Two weeks in paradise has come to an end for the PGA Tour, as it leaves Hawaii for the mainland. Now golfers head back stateside for the first of many stops in California. First up is the American Express, formerly known as the Desert Classic, played in La Quinta, Calif. *Note this year the Pro-Am format returns, after a one-year absence due to covid, and the standard 3-course rotation returns. That means that each golfer will play one of three courses in the first three days, either La Quinta Country Club, the PGA West Stadium Course, or the PGA West Nicklaus Course. This is the first event of two pro-ams in California that features three courses and a 156-man field, and 1/3 of the field will rotate on each of the courses the first three days. After Day 3, there is the usual cut of top 65 and ties making it to Sunday. This will be the first of many DFS golf advice articles this week, and we’ll preview the course, players and look at some of the best early PGA DFS golf picks this week for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups.
PGA DFS Preview & Fantasy Golf Picks This Week | American Express
PGA West Numbers
Bouncing around sponsors quite a bit, the tour’s first stateside event has been held here at PGA West for quite some time now. Luscious green colors and magnificent sites of Hawaii are replaced by a desert setting this week in La Quinta. The main course is used for one of the opening three rounds and Sunday’s final round. Each of the two courses are some of the easiest on tour each year, and fantasy players can expect low scores yet again.
Par and Yardage
- Par 72: 7.133 yards
Course Difficulty
- 40/49 — 1.72 under par
Hole Dispersion:
- Par 3’s – 170, 223, 195, 165
- Par 4’s- 445, 381, 448, 445, 405, 363, 399, 468, 435
- Par 5’s- 535, 559, 560, 591
Grass Types & Hazards
- Grass Type: overseed POA this year
- Average Green: 5,000 square feet
- Water Hazards: 7
- Bunkers: 90
- Rough Length: 2.5 inches
Designer
- Peter Dye
Best Stats for DFS Golf Picks This Week
- Off the Tee: Fairways are a bit above the tour average, being hit around 65% with an average drive of around 282 yards.
- Approach to the Green: Rough length is never an issue at PGA West, so even if a golfer misses the fairway, they will hit the green on average about 73% of the time.
- On and Around the Green: Though the greens are smaller than average greens, there is not much trickery to them, so scrambling and putting are not difficult at all.
Course History at the American Express
Anytime the No. 1 player in the world shows up to an event, especially one where he has performed well, he will get a ton of attention. Jon Rahm has made the cut in all three trips here to La Quinta, including the one win and another top-10 finish. Patrick Cantlay will also be making his fourth trip. He came in ninth a few years ago and second last year. Then there’s Adam Hadwin, who had a four-year stretch where he came in the top six in four straight and top three on three occasions. Sungjae Im will look for a bounce-back here after the missed cut last week, and he has finished in the top 12 all three times he has come to La Quinta. Abraham Ancer has back-to-back top-fives here, while Andrew Landry has four straight made cuts, including a win and a second-place finish.
PGA DFS Golf Sweat Sheet and Fantasy Golf Preview
Slate Preview
With an earlier start time this week, DraftKings reduced contests a bit for this first stop in California. Expect them to be the biggest of this young season next week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Sweat Sheet
This week there should be balanced scoring, a nice change of pace from the last two where a few holes dominated the scoring. No holes have had below 2.2% of the points, and there are a plethora of holes that earn over 5%. The easiest holes in terms of PGA DFS scoring are Nos. 8 and 16.
The American Express PGA DFS Player Preview
When Rahm and Cantlay tee it up in an event together, the field is strong. They are two of the best players in the world over the last year-plus, and both have played well here before. They will be the only ones ranked inside the top 10 to play this week, but five golfers in the top 25 will join the two studs up top, making this quite a strong field. Among them making their season debut include Scottie Scheffler, who has a third place at this event but is still looking for his first PGA Tour win. Other big names making their season debut include Matthew Wolff, Will Zalatoris, Justin Rose and Jason Day.
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American Express Strokes Gained Review
Si Woo Kim had his best week with the irons of his PGA Tour career. That spurred him to victory over Cantlay. He was also solid with the rest of his game, taking full advantage of the hot irons. The PGA West course also features a ton of less-than-drivers off the tee, as shown by the lack of strokes gained in that department. Only one of the golfers who finished in the top 10 gaining over one stroke per round, that being Tony Finau.
Averages:
- Strokes Gained Off the Tee: 0.44
- Strokes Gained on Approach: 1.36
- Strokes Gained Around the green: 0.27
- Strokes Gained Putting: 0.71
- DFS Points Scored: 110
- DFS Ownership: 10.07%
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