American Express 2021: Golfer Picks to win at PGA West

The PGA Tour is heading to the American Express at PGA West. Here are our golfer picks to win as we get used to having events week in and week out.

The American Express tournament has had a ton of names over the years. I can count ten different ones since its exception back in 1960, and we’ve got a history of them if you are interested in finding out a bit more.

Now that Jon Rahm has withdrawn, the tournament is a bit more open without the prohibitive favorite in the field.

If you’re interested in power rankings, we’ve got those. We also have some odds information for those of who you are interested (and able to do so legally) in gambling, as well as coverage of the tournament from a fantasy angle.

But now, here are the staff picks to win the American Express at PGA West.

Scottie Scheffler

Chris O’Day –  I wrote about why I think Scheffler is going to win the American Express earlier this week, highlighted by the fact that he has been the second-best from tee to green of anyone in the field since play resumed last summer.

Jay Wilhelm III – After a 12-under 59 at last year’s The Northern Trust, the PGA Tour’s 2020 Rookie of the Year proves he can card low scores on Tour and it’s only a matter of time until he gets his first win in a PGA Tour event.

Hans Geevers – The talented American has an impressive eight top 20 finishes in his last 12 events played on the PGA Tour.

Doug Hoff – Reigning PGA Tour rookie of the year, Scottie has slowly been upping his play since his COVID hiatus. He’s finished in the top 20 in his last two starts. Scottie will continue this upward trend to a win this week by going extremely low at the PGA West courses.

Patrick Cantlay

Josh Chandler – If I were to play one of the favorites this week, it would be Patrick Cantlay who was 9th in his only start here back in 2019 and comes in exhibiting nice form with a 13th most recently at The Tournament of Champions two weeks ago.

Brooks Koepka

Michael Ellis – After finishing in the Top 10 at the 2020 Masters in November, Koepka logged a missed cut at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in December. Koepka will look to rebound at the 2021 American Express at PGA West. Koepka took some highly publicized time away from competitive golf to heal from injuries sustained in 2020.

The four-time major champion and former world number 1 has to return to form at some point, right? No time is better than the present. Brooks Koepka is my pick to win the 2021 American Express.

Kathy Bissell – These are big boy courses. While not impossible for a shorter hitter, think Corey Pavin who won in 1987, the length and the shots required are demanding.

Matthew Wolff

West Valentine

Kasey Kuhrts

Bill Felber – I see a gun show in the desert and there aren’t many bigger gunslingers than Matthew Wolff. I’ll take him

Sungjae Im

Tim Letcher – The talented young player seems to like playing this event, finishing T12 and T10. This year, he gets over the hump and wins the American Express.

Russell Henley

Josh McCusker – I like him for his stats that usually fit this course. He played great last week after a bad finish at the Mayakoba in early December. Before that, he was playing incredible. Currently, he is 9th in strokes gained coming to a course that is usually a birdie fest.

Patrick Cantlay

Richie Randolph

Best of luck to everyone this week at the American Express!