Sleeper Picks: The American Express

Brendan Steele(+450 for a Top 20) … Although he currently lives in Irvine, California, he’s always been a focus of elevated expectations in La Quinta because this has been a home game. He’s from Idyllwild, which isn’t far, and he hasn’t missed an edition since debuting as a rookie in 2011. He’s cashed in each of the last seven editions, four of which for a top 25. Currently 25th in this season’s FedExCup on the strength of a co-runner-up at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, but he’s totaled five cuts made with 17 red numbers.

Vince Whaley(+400 for a Top 20) … The 26-year-old is enjoying a natural progression on his career trajectory. After a substandard rookie season of 2019-20, he sharpened his game to record five top 25s among 17 paydays in the bonus season of membership triggered by the pandemic. However, he still needed the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in 2021 to regain fully exempt status on which he is capitalizing. He arrived at PGA WEST having connected six cuts made, three going for a top 20, including a T17 at Waialae last week where he co-led the field in par-5 scoring and didn’t miss on 58 looks inside eight feet, 19 of which were longer than three feet.

Rory Sabbatini (+500 for a Top 20) … How can a guy ranked 17th in Strokes Gained: Total be just 1-for-5 on the season with 10 completed rounds contributing? Well, his lone payday was a T3 at the Shriners and he didn’t register an official score at the RSM because he was disqualified after the first round. In his other three starts, he completed six rounds in 10-under and missed those cuts by an aggregate four strokes. PGA WEST is a logical site for the pendulum to swing back into his favor and where anything can happen given that the champion likely will go lower than 20-under for the week. Since returning in earnest in 2011, he hasn’t missed an edition and he’s perfect since 2017 with a T12 a year ago.

Sebastián Muñoz (+275 for a Top 20) … On firepower alone, it stands to reason that he’ll threaten this prop. He concluded the fall with a pair of top fives in three starts and totaled four in his last six months of competition, and that doesn’t include the T4 at the Olympics. In his last appearance at PGA WEST in 2020, he sat T20 at the 54-hole conclusion of the course rotation and landed at T21. Also led the field in scrambling.

J.T. Poston(+700 for a Top 20) … You’d have had a tough time finding a touring professional who couldn’t wait for 2021 to end faster. He crawled into the holiday hiatus having missed eight consecutive cuts. Now, reset and recharged, the 28-year-old opened 2022 with a 6-under 64 at Waialae. It was his lowest score in relation to par since a 7-under 65 in the first round of the Barbasol Championship where he lost in a playoff last July, and his lowest aggregate since an 8-under 64 at the Sanderson Farms Championship in September of 2019. Naturally, because of Monday’s holiday, the direct deposit was delayed a day, and it was for but a T42, but it still has to feel good after the drought. This is his sixth consecutive trip to PGA WEST. On three occasions, he connected four red numbers, the best set yielding a T7 in 2019.

Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. For live odds, visit betmgm.