After two weeks in Hawaii, the PGA Tour will be in California for The American Express this week.
It’s a unique week for the players and in golf betting, as it’s the first of two pro-am events on the PGA Tour schedule this year, and it will be played on three different courses.
Each professional and his amateur partner will play three rounds at each of the courses — PGA West (Stadium Course), La Quinta Country Club and PGA West (Nicklaus Tournament Course) — before the low 65 pros (and ties) will play the final round at PGA West’s Stadium Course.
While several top players are in the field, including Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay, recent history shows this is a week where longshots can do well.
Last year’s winner, Hudson Swafford, was +20000 at the beginning of the week, 2020’s winner Andrew Landry was +20000, and 2019’s winner Adam Long was +60000.
As of Tuesday at the BetMGM online sportsbook, Cam Davis (+5000) and Taylor Montgomery (+4500) are the two of the most popular players going into the tournament.
Although they aren’t as big of longshots as those past winners, Davis is taking in the fourth-most handle (9%) on the most tickets (7.9%), while Montgomery has the second-most tickets (7.6%) and the sixth-highest handle (6.8%).
Davis has had some past success at the event, finishing third a year ago and inside the top 30 the two years before. He finished T-32 at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, Montgomery is a PGA Tour rookie, so he doesn’t have any experience at the tournament but is off to a great start. In eight events during the 2022-23 season, he has seven top-25 finishes, including three top-10s.
History also shows a lot of birdies will be made, as the winning score has been 20-under par or better each year since 2007.
Patrick Cantlay (+1100), who has the third-highest handle (10.2%), leads the PGA Tour this season in birdie average (6.50), and Cameron Young (+2200), who has the second-highest handle (11%), is fifth (5.25).
Coming off a missed cut last week, Tom Kim (+2200) is still a popular pick, drawing the most handle (12.3%) on the third-most tickets (6.8%).
Current Handle & Tickets
Handle
- Tom Kim – 12.3%
- Cameron Young – 11%
- Patrick Cantlay – 10.2%
- Cam Davis – 9%
- Sahith Theegala – 7%
Tickets
- Cam Davis – 7.9%
- Taylor Montgomery – 7.6%
- Tom Kim – 6.8%
- Sahith Theegala – 5.6%
- Cameron Young – 5.4%
Jon Rahm (+600) has the best golf odds to win but only has 1.9% of the tickets and 1.3% of the handle. He won this event in 2018.
Another longshot generating some early action is Sahith Theegala (+5500). He’s drawing 5.6% of the tickets on 7% of the handle.
The purse for the event is $8 million, with a winner’s share of $1,440,000.
