{"id":5833,"date":"2023-01-17T04:38:43","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T04:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/?post_type=article&p=5833"},"modified":"2023-01-17T04:38:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T04:38:43","slug":"2023-american-express-past-player-quotes","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/article\/2023-american-express-past-player-quotes\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 American Express – Past Player Quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the courses in general<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Patrick Cantlay:<\/strong> I think the preparation is a little more difficult because the conditions are going to be different on each golf course. We saw that last year here with the Nicklaus Tournament Course which plays the easiest of all the courses. But I think last year Nicklaus Tournament played even harder than Stadium because the greens were brand new and firm. So the most difficult part is actually the changing conditions of the three golf courses, especially me having seen all the golf courses as opposed to learning the golf courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zach Johnson:<\/strong> I would say 80 percent to 90 percent of the days here it’s almost like you’re playing in a dome. I feel like these golf courses are ones where before you tee it up it’s almost like you can have the mind frame of, \u201cOh my gosh, I have got to go low.\u201d But you got a lot of company. So if you get off to a slow start which I kind of did both days you just got to remain patient because every hole is an opportunity to make a birdie. Certainly, there are a couple of holes you have to grind it out and accept a par, but for the most part, especially in La Quinta, I would say at the Nicklaus too, you feel like you tee it up and if you’re hitting it somewhat decent you’re going to have an opportunity or a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Stadium Course<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Jon Rahm:<\/strong> The Stadium Course, it\u2019s a Pete Dye design, where I played four years of my life. Very, very similar type of golf. You need to hit it a lot more accurate off the tee because being in the fairway is a lot more important. With the small greens, you have water in play, you need to be more precise, clearly the hardest golf course. If you can have 5 or 6-under there you\u2019re going to pick up a lot of shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hudson Swafford:<\/strong> This is a tough golf course. When you come to the desert, all you think is birdies, usually the scores yield birdies. But this Stadium Course has kind of changed that. I know there is a lot of good rounds out here, but one errant shot, it\u2019s very penalizing. So you got to be super patient on this golf course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Dufner:<\/strong> The Stadium Course, it\u2019s a difficult golf course. There\u2019s a little bit of room to play off the tee, in my opinion, but if you get off the path a little bit, you can get into some trouble. He\u2019s got some water out there, he\u2019s got some tricky bunkers, you get some uneven lies here and there. The greens kind are difficult. They run on some angles and there\u2019s some slope. So it\u2019s definitely the most difficult of the courses we have played here in the desert area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil Mickelson:<\/strong> My goal or game plan of playing the Stadium Course is to actually hit drivers and to try to bomb it down there as close to the greens as you can. Even though the \u2014 because the fairways are tight in a lot of areas and if I miss fairways, try to have wedges or short irons in \u2014 and it seemed to play out okay today and I gave myself a lot of good chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Kirk:<\/strong> Yeah, definitely scoring on Stadium is the last few years has been by far the most difficult of the three golf courses, so we’ll just kind of have to see how it goes with the weather, we have had a little bit cooler temperatures the last few days, I think it’s supposed to be pretty nice tomorrow. So Stadium to me is a very weather-dependent course, if you can get it on a nice warm, calm day, it’s still a difficult golf course, but with the par-5s and you get some wedges in your hand you can kind of shoot a pretty good score out there. But I played it some days and relatively high winds and man it can be a real beast. So I think that will depend a lot on how it goes, but it’s certainly playing in the Stadium three times you really got to play out there, you can’t kind of scrape it around and still shoot a good number on that golf course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Finau<\/strong>: It’s a golf course that fits someone that hits it far. I can reach all the par-5s on the Stadium. As we know in this game it’s going to come down to scoring and come down to putting, especially on this type of golf course. I don’t think you’re going to hit too many balls out of bounds — you might hit some in the water — but ultimately the game comes down to who is going to make the most putts on the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scottie Scheffler:<\/strong> It’s a tough course. It’s a good track. If you’re not on your game, you can really struggle. There’s a lot of trouble out there, so you’ve got to hit a lot of quality shots to keep the ball in play, so it’s a good track. Good test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brendan Steele:<\/strong> There are a lot more demanding shots and more big numbers kind of waiting for you. Obviously, 17 and 18 are really tough holes. But there are a lot of other spots that can sneak up and bite you. So you have got to be on it. If you are hitting your shots, you are going to make birdies. The course is always in good condition. The greens are great, but if you make mistakes, there is a lot of trouble out there. You have to be paying attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Scoreability and the Greens<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Jon Rahm: <\/strong>Piece of s*** f****** setup putting contest week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the wind doesn’t pick up you’re going to have to go out there and post a score. So it’s almost like a green light to be aggressive. I also think one of the reasons why that happens is because after the overseed these greens are in such a good condition that it enables players to make putts and if you combine it with good ball striking you’re going to have some low rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Max Homa: <\/strong>This is exactly like I play at home in Scottsdale. It’s just like TPC Scottsdale, Whisper Rock, and Silver Leaf, which are the courses I play. It feels comfortable. It’s got the same coloring. It’s got the same types of kind of subtle slopes. Being from California, we’re used to putting on poa annua, so whenever we come here, we figured this was about as easy as it gets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Long:<\/strong> It\u2019s three awesome golf courses and you hit fairways and greens and you can make a lot of putts because these greens on all three courses are just perfect. So you can make them from all over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick Reed:<\/strong> Unlike at Q-School, the pins are a little bit more accessible, because you\u2019re playing with amateurs as well, they\u2019re not going to put pins three paces from the edge, because then you might not finish. So, they put the pins a little bit more accessible, that\u2019s why you see a little lower scores. If they were to tuck the pins like they normally do on PGA TOUR weeks, the score would get cut in half. Because now you\u2019re hitting some 6-irons and 5-irons and 7-irons into greens and you\u2019re able to go flag hunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Hadwin:<\/strong> Living in Phoenix these past few years, this is the golf that I play every day. So the overseeded, greens are exactly what we play back in Scottsdale. So I would assume that might add to some of the comfort. It\u2019s really hard to pinpoint. For whatever reason as soon as I get down here in the desert I start playing some good golf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scottie Scheffler:<\/strong> The par-5s on La Quinta and Nicklaus are a lot easier than the ones on the Stadium, so you\u2019ve got to take advantage of those holes. They’re all reachable. Stadium maybe not as much, or as reachable, but they’re still gettable holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On La Quinta CC<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Adam Hadwin: <\/strong>La Quinta is one of those courses where obviously if you\u2019re hitting the ball well off the tee \u2014 it\u2019s much more narrow than the other two golf courses \u2014 but if you\u2019re hitting it well on the tee you got a lot of wedges in, you can be aggressive and the greens here are always so pure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick Cantlay:<\/strong> I like La Quinta Country Club. I think it’s maybe the best-conditioned golf course I’ve ever seen and it’s like that almost every year, so that makes it really fun to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beau Hossler:<\/strong> You get a lot of wedges in your hand and I think if you get the ball in the fairway you can get relatively aggressive into the greens. So certainly I would say the first 13 holes are really gettable and then from there it\u2019s trying to hold on the last few holes can get tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil Mickelson:<\/strong> You can get away with some mistakes, and I was able to salvage a few pars with up-and-downs, so it doesn\u2019t beat you up too bad. It\u2019s a perfect place to start the year. And the greens here are among the best on tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brendan Steele:<\/strong> I love La Quinta Country Club. Traditionally, they have the best greens that we see on the PGA Tour, which is pretty amazing that we play all these great courses through the course of the year and all different surfaces. I think La Quinta Country Club has the greatest greens we play year in and year out, which is a testament to what they do there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Hoge:<\/strong> I feel better playing La Quinta, a little more protected over there in the trees, a little shorter golf course, you can play a little more conservatively off tees and just get it in play and go from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Past player quotes about the three courses that make up The American Express.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5834,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"bs_types":[14,15],"bs_tags":[29,73,143],"class_list":["post-5833","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","bs_type-betting","bs_type-fantasy","bs_tag-golf-betting","bs_tag-golf-dfs","bs_tag-the-american-express"],"acf":false,"featured_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/background-overview-scaled.jpg","tags_list":[{"id":29,"name":"Golf Betting","slug":"golf-betting"},{"id":73,"name":"Golf DFS","slug":"golf-dfs"},{"id":143,"name":"The American Express","slug":"the-american-express"}],"types_list":[{"id":14,"name":"Betting"},{"id":15,"name":"Fantasy"}],"bs_author":{"name":"Ron Klos","profile_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ron-Klos-150x150.jpg"},"bs_term_name":null,"is_paid":"false","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/5833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bs_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_types?post=5833"},{"taxonomy":"bs_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_tags?post=5833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}