The American Express Preview: Sungjae to make it all about Im in California

After two weeks in Hawaii the PGA Tour players will have to say goodbye to paradise as they head to… California. La Quinta plays host to The American Express 2024, as a selection of the Tour’s biggest names line up.

Following back-to-back wins for American golfers, a move to the mainland will certainly not hurt their chances, but we have a fancy from far afield!

Check out this week’s selections below.

Sungjae Im 18/1

Sungjae Im has had just one outing on the PGA Tour so far this season, while most in the field will already have a couple of tournament appearances under their belts. Not to worry for Sungjae though, as he flew out of the blocks to finish T5 at The Sentry just two weeks ago.

Taking no time to get fully into stride, Im will be well-rested having not played over the past week and at 18/1 he finds himself fourth in the market for The American Express 2024.

Im is a two-time PGA Tour winner having joined in 2019, with his first victory coming at the 2020 Honda Classic followed by a four-shot victory at the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open.

The Korean is in fine form and that is amplified by his ranking of 11th for total strokes gained on the rest of the Tour. He’s not a massive hitter but his drives are accurate enough, which will be crucial at this tournament, with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America stating that the rough is going to be “thicker than normal”.

It is on and around the greens where Im does his best work, ranking 20th and 27th for approaching the green and putting respectively. He hits greens in regulation for fun, which constitutes an 83% strike-rate in that area, whilst his birdie or better putt conversion rate is the highest on the Tour.

At 18/1 Im is not a huge price, but he is certainly backable enough for a man who has T12 or better at this tournament for the past five years.

Andrew Putnam 55/1

The bigger-priced of the two, Andrew Putnam is our outsider pick for The American Express 2024.

The 2022/23 season was by all accounts a solid one for Putnam. Despite failing to win on the PGA Tour, from his 33 appearances he made 25 cuts, recording six T10 or better finishes with a runner up at the 2022 Zozo Championship the icing on the cake.

He kicked off this year with a T40 finish at The Sentry, certainly not disgracing himself as he shot a 9-under par final round to recover from what was a poor first two rounds. Following that he managed a T10 finish at last weeks Sony Open, where he once again shot 64 in the final round to shoot himself up the leaderboard.

The early rounds are where Putnam has almost put himself out of contention before he’s even started for the past two weeks, his round one and two scoring averages ranking 113th and 68th on the Tour respectively.

The final round is where he has come alive and his ranking of eighth in the world for fourth round scoring average shows that he has all the ability to compete on any given Sunday.

It is the par fives where Putnam has largely come unstuck, with his driving distance ranking a lowly 118th on the Tour. With the three courses in use for this tournament averaging out at just over 7,100 yards, distance will not be as key of a factor and it will be all about accuracy given the aforementioned testing rough. That is where Putnam excels, ranking fourth on the Tour for driving accuracy.

Conditions favour Putnam here and accuracy will be the name of the game if he is to find himself in the mix come the final round. If Putnam can get himself off to even an average start, he could prove a great price at 55/1 should he be in contention in the final rounds.