Abraham Ancer can be the answer at The American Express
The PGA Tour begins the 2022 California swing this week at PGA West for this year’s The American Express.
The trip to the Hawaiian Islands was certainly not lacking for excitement this year especially at last week’s Sony Open where Hideki Matsuyama chased down tournament leader Russell Henley in the most dramatic fashion. Deki produced two remarkable shots that are already candidates for shots of the year, the first was an insane drive on the 18th that cut over trees and around the dogleg to put himself in prime position to send the event to a playoff. The second shot that came on the playoff hole was quite possibly even better as the 2021 Masters champ nailed his approach shot from nearly 275 yards right next to the flag for a tap-in tournament-winning eagle to close things out.
This week the Tour begins the “multi-course swing” portion of the schedule with the first coming at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club. The 156 man field this week will once again play a rotation of three courses this week, the first three rounds will be played at PGA West’s Stadium Course, Nicklaus Tournament Course, and another at La Quinta Country Club. After a 54 hole cut the top 65 and ties will play one final round again on the Stadium Course. 2022 also sees the return of the Pro-Am event this week after it was canceled last year due to the pandemic, as such the field will also play with an amateur over their first three rounds this week.
The Courses at The American Express
Pete Dye’s iconic Stadium Course will be used in two rounds this week, the course is a PAR 72 7,113 design. The Stadium Course is the most difficult of the three courses and much like its counterpart at TPC Sawgrass the course features numerous water hazards on nearly half of its 18 holes.
The Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club are both PAR 72’s as well that play at around 7,100 yards each. Both courses provide ample scoring opportunities for players and overall this event has produced winning scores in the low to mid-twenties on average.
Previous Winners of The American Express
2021: Si Woo Kim (-23)
2020: Andrew Landry (-26)
2019: Adam Long (-26)
2018: Jon Rahm (-22)
2017: Hudson Swafford (-20)
2016: Jason Dufner (-25)
Favorites and Picks to win The American Express
Odds provided in this article are taken from WynnBet and are current at the time of publication. Head on over to WynnBet to see up to the date odds and make your own picks for The American Express.
There are two names in this field that make it difficult to put together a card for this week’s event. Jon Rahm (+600) and Patrick Cantlay (+900) stand out above the rest at The American Express this week and it would not come as a great surprise if either were to run away with this thing. The rest of the below 30 range this week reads as follows:
Scottie Scheffler (+1750)
Sungjae Im (+2000)
Tony Finau (+2250)
Abraham Ancer (+2500)
Corey Conners (+2500)
Talor Gooch (+2500)
We were on Gooch last week and even though it is tempting to go back to him in this spot there are certainly some concerns revolving around a pairing with an amateur this week after he seemed to struggle when next to Kevin Na at the Sony Open. Instead, I’ll perhaps unwisely pass on both Rahm and Cantlay and start with Ancer this week.
Abraham Ancer (+2500)
It has not been a terrific start to 2022 for Abe with a 35th at the Sentry followed by a missed cut at the Sony Open last week. Despite missing the weekend in Honolulu however, Abraham put up some positive strokes gained numbers gaining almost two strokes from tee to green and nearly a stroke and a half with his irons as well.
Ancer is somewhat of a Pete Dye specialist at this point and he has shown he is comfortable at this event in recent years posting finishes of 5th, 2nd, and 18th in his last three starts at PGA West. He also demonstrated an ability to beat elite fields last year when he won the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational, beating players such as Hideki Matsuyama, Dustin Johnson, and Patrick Cantlay in Memphis, that gives me confidence that he can compete with both Cantlay and Rahm this week should it come down to that.
Abe has historically not had the best results on the Hawaiian Islands with his best finish coming at the Sony Open back in 2019 when he finished 29th. I’m confident he can turn things around this week in more comfortable surroundings.
Adam Hadwin (+7500)
It’s difficult to pass on Hadwin at this number this week after all of the success he has had at The American Express over the years. The Canadian has gone 32nd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 6th, in his last five appearances at this event.
Adam hasn’t played since the RSM Classic and perhaps that is cause for some concern as he will need to shake off some rust this week. Still, Hadwin had one of his best finishes to start the 2022 season come back at the Shriners where he was 6th on another dessert course. He has also made five straight cuts now dating back to the Sanderson Farms in October.
Hayden Buckley (+10000)
Hayden will be a trendy pick this week but for good reason, after he has made an impressive start to life on the PGA Tour. Buckley now has three top 15 finishes in his first six starts to begin the PGA season, this includes a 12th place finish just last week in Hawaii.
He was 8th at the Shriners in October at a similar dessert track to what players will see this week at PGA West. Hayden is a triple-digit longshot this week who ranks 9th in strokes gained tee to green this year, sign me up!.
Lucas Glover (+10000)
Glover was sensational last week at the Sony Open where he picked up a top 5 finish. This seems to be a pretty good number on a player who looks to have his game in a pretty good spot to begin the new year.
Lucas gained a ridiculous 9 strokes tee to green last week and he was also sensational with his irons, now he makes his first appearance at The American Express since 2019 when he finished 12th. The 2009 U.S. Open winner was 4th last year at the Valero Texas Open at an event that has seen some crossover success with The American Express as well.
Glover picked up his first win last year since 2011 and with the form he has exhibited to start 2022 is well worth taking a shot with this week.
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