The West Coast Swing begins with The American Express in the Coachella Valley
The 156 man field will take on three courses in the Coachella Valley this week, aiming to make the 54-hole cut and be in contention Sunday on the PGA West Stadium Course.
To add to the uniqueness of this tournament, each professional will play with an amateur through the first three rounds, and there is quite a strong professional contingent on show. 10 of the world’s top 20 will tee up and it’s recent Sentry Tournament of Champions winner Jon Rahm who leads the betting at +600 outright. American’s Cantlay (+1000), Scheffler (+110) and Finau (+1200) are next in the market, but the UF Team has made their picks across the further markets.
FINISHING POSITION – TOP 10: WILL ZALATORIS (+210, PointsBet)
The five-month break with injury appeared to have no lasting effects as Zalatoris finished a -20 T11 in the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks ago. If the 26-year-old fully recaptures his 2022 form pre-injury then there’s no doubt he’ll be around the top of many leaderboards this year.
Whilst it would be good to see Zalatoris contending for a victory before betting him to win outright, a top-10 finish feels comfortably within his grasp for now.
TOP PLAYER BY REGION – TOP ASIAN: SI WOO KIM (+450, PoinstBet)
The top Asian (and likewise top South Korean) competition is fierce and the expectation is that it’ll be one of Tom Kim, Sungjae Im or Si Woo Kim.
Si Woo is coming off victory last week, a joint top South Korean finish here last year (with Sungjae) and a win here in 2021. Whilst there are notable holes to be found with Tom Kim and Sungjae Im this week, both at +280 in this market.
Sungjae Im missed last week’s cut by four and Tom Kim missed it by three. The latter has also only competed once in event and also missed that cut by a couple of shots (2021). They’re both top quality players but Si Woo Kim looks to have a form and experience edge going into the week.
Two second chance bets up to $2,000 with PointsBet.
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TOP PLAYER BY REGION – TOP UK&I: JUSTIN ROSE (+375, PointsBet)
Rose is a steady, consistent and experienced performer – all the qualities helpful for a trip to the Coachella Valley. T33 here last year, just a second round blip prevented the Englishman going close to the top 10. And of the eight competitors in the market, Rose was top last year ahead of a few of these.
Rose has been off for the winter break but finished with a T29 and T9 in his previous two tournaments.
All odds listed from PointsBet, as of Tuesday January 17.
