2024 American Express Picks, Preview, Predictions
Pat Mayo and Geoff Fienberg preview the course and run through the odds while making their 2024 American Express Picks and recapping the 2024 Sony Open.
2024 American Express Overview
- Field: 156 Players
- Cut: Top 65 and Ties after 54 Holes
- Lineup Lock: Thursday, January 19
- Defending Champ: Jon Rahm
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is joined by Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Tom Kim, Tony Finau, Sam Burns, Sung-jae Im, Rickie Fowler, and Jason Day. Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Min WOO Lee, and Daniel Berger (!!!) are all in the field too. Pretty solid for PGA West.
14 of the past 15 champions have played at least one of the first two Hawaii events to start the year. Since 2007, six of 17 American Express winners made this event the site of their first win, with Adam Long the last to do it in 2019.
The players gets a crack at each of the three venues the first three days, then the cut will be best 65 scores (and ties) among the 156-player field. Expect the more notable players to have their Stadium Course round in round three for the Saturday TV window.
2024 American Express Key Stats
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Opportunities Gained
- Good Drives Gained
- Eagles Gained
Mayo’s Key Stats Rankings powered by FantasyNational.com
2024 American Express Course(s)
Course: Stadium Course at PGA West (SC)
- Par: 72
- Yardage: 7,187
- Greens: Poa overseed
- Average Green Size: 5,000 sq. ft.
- Number of Sand Bunkers: 90+
- Number of Holes Water is in Play: 7
- Shotlink: Yes
Course: Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West (TC)
- Par: 72
- Yardage: 7,147
- Greens: Poa overseed
- Average Green Size: 7,000 sq. ft.
- Number of Sand Bunkers: 90+
- Number of Holes Water is in Play: 5
- Shotlink: No
Course: LA Quinta CC (LQ)
- Par: 72
- Yardage: 7,060
- Greens: Poa Trivialis /Perennial ryegrass overseed
- Average Green Size: 4,773 sq. ft.
- Number of Sand Bunkers: 82
- Number of Holes Water is in Play: 7
- Shotlink: No
2023 Smallest Avg. Greens by sq. ft.
- 3,500 – Pebble Beach (AT&T Pebble Beach)
- 3,700 – Harbour Town (RBC Heritage)
- 4,300 – TPC Southwind (FedEx St. Jude)
- 4,500 – Albany (Hero World Challenge)
- 4,500 – Oak Hill (PGA Championship)
- 4,773 – La Quinta CC (American Express)
- 5,000 – PGA West Stadium (American Express)
- 5,000 – Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance)
Past Winners
- 2023: Jon Rahm -27
- 2022 Hudson Swafford -23
- 2021: Si Woo Kim -23
- 2020: Andrew Landry -26
- 2019: Adam Long -26
2024 American Express Picks
Taylor Montgomery
We got the bizarro Montgomery at the Sony Open. He crushed with his irons and merely broke even on greens. That’s two starts in a row he’s gained strokes on approach — albeit repeated by almost two months — which is the first time he’s accomplished that since the 2002 Fortinet and Sanderson Farms. The AMEX is enssenuiatllty a putting contest, so decent irons combined with his penchant for going nuclear with the putter is a perfect mix at an event that should have easier pins because of the Pro-Am format. In his past 14 events, Montgomery’s gained over six strokes putting four times, while averaging +2.6 per event over his last 20 starts.
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Pat Mayo is an award-winning video host and producer of long and short-form content, and the host of The Pat Mayo Experience daily talk show. (Subscribe for video or audio). Mayo (@ThePME) won the 2023 Fantasy Sports Writing Association Podcast of the Year and was a finalist for three FSWA Awards in 2023 (Best Podcast, Daily Fantasy Writer of the Year, Golf Writer of the Year). His 27 FSWA nominations lead all writers this decade and are second-most all-time.
Mayo has been recognized across multiple sports (Football, Baseball & Golf), mediums (Video, Writing & Podcasting), genre (Humor), and game formats (Sports Betting, Daily Fantasy, and Traditional Season Long Fantasy).
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is ThePME) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
