s tournament with a full tank. Zalatoris’ form has dropped a bit since racking up two top 15s in his first two starts, as’s gone 1/3 since, but the 2020-21 Rookie of the Year might have found his rhythm again after that QBE Shootout performance. Last season, he went 21/25 with eight top 10s and a surprise runner-up finish at the Masters.
Cameron Tringale (+4600). Cameron Tringale (+4600). Tringale has a lot of experience playing at Pete Dye Stadium, as he’s made six starts there, making the cut four times. He’s only cracked the top 25 just once in all those starts, but he’s also 3/3 in his past three appearances at The American Express/Desert Classic. This will be his first PGA TOUR event after a pair of top 7s in two of his last three starts.
Final 2022 The American Express Prediction & Pick
Rust was not a problem at all for Cantlay when he made his first start of the season at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Given that plus how great he played at Pete Dye Stadium Course in his last couple of appearances there, it’s fair to expect that Cantlay is going to have quite a finish at The American Express.
FINAL 2022 The American Express PREDICTION: Patrick Cantlay (+750)