2022 The American Express Betting Preview/Prop Picks
18 January 2022
With two weeks recently in Hawaii, the PGA Tour has made its way back to the mainland with The American Express. This event usually showcases top talent, which you will see once again.
In addition, this event will be played among three different courses. The final round will be played at PGA West. Below you will see who could make the cut and the best chance to win.
Tournament Details
Date: Jan 20–23, 2022
Course: La Quinta Country Club
Purse: $7,600,000
Betting Overview
Jon Rahm is an early favorite since he has history here and is the overall number one golfer in the world. However, he is not the only one that can score -20 or better.
In fact, 14 straight championships have had -20 or better in order to win. With the field being strong, this could be anyone’s event.
Head to Head Matchup to Watch
Jon Rahm (-21.718) and Patrick Cantlay (-21.833) make a perfect pair to watch compete. Rahm is currently ranked the best golfer in the world, while Cantlay is not far behind at fourth.
Rahm also won this event back in 2018. Last year, Cantlay came in second after two consecutive rounds of excellent play. Rahm has a slight advantage, but you could make the argument for both.
Dunkel Index For This Event
The Dunkel Index is showing these top 10 golfers that could win this event. The following ten are:
1 Talor Gooch -21.633
2 Jon Rahm -21.718
3 Patrick Cantlay -21.833
4 Tony Finau -22.341
5 Patrick Reed -24.190
6 Scottie Scheffler -25.539
7 Matthew Wolff -25.725
8 Russell Henley -27.503
9 Justin Rose -27.913
10 Seamus Power -28.024
*index is subject to changes
Golfers That Could Win
Do not be surprised if you see Matthew Wolff (-25.725) take a victory here. He has had a hot start lately despite not having a victory since 2019. If he can hang around the first few rounds, then he definitely has a chance.
Tony Finau (-22.341) has some compelling odds to look into to win this event. He is coming off of a T19 finish at the Tournament of Champions and a T7 finish at the Hero World Challenge. If he can entertain the iron game consistently here, then he makes a great case to win.
Patrick Cantlay (-21.833) has the best momentum coming into this event. Recently he has posted T11, two straight victories, and a fourth-place finish. If he gets ahead on his putts, he has a good shot to end this early.
Jon Rahm (-21.718) nearly had a victory at the Tournament of Champions recently with his -33 score for a second-place finish. He will be returning to an event that he took hold of in 2018 and on similar courses that he favors.
One has to wonder if the same Rahm is going to show up as he did in the Tournament of Champions. If he does, this is another event that he will shine on.
Winning Pick
Talor Gooch earned his first Tour win last at the RSM Classic and hasn’t been far off the leaderboard in recent weeks with a 15th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and 27th at last week’s Sony Open, which was good enough to win his head-to-head matchup with Harris English.
Rated No. 1 in this week’s Dunkel Index, Gooch (+2000) is definitely worth a look to win it all at this price.
Prop Picks
Top 10 Finish: Tony Finau (+225)
Finau finished in the Top 10 eight times last season, including a fourth-place finish at the American Express last year with a score of 19-under.
Rated No. 4 in this week’s Dunkel Index, take Finau (+225) to record another Top 10 finish this weekend.
Top 20 Finish: Patrick Reed (+150)
Reed is coming off a Top 15 finish at the Sony Open and won this event back in 2014 after opening the tournament with three straight 9-under 63s.
Rated No. 5 in this week’s Dunkel Index, take Reed (+150) to put together another strong showing at PGA West and finish in the Top 20.
Head-To-Head: K.H. Lee (-120) Over Kevin Streelman
Lee won his first PGA Tour event last year at the Byron Nelson and has started off this season by making five of six cuts, including a tie for 48th at last week’s Sony Open. This will be Streelman’s first tournament since November and he has failed to do better than 50th in his three previous events.
With Lee rated No. 12 in this week’s Dunkel Index and Streelman not cracking the Top 20, go with Lee (-120) to get the better of this head-to-head matchup in La Quinta.
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