The American Express odds, props, predictions: Scheffler heavily favored despite large, competitive field

OK, the fun and games of a two-week vacation in Hawaii for the PGA Tour players are over and it’s time to get back to work.

This week’s third tournament of the year -- well, second for the full Tour as the opener on Maui was a limited field tournament -- sees the players teeing it up in sunny (hopefully) SoCal at the 2024 The American Express.

It will be a fuller-than-usual event and the format is definitely different. The field will include 156 pros playing alongside 156 amateurs over the first three days.

That may seem like an unusually large number of players, and it is, but the event will be played at three courses in the Coachella Valley: PGA West Stadium Course (the host venue and the site of the tournament’s final round), the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club.

All players will tee it up on each course for one of the first three rounds before a cut will narrow the field for Sunday’s finale.

Last year’s champion, Jon Rahm, won’t be in the field as he has taken his show over to LIV, but that won’t make the field any less impressive.

There are 12 of the world’s top 30 players including No. 1 ranked Scottie Scheffler (better get your wallet out for him this week, but more on that in a minute).

Other top-ranked players this week include Xander Schauffele (No. 5), Patrick Cantlay (No. 6), Wyndham Clark (No. 10), No. 12 Tom Kim and a host of others.

Impressive names mean a variety of options for a longshot, as well as a favorite we can never overlook.

Let’s grab a little shuteye as we jet back to the mainland and see if we can dream up a couple of winners for this week.

Odds To Win The American Express

Here are the latest betting odds for The American Express at top-rated sportsbooks:

Scheffler is American Express favorite, but still worth it

If you overlook Scottie Scheffler in any PGA Tour event, shame on you.

Sure, he’s the favorite at this week, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be backing him at a better-than-we-thought price.

After all, he’s coming off a year where he was named Player of the Year, and with good reason.

He had two wins, a couple of runner-up finishes and 17 top 10s in 21 events as he didn’t miss a cut last year.

If you’re thinking he might be coming into the year a little rusty or even a little complacent because of his stellar 2023 season, think again because, to put a cherry on top of all of that, he opened the 2024 calendar season with a T-5 at The Sentry in Maui.

He's ready. His game’s impressive and his attitude is equally impressive. Two great traits not everyone has.

One of his only non top-10 finishes in 2023 came right here where he was T-11.

We’re betting that he gets in the winner’s circle sooner rather than later.

Taylor Montgomery worth a look as American Express longshot

Keep an eye on Taylor Montgomery at this week as well as all season long.

He’s coming off a rookie season in 2023 where he started off with a bang.

He was in the top-15 in his first five events including a season-best T-3 in his opening event as a PGA Tour player.

He did fall off later in the year but finished up 2023 with a T-8 at the RSM Classic in November before shutting down for the year.

We wondered where his game would be coming into the 2024 season.

Will he start off strong again or will he still be looking for something, or somethings, in his game that derailed for awhile in the middle of the season?

Well, last week we think we got that answer as he led in the Sony Open on Oahu for much of the first round before settling for a T-13 finish.

We’ll take that coming right out of the gate and also add in one more nugget: He wound up solo fifth at The American Express last year.

Add all of those factors together and Montgomery might just find himself in the winner’s circle for the first time.

American Express golf prop odds

We’re going to look at three prop bets this week that could certainly pay off because players will face multiple courses over the first three days bringing a little more intrigue into the picture.

Let’s give ourselves a little room for error as we look at a player to finish in the top five.

It’s easy to look back and see 2023 as a season that won’t be one that Justin Thomas talks about when it comes to his career highlights.

After all, he was outside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup playoff race in 71st spot and didn’t make it to Maui for The Sentry.

We’re betting that doesn’t happen again and we’re thinking he’s going to come out in 2024 with a renewed focus, and gameplan.

He’s only to finish in the top five but we’ll take it.

Then there’s a top-10 finisher we like in J.T. Poston at .

He’s coming off two solid weeks in Hawaii where he was T-5 at The Sentry and solo sixth at the Sony Open.

It’s great to start the year off with two top 10 finishes in the only two events played.

Why not make it three-for-three.

A little further down the list is a top-20 choice we like, another of our Vegas contingent, Ryan Moore, at .

He missed the cut last week at the Sony Open by a shot but wrapped up 2023 with a pair of top 10 finishes in the Bermuda Championship and the RSM Classic (where we picked him to win at +10000. Oh, what could have been).

He’s been battling injuries but the success he’s had in his comeback run are impressive to us.