Odds and prediction for the PGA Tour’s American Express, which begins the Tour’s three-tournament California Swing.
—
Targetingapastchampionasapossiblewinnerinthisweek’sPGATourAmericanExpressisabitnebulous,mainlybecausetherearen’tmanyinthefield.
DefendingchampionNickDunlapisbacktotryandaddanAMEXtitleasaprofessionaltogowithwinninglastyearasanamateur–thefirsttimesincePhilMickelsonin1991atTucsonanamateurwononthePGATour.
NickDunlapwonthe2024AmericanExpressasanamateur.Oddsmakersdon’tlikehischancestowinasaprofessional.However,onlythreeotherpastchampionssincethetournamentchangedfroma90-holetoa72-holeformatin2012areinthisweek’sfield:SiWooKim(2021),JasonDufner(2016)andBillHaas(2015).
ThreeplayerswhocombinedtowinfivetimesintheDesertareontheLIVGolfLeague,andundersuspensionfromtheTour,JonRahm,HudsonSwaffordandPatrickReed.Twootherpastchampionsduringthatspan,AndrewLandryandAdamLong,havelosttheirTourstatusandtwoothers,MarkWilsonandBrianGay,areonPGATourChampions.
Who’sfavoredtowinTheA