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American Express Picks & Odds 2024: Scheffler in Pole Position at PGA West

Esten McLaren

Last Updated: January 17, 2024 10:34 AM EST • 3 min 11 sec read.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler returns to action this week as the betting favorite as we make our American Express picks based on the odds from our best golf betting sites.

The 2024 golf season began with back-to-back events in Hawaii, as Chris Kirk and Grayson Murray claimed victories. The PGA Tour now returns to the mainland with a strong field and Scottie Scheffler as the betting favorite for The American Express.

Scheffler enters yet another week at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). He's joined among this week's early betting favorites by Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, and Justin Thomas.

Jon Rahm, the defending champion of this event, has since moved on to LIV Golf.

Below, we break down our best American Express picks based on the PGA Tour odds from our best sports betting apps.

American Express odds 2024

Odds last updated Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET.

NameDraftKingsFanDuelBetMGMCaesarsbet365
Scottie Scheffler+500 +500+550+500+550
Patrick Cantlay+1000+900+1000+900+900
Xander Schauffele+1200 🔥+1100+1100 ❄️+1100+1100
Sungjae Im+2000+2000+2000+1800 ❄️+2000
Justin Thomas+2200+2200+2500 🔥+2200+2200
Tom Kim+2800+2800+2500+2200+2000 ❄️
Min Woo Lee+2500+2500+2800+2500+3000 🔥
Sam Burns+3000+3000+3000+2500 ❄️+3300 🔥
J.T. Poston+3000+3000+2800+2500 ❄️+3000
Eric Cole+3000+3000+3000+3000+3500 🔥

American Express picks

Sam Burns to finish top 10 (+360 via FanDuel)

BetMGM has set the market-low price for a top 10 finish by Burns in The American Express at +275 odds. As such, we'll rush to this +360 ticket from FanDuel.

Burns has played The American Express for the past four years, with a top finish of T-6 in 2020. He followed up a missed cut the next year with a strong T-11 showing last January. While he benefited from a hot putter last year (1.00 true strokes gained per round), he was also solid around the greens and from tee to green over his two rounds on the Stadium Course.

Burns is routinely among the longest drivers on the PGA Tour, and that has held fast over his last 12 measured rounds. He has also been strong with his long irons, and he's putting extremely well, especially on the Bermuda greens featured at the Stadium Course.

The best price for an outright win by Burns is the +3300 available at bet365. That's worth a sprinkle, but I prefer this top-10 ticket, given the strength of this field.

bet365 promo for The American Express

bet365 is offering all users outside of Ontario one 30% boost to use on ANY outright or first-round leader bet for The American Express.

This would bring Burns' outright odds from +3300 to +4290! That's a difference of $99 on a winning $10 bet.

Justin Thomas to finish top 20 (+125 via bet365)

Thomas isn't being considered as the same golfer who won the PGA Championship in 2017 and 2022, and who has 15 career PGA Tour victories. Still, he enters this week at No. 28 in the OWGR, and he had a respectable six top-10 finishes in 22 events played last year.

While he's making his professional debut at PGA West, he enters as a strong course fit for the Stadium Course. Thomas leads this field in strokes gained: around-the-greens across everyone's last 16 measured rounds. He's also putting extremely well and is one of the longer hitters off the tee in this field across that 16-round span. He also ranked 34th on Tour in birdie-or-better percentage from this week's key distance of 200-plus yards.

All of our best sports betting sites are surprisingly offering plus-money odds for a top-20 finish from the golfer with the fifth-shortest outright odds this week. bet365 and BetMGM best the rest with a +125 ticket.

American Express field notes

This field features four of the top 10 golfers in the OWGR, with Cantlay, Schauffele, and reigning U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark joining Scheffler.

We'll also see the return of Daniel Berger, who'll be teeing it up in a competitive event for the first time since the 2022 U.S. Open. Once ranked as high as No. 12 in the OWGR, he enters this week at 664th after battling injuries.

Will Zalatoris is back for a second straight event after missing the cut in Hawaii last week. He tied for sixth in the 2022 American Express and for 36th last year.

Hudson Swafford, the 2022 victor of this tournament, has also since departed for LIV Golf, making 2021 tournament champion Si Woo Kim the most recent winner at this venue in the field.

Pete Dye Stadium Course info

  • Par: 72
  • Length: 7,187 yards
  • Greens: Bermuda
  • Architect: Pete Dye

Note: The American Express is played over a three-course rotation with every play in the field playing the Stadium Course once during their first three rounds, and all players who make the 54-hole cut play the Stadium Course again for Sunday's final round.

American Express tournament info

  • Where: Pete Dye Stadium Course, La Quinta, CA
  • When: Thursday, Jan. 18 - Sunday, Jan. 21
  • Field: 156
  • 2023 champion: Jon Rahm
  • Purse: $8.4 million
  • FedEx Cup points: 500

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Written By:
Esten McLaren
Esten is the Senior Publishing Editor for SportsbookReview.com. He has been in the sports betting industry since the legalization of mobile sports betting in New Jersey, and with SportsbookReview prior to the launch of sports betting in Ontario. Esten's previous stops include the USA TODAY network, including GolfWeek. He previously worked in the fantasy sports industry, with FNTSY Sports Network, theScore, and USA TODAY. Esten graduated from the College of Sports Media with a diploma in Radio and Television Sports Broadcasting after acquiring a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Guelph. He has appeared on FNTSY Sports Network, VSiN, and VSiN's Long Shots podcast, where he correctly called Will Zalatoris as the winner of the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. Esten is a big proponent of the entertainment side of sports betting and loves to dip his toes into the novelty and alt-markets while chasing long shots with reduced wagers on golf outrights and futures markets. He's also been known to sprinkle some lunch money on touchdown-scorer parlays with two notable hits still funding his bankroll. Esten looks at sports betting much like golf and advises beginner bettors to compete against themselves rather than being concerned with what others may or may not be doing based on social media claims.