After two tournaments in Hawaii, the 2022-23 PGA TOUR will be coming back to the mainland, this week. Up next on the schedule is 2023 The American Express, which will kick off this Thursday at Pete Dye Stadium Course down in La Quinta, California. With that said, let’s take a look at some of the favorites, sleepers, and long shots in The American Express 2023.
The Spaniard superstar skipped the Sony Open in Hawaii, but don’t expect him to have cooled off just yet following his win in the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions earlier this month. Rahm is 2 of 2 this season. Apart from his win in Hawaii, he also placed T4 in The CJ CUP in South Carolina 2022 back in October. Rahm has a red-hot average of 6.5 birdies average to go with a scoring average of 69.18. Granted that he’s only played in two official PGA TOUR events this season, thus far, Rahm is someone who will always command attention as a favorite regardless of how much golf he’s played of late.
Cantlay will be making his third start of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR season this week, but just because he hasn’t seen much action, it doesn’t mean he should be overlooked. Cantlay had a T16 in the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and a T2 in the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open. It doesn’t matter whether he’s played minimal action this season; Cantlay is expected to be among the top performers in any tournament he plugs himself into today. Last season, Cantlay won two of 20 starts and went 18 of 20 with 12 top 10s and 14 top 25s.
Scheffler is a perfect 4 of 4 this season. In his most recent start, the 26-year-old Scheffler went T7 in the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions. That’s one of the three Top-10 finishes he’s had so far this season. He had a T3 in the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba last November and T9 in the 2022 Cadence Bank Houston Open in the same month.
Here’s what we said about Montgomery in our 2023 The American Express sleepers piece:
The 27-year-old Taylor Montgomery is having quite a season. After a T12 at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Montgomery has now made the cut in eight straight starts to kick off the 2022-23 PGA TOUR campaign. He is still searching for his first win of the season, though, he’s already got three top 10s and seven top 25s. His best performance to date was a solo third place in the Fortinet Championship back in September. Montgomery is 14th overall this season with 82.3 eagles (holes per) and seventh with a scoring average of 69.335.
Here’s what we said about Theegala in our 2023 The American Express sleepers piece:
Like Montgomery, Theegala is also still seeking his first win of the season. He is still having quite a campaign to date, having made the cut in six of seven events, which includes three top 10s and four top 25s. He finished runner-up in last November’s The RSM Classic when he shot 17-under 265. He is coming off a 33rd-place finish in the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions, but he will be well-rested going into this week’s event in La Quinta, as he did not see action in the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Ranked 255th in the world, Long is 4 of 8 this season. In his last start, he finished T48 in the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii to break a two-start streak of missed cuts.
Hossler will be making his first PGA TOUR start of 2023 this week. His last PGA TOUR start ended in a T21 campaign in The RSM Classic back in November when he had a 12-under 270. He is 5 of 6 with three top 25s. His best finish was a T16 in the 2022 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP.
