The PGA Tour heads east from Hawaii to the Coachella Valley desert in La Quinta, California, for The American Express at PGA West. This event changes its name like I change my underwear, so if you’re looking at past events, this could be titled anything from the Desert Classic, CareerBuilder Challenge, or the Bob Hope Classic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The American Express is a unique event to handicap. This is a three-course rotation that includes a Pro-Am element, where each pro tees off with an amateur for the first three rounds of the tournament. It also features a 54-hole cut on Saturday night after each golfer has played a round on the events’ three courses. Once everyone’s made their way around the Nicklaus Tournament Course, La Quinta Country Club, and The Stadium Course, the cut-makers will head back out to play The Stadium Course once again for the final round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Stadium Course is a Pete Dye design, which is a fine place to start if you’re looking for corollary courses this week, and it’s the only place with Shotlink data for this event. That means we’re flying blind with strokes-gained data for all rounds at Nicklaus and La Quinta. A look at past leaderboards will again show that the winner must go low. The Pro-Am element comes with slower greens and amateur-friendly pin placements, so past success in easy scoring conditions is ideal. The only time this event’s winner failed to break 20-under par was Charley Hoffman back in 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n