This article is part of our Golf One and Done Pool Expert Picks series.
The American Express
The PGA Tour's West Coast Swing begins in the Coachella Valley this week for another edition of The American Express. This event has had several names over the years, but it's been a staple on the PGA Tour since 1960. It's one of the more unique formats on Tour as players will take on three different courses in the first three rounds before a 54-hole cut is made and the final round is played at the intimidating Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West. There is also a Pro-Am competition going on concurrently over the first three rounds, but only the professionals will play on Sunday.
The biggest storyline of the week is World No. 1 and four-time major champion Scottie Scheffler is making his 2026 season debut. Scheffler had played this event in five straight seasons prior to last year when he was forced to miss The American Express due to the hand injury suffered on Christmas. Scheffler comes in as the overwhelming favorite (+290), but he has never won his first start of a season. Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, Ben Griffin and Justin Rose make up the other Top 10 ranked players in this field.
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Course Tidbits
- Courses: Pete Dye Stadium Course (7,210 yards, par 72), Nicklaus Tournament Course (7,147 yards, par 72), La Quinta Country Club (7,060 yards, par 72)
- Location: La Quinta, California
- Purse: $9.2 million ($1.656 million to winner)
- Defending Champion: Sepp Straka (-25)
- 2025 Scoring Average: 71.35 (Stadium), 68.25 (Nicklaus), 68.59 (La Quinta)
- 2025 Cut: -9 (54 holes)
- Average Sony Open in Hawaii Winning Score Last 5 Years: -25.4
As noted above, there is a roughly three shot difference from the Stadium Course to both the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta. Most of the higher profile players in this field will be at the Stadium Course on Saturday, thus giving them two rounds at some of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour to build their score into the weekend. All three courses feature very little rough. That combined with the lack of wind expected means players will be able to take dead aim this week.
Since this event went from five rounds down to four rounds back in 2012 the winning score has been at least 20-under-par in every edition. Nick Dunlap holds the 72-hole scoring record in this event back in 2024 when he won this event as an amateur. With very little danger outside of the Stadium Course, birdies and eagles should be plentiful. In a shootout you want players who hit a lot of greens and sink a lot of putts. Given the easy conditions and course setups, you'll often hear The Amex get referred to as a "putting contest". This is not the week you want to be struggling on the greens given how many putts you have to make to get into contention, let alone make the cut.
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The American Express: One and Done Picks
If ever there were a perfect tournament for Hall it would be this one. Hall is arguably the best putter on Tour, as he ranks third in SG: Putting, first in putts per GIR, first in birdie-or-better percentage and second in one-putt percentage. He is coming off an impressive second half of 2025 in which he closed the year with 12 top-25s in his last 15 starts. Hall opened 2026 strong with a T6 finish last week at the Sony Open after putting himself in the final group. --Ryan Andrade
I'm not taking Scottie Scheffler -- saving him for a major or THE PLAYERS. Even though long shots often win The Amex, I'm not taking a long shot. Good luck with your dart throw finding which long shot. This will be a birdie-fest, with the winning score probably in excess of 25-under. You're gonna have to make a lot of putts. Burns was the best putter on Tour last season. He's finished sixth twice at the Amex, most recently two years ago. Everyone will take Burns at one point during the season. This is my week. --Len Hochberg
Kim can go through some stretches where he's really hot and really cold, so I'm going to use him while his form is strong. He finished last year with back-to-back top-5 results and started off 2026 by leading the field in SG: Tee-to-Green at Waialae. The 2021 champion has played some of his best golf at this event with five top-25s across eight appearances. It doesn't seem to happen all that often, but when Kim has a decent week putting, he almost always works his way into contention. --Ryan Pohle
Showing up to a putting contest with one of the best putters in the world seems advantageous, but Hall also gained nearly three strokes off the tee while ranking top 10 among the field in GIR percentage en route to a T6 at last week's Sony Open in Hawaii. The Englishman racked up 21 birdies at the 2025 AmEx, gaining the fourth-most strokes putting throughout two rounds on the Stadium Course in the process. --Bryce Danielson
Kim was heavily used in my OAD pool this past week, so I was definitely keeping an eye on him and what I saw was someone who was seemingly getting better as the week wore on. I generally like using guys that were popular the week prior as well, kind of like a rebound effect. Kim has a strong track record here, he's a previous winner, and his form is about as good as anyone in the field. He's got a lot going for him this week. --Greg Vara
Kim brings win equity to a birdie-fest this week, backed by elite Stadium Course splits over his last 24 rounds: 1st in SG: Total, 14th in SG: Approach, and 5th in SG: Around-the-Green. While the putter has historically been his Achilles heel, it's oddly been a strength here, ranking 1st in SG: Putting in that same timeframe. Most importantly, he's already won at PGA West (2021) and has made the weekend in 7 of 8 appearances. Coming off a T11 at the Sony Open where he led the field in GIR (81.94%) and finished top-3 in SG: Off-the-Tee, Approach-to-Green, and driving accuracy, Kim offers upside without burning a top-tier name on a lower-end payout. --Lauren Jump
Cantlay has not won since 2022, but if there's ever a time to snap the drought it's at The American Express. He notched a second-place result in this event in 2021, has recorded two more top-10s since and finished an average of 18.6 strokes under par over that span. Hitting greens is paramount this week and Cantlay ranked 15th in SG: Approach a season ago. It's time to snap the streak. --Kevin O'Brien
The American Express: One and Done Fades
While Aberg closed 2025 on a high note with four top-10s over his last eight starts, these courses don't really allow his best skillsets to shine. Aberg is one of the best drivers on the PGA Tour and a place where he typically gains a lot of strokes. That will be hard to do this week given the lack of trouble off the tee and the fact that all these courses are on the shorter end. This is a week where the putter will be the biggest separator, and while Aberg is a decent putter, there are so many better events to save him for where his strengths will be exacerbated against the rest of the field. Aberg has also never played in this event before and the Pro-Am element and the six-plus hour rounds that go with it could be a bit of an adjustment. --Ryan Andrade
Fade, as in: He won't justify being the co-No. 4 betting choice on DraftKings at 25-1. Henley is obviously a great golfer with very few weaknesses. But he's not one to go super low, and you have to go super low this week. Maybe 25-under or better to win. Henley hasn't hit 20-under in a tournament in more than three years. He is a conservative golfer, which is the way to go on a lot of courses. Just not this week. --Len Hochberg
It's easy to be drawn to Cantlay considering he has never missed the cut in six starts as a professional at the event with four top-10s, but we also don't know what kind of form to expect as he hasn't played since the Ryder Cup nearly four months ago. I'd rather save Cantlay for a tournament with a bigger purse, and there are plenty of other venues like Riviera and Harbour Town that he's historically played well at. --Ryan Pohle
Cantlay's admirable course history includes four top-10 results across six appearances here since 2019, but we haven't seen him since September's Procore Championship, and he looked completely lost with the putter at times last season. There will be better spots to click on Cantlay than when he's just 30/1 to win a $1.66M first-place prize in his first tournament outing in over four months. --Bryce Danielson
Henley was the favorite at the Sony Open and it didn't really work out as he was never in contention. He played well in stretches, finally landing in the top-20, but he doesn't appear to be locked-in right now. That's going to be a problem this week as he's had a lot of trouble at this event over the years. Henley has missed the cut in four of seven starts here and has zero top-10s. He's also chosen to skip this event the past three years, which could be an indication that he's not really fond of this event or maybe the courses. --Greg Vara
When Theegala steps off the bus this week, don't be surprised if the struggles step off with him. After a subpar 2025 that was further derailed by midseason injuries, he arrives at PGA West without sharp iron play, a major drawback in a birdie-fest. He ranked 134th in SG: Approach last season, one of the most important indicators for success at this event, and his course history is similarly uninspiring (T33 in 2022, T54 in 2023) followed by a two-year absence. Even last week's T31 at the Sony began with an opening 73 before he stabilized, and in a three-course rotation, slow starts are harder to erase. The talent is there, but I'd rather save him for later when we see true bounce-back potential. --Lauren Jump
Seasoned One-and-Done players know why it's best to wait on deploying the top player in the world, but if you're new to the format and see Scheffler is making his season debut and think, "Wow, he's clearly the best option!," just know that it behooves you to hold off on selecting him until a tournament with a larger purse comes around. --Kevin O'Brien
Don't get burned by late withdrawals. Visit RotoWire's PGA tournament field page for a live-updated summary of the field for the current week and list of players who have dropped out.
