After a birdie fest in Honolulu, Hawaii…we trek over to the southern portion of California for The American Express in La Quinta, California. My tiers were pretty spot on last week…ultimately a few golfers like Kevin Na and Chris Kirk messed me up a little with their high birdie counts…but expect more of the same here at La Quinta. A total of 156 golfers will be in play and cuts happen after day 2 (has been day 3 in the past). The American Express will feature 2 courses…both have a Par of 72 and are distanced in the low 7,000 yard range. The weather does not seem to be an issue at La Quinta…but I do see a chance of rain on Saturday, so keep that in mind.

The main statistics that I will be looking at are Stokes Gained in Putting and Strokes Gained Off the tee and Green. The Stadium Course will be played a total of 3 days and The Nicklaus Course will be played once by all golfers…the latter tends to breed better scoring numbers, but both are quite good for birdies or better. According to Yahoo Sports, The Stadium Course has a lot of water, but the other holes are scoring havens. Accuracy will be a factor in my formula as well…maybe I’ll through a little scrambling in there at La Quinta…but scoring is the name of the game.

Patrick Reed 1:20:2021.jpg — Photo Reference: SB Nation

Tier 1: Patrick Reed ($10,200)

Reed is sitting at 16/1 to win the tournament. He also holds the course record at The American Express with a total of 260. His golf game has been on fire this season…he has not finished worse that 21st and he’s a birdie machine sitting at 3rd best in birdie average per 18 holes. Reed is 10th in strokes gained putting. I know he may be a popular option…but maybe we can see Reed catch fire and put up historical numbers…he is known for gaining strokes the field.

Tier 2: Patton Kizzire ($8,400) & Cameron Tringale $7,400)

Kizzire is balling right now…he finished 7th last week at the Sony Open and is like Reed in the fact that he is a cut making machine. Patton ranks top 25 in birdie and scoring average…a long-bomber and gained 7 shots on the Sony field in putting and around the green. It always helps to pick a streaky golfer at the right time and I think we are seeing that from Kizzire. Lock him in at 66/1.

This is a little low for a tier 2 option, but I see excellent value in Tringale. Born and raised in Mission Viejo, California…he is used to seeing these desert courses. It also helps that he is one fo the best putters in the game…20th as a matter of fact in gaining strokes. He also is 13th in birdie average and scoring. In regards to approaching the green…he keeps it there and ranks 24th in accuracy…did I mention he is a “long-bomber” too? Tringale has all of the features you want in a scoring setting…he is also sitting at a nice 80/1 to win The American Express.

Tier 3: James Hahn ($7,100)

I am going back to James Hahn again…he is pretty much top 70 in every category imaginable and he is 16th in scoring average. Arguably the most accurate driver…played at Cal-Berkeley…hard to argue anything about Hahn. He made the cut at the Sony Open with a P41 finish and if you know anything about my DFS strategy…I like to stick with my golfers that keep me playing all 4 days.

References: Yahoo! Sports, PGA Tour, DraftKings, Bovada

The American Express DFS Preview