Horses for Courses: Former champ Si Woo Kim among players to watch in La Quinta

After two weeks in the paradise of Hawaii, the Opening Drive shifts to California for the West Coast Swing.

The desert of La Quinta and the 65th edition of The American Express welcomes the first multi-course event and pro-am of the 2024 season.

A full field of 156 players will tee it up for one round each at La Quinta Country Club (LQ), plus the Nicklaus Tournament Course (NT) and Pete Dye Stadium Course (SC) at PGA WEST. The top 65 and ties after 54 holes will play the final round at the Stadium Course, the host course of this event since 2016.

The three courses listed above have provided this rotation since 2016, except for 2021, when the Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course kept the event on one property. ShotLink data is only available on the Stadium Course.

Horses for Courses

Si Woo Kim (+4500 at BetMGM Sportsbook) is the most recent champion in the field. Holding off Patrick Cantlay by a shot in 2021, the South Korean signed for rounds of 66, 67 and 64 on the Stadium Course and posted a 23-under total. Placing T9 on debut in 2016, the first year of this three-course rotation, he picked up T11 in his 2022 defense and added T22 last season. Posting 58 under from the previous three editions, he will look to join the list of multiple winners in the desert.

Birdie Average

Players listed are in the field this week; 2023 season stats.

The three courses on display this week annually rank as some of the easiest on TOUR. Perfect putting surfaces and barely measurable wind will lead to a wild west-style shootout. The 54-hole cut has been 10-under in 2023, 7-under in 2022 and 9-under in 2020 over the last three editions on the three-course rotation. The 2021 cut was 4-under after 36 holes (one round each on NT and SC). The highest winning score was 20-under in 2017. The wind blew and the rain fell all weekend. The forecast for this weekend calls for mild temperatures and a just a breath of wind.

Patrick Cantlay (+1000) is making his fourth consecutive appearance in the Coachella Valley this week and his sixth trip overall. Spread across the last five years, the Californian is 76 under across his last four starts. Finishing second in 2021, his final round 61 at the Stadium Course set the course record, but he fell one shot short of Si Woo Kim. Returning the following season, he opened with 62 at La Quinta before cashing solo ninth. Going low is not an option this week. Last year, he posted 18 under with a closing round 65 on the Stadium Course and cashed T26!

Greens in Regulation

Players listed are in the field this week; 2023 season stats.

The resort courses of the Coachella Valley will provide plenty of room off the tee for the pros. The limited rough, barely 2 inches off the beaten path, will not provide a deterrent to attacking hole locations. The math is simple in a shootout: Hit the most GIR possible to have the most attempts at birdie (or better) putts. If the iron game is rusty or out of sync, the other half of scoring formula, the putter, will absorb that pressure. With excellent weather last year, the top 21 players registered 20-under or better.

Adam Hadwin (+5500) fell in love with the rotation from the first edition. The Canadian cashed T6 in 2016 and followed with three consecutive podium paydays. Firing 59 at La Quinta in 2017, his final round of 70 missed a playoff by a shot. Posting a 45-under aggregate the next two seasons saw him capture T3, and he missed another playoff by a shot on 25-under in 2019. Over the last three editions, he’s never finished worse than T32 or better than T18.

Par-5 Scoring

Players listed are in the field this week; 2023 season stats.

Time to attack! All three resort courses provide four chances at par-5 holes, plus none of the tracks stretch over 7,200 yards. Of the 12 five-shot holes, seven measuring 550 yards or less. They need to be played in four shots or fewer to contend this week. The previous champions from the rotation, including the 2021 edition, have finished the week in the top 10 in this category, including six inside the top four.

Tom Hoge (+10000) produced a three-year run of T6-MC-solo second before cashing T32 last year. Making his eighth appearance in the last nine seasons suggests he enjoys the weather-less desert environment.

J.T. Poston (+3300) has cashed in five of seven attempts and is an annual entrant in the desert. Racking up 29 birdies last year, he posted his best total of 23-under and collected his second top-10 paycheck, the best of the bunch, with T6.

Xander Schauffele (+1100) returned to the Coachella Valley for the first time since 2017 last year. Storming home with a final round 62 (matched only by Erik van Rooyen at +10000), which included an albatross, the Californian vaulted from T16 after 54 holes to T3, his best finish in his career.

Oddsmaker’s Extras

Sungjae Im (+2000) has never missed over the last five seasons and has posted 19 of his 20 rounds in the red. The Korean fairway finder posted T10 in 2020 for his best of the lot, while T18 last year completed the range of results.

Sam Burns (+2800) will aim for his fourth payday from five visits. A big fan of the Stadium Course, his last four loops have resulted in 63-66-64-68 on the most difficult of the three tracks. Cashing T6 in 2020 bested T11 in 2023 and T18 in his 2019 debut.

Chris Kirk (+4000) provided the first surprise of the season, and the three-digit underdog won The Sentry at Kapalua to start the 2024 campaign. In six visits to this rotation, he’s played the Stadium Course on Sunday three times. Last year two visits to the Stadium Course over the final two rounds resulted in rounds of 63-64 for T3. His other two paydays are T16 and T21.

Davis Thompson (+8000) opened with 62 last year and tried to go wire-to-wire to join a short list of players to win here on debut. Posting five eagles in the first two rounds, he sat two shots clear heading into the weekend. Playing from the final group on Sunday, his closing round of 69 (26-under) fell one short of a playoff.

Patton Kizzire (+12500) enters this week on a sponsor’s exemption and will look to continue his recent solid play in the desert. Never missing this event since his debut in 2016, he’s posted his best two finishes in the last two seasons, with T22 in 2022 and T11 in 2023.

Grayson Murray (+15000) has cashed T10, T12 and T14 from five starts, the last being in 2021 (MC). Gamers should be familiar with his most recent work on TOUR, winning the Sony Open in Hawaii last week.

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