After two weeks in Hawaii, the PGA Tour returns to the mainland for the West Coast swing, starting with The American Express in the Palm Springs area.
The tournament is a unique format, with the first three rounds (54 holes) played at three different courses. The PGA West Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament course, and the La Quinta Country Club will see the 154 professionals playing one round at each of the three courses with the top 65 and ties advancing to Sunday’s final round at the Stadium Course.
Also unique to this tournament is the amateur portion of the event. The amateurs are playing their own event and each group of two amateurs will stay together but rotate professionals each day.
The professional field is good, including the world’s top ranked player Jon Rahm, and last year’s FedEx Cup winner Patrick Cantlay.
This week my fantasy league has us picking one player with a tiebreaker of the players’ final score.
My pick this week is Rahm. He played two weeks ago at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort on Maui and finished second.
It wasn’t your ordinary second place finish. Rahm broke the tournament scoring record at an amazing 33-under-par but didn’t win the tournament. That distinction went to Cameron Smith who finished 34-under.
Rahm led the field in greens-in-regulation, as well as proximity, but finished the one stroke back.
After the tournament Rahm headed back stateside while Smith stayed in Hawaii to play the Sony Open where he missed the cut.
Rahm is rested and is obviously refreshed. He won this tournament in 2018. I think this is his tournament and someone will have to take it from him.
That person could easily be Cantlay. He holds the Stadium Course record at 61 that he shot last year enroute to a solo second place finish. He also was T9 in his other trip to the tournament in 2019.
Si Woo Kim is the defending champion is in the field, but his recent form does not warrant serious consideration.
Matthew Wolff is coming off a horrific season, but his early play in the 2021-2022 wrap around season has been promising with a second in the Shriners and a 4th at Mayakoba.
While it was nice having the Hawaiian tournaments in prime time, returning to California leaves the tournament right up against the four NFL Divisional playoff games. Then again, that’s why they have the “last” button on the remote control!
By Dennis Miller