The American Express 2024: Tournament and current form stats

• Three low-scoring desert venues

• Cole 33/134.00 ready to claim maiden title

• Watch out for Sung Jae 20/121.00 in California

Tournament and Course Notes

• After two weeks in Hawaii, the PGA Tour returns to the American mainland and will tee-up at the California resort of Palm Springs. First staged in 1960, The American Express was once known as the Bob Hope Classic and played over 90 holes. It was reduced to 72 holes in 2012;

• Thirteen different courses have been used for this long-standing event. Since 2016, the tournament has featured the same three venues: Pete Dye's Stadium Course at PGA West; the Nicklaus Tournament Course (also PGA West); and La Quinta Country Club. The latter was not used in 2021 when restrictions due to Covid meant only two venues were needed;

• The 156 professionals taking part will play one round at each course over Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with Dye's Stadium Course taking centre stage for the final 18 holes on Sunday;

• Dye's Stadium Course: Opened 1986, water is a prominent feature, with sizeable hazards on half of its holes. Is the most difficult of this week's three layouts;

• The Nicklaus-designed Tournament Course: Joined the AmEx rota in 2016 and has been described on pgawest.com as being 'a true ball strikers' course';

• La Quinta: The oldest of the three venues, having made its PGA Tour debut in 1964. It is one of the Tour's easier courses. It has slightly smaller greens, than the other two layouts, as well as fewer undulations;

• Because the tournament incorporates a 54-hole pro-am (Thursday-Saturday), the three venues are set-up slightly easier than most PGA Tour layouts. Rough is certainly not an issue on any of the courses. Since 2016, the average-winning under par score is 24.

Latest betting for this week's American Express-sponsored tournament

Good Current Form

Scottie Scheffler 6/17.00 is the headline act and his consistency during 2023 shows why he's the current world No 1.

In all World Ranking events in 2023, Scottie's record reads: Starts-21, Wins-3, T3s-9, T10s-15.

He began this year by finishing tied-fifth at Kapalua two weeks ago.

Further down the pecking order are JT Poston 33/134.00 and Eric Cole 33/134.00.

Poston has opened 2024 with a brace of T6s, and is currently a career-high No 36 in the world.

He tied-sixth in Palm Springs 12 months ago and will be chasing a third PGA Tour victory this weekend.

Cole, meanwhile, is yet to win at this level but has played superbly for the past 10 months.

Voted last year's Rookie of the Year on the PGA Tour, he's already up to No 38 in the World Ranking and was actually born in Palm Springs - although he now lives in Florida.

The 35-year-old late developer started 2024 with finishes of 13th-14th.

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Good Course Form

Patrick Cantlay 9/110.00, one of golf's better players yet to scoop a major title, averages 67.25 for his 16 rounds in this tournament.

He has a best finish here of runner-up, plus two other T10s. The world No 6 tied-12th in his season-opening event in Hawaii.

Tony Finau 33/134.00 and Sung Jae Im 20/121.00 have reasonable recent histories in this event.

Finau has a highest finish of fourth, while Im has posted five straight T20s.

Im started 2024 in good form by finishing tied-for-fifth at Kapalua, before taking a rest last week.

His last seven starts on the PGA Tour have yielded four T10s, and a worst finish of T21.

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Stroke Averages

Lowest 10 in American Express (2018-23)
Average .... (Rounds)
67.25: Patrick Cantlay (16)
67.65: Adam Hadwin (20)
67.71: Scottie Scheffler (14)
67.80: Sung Jae Im (20)
67.81: Tony Finau (16)
67.86: Sam Burns (14)
68.33: Andrew Putnam (24)
68.53: Cameron Davis (15)
68.62: Tom Hoge (21)
68.71: Si Woo Kim (17)
Min. No. of Rounds = 10
Only those entered this week are included in table

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves