⛳️ Preview & Picks: The American Express - Plus: 5 Ways To Improve TGL, Golf Babe Calendar, and More.
⛳️ Preview & Picks: The American Express
Plus: 5 Ways To Improve TGL, Golf Babe Calendar, and More.
Josey Orr
January 15, 2025
Good afternoon. WM Open Update: We picked a winner and we’ve emailed him twice, but got no reply! So, if we don’t hear back from him by the end of today, we will be forced to pick a new winner. Keep your eyes on your inbox!
Tiger Woods Caddies For Foreplay
Preview & Picks: The American Express
Some of you may remember when this tournament was called the “Bob Hope”.
The entertainer was the host of this event and from 1965 to 2011 it bore his name, but like everything else in professional golf, that changed a few years ago and we never looked back.
It remains, however, a unique event on Tour.
While most golf fans don’t really care about the Pro Am aspect of it, you do typically get a solid field of players and you get to see them play on not one, not two, but three different golf courses throughout the weekend.
There is also a cut, but instead of being after 36 holes, the cut for this event comes after 54 holes.
Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Sungjae Im, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Tom Kim, Will Zalatoris and Rickie Fowler are among the notable names in the field.
Last year, Nick Dunlap became the first amateur to win on tour since Phil Mickelson did it, and he will be back to defend his title.
Maybe 17 year old Blades Brown can take it from him? He’s skipping school and making his pro debut this week.
The Details
🚩 Location: PGA West's Pete Dye Stadium Course, Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club.
💰 Purse: $8.8 million ($1.5 million winner’s share)
👑 Previous Winners:
2024: Nick Dunlap
2023: Jon Rahm
2022: Hudson Swafford
How To Watch
Thursday, Jan. 16: 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday, Jan. 17: 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday, Jan. 18: 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Sunday, Jan. 19: 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Shanks Picks
Nick Taylor won last week at 115 to 1 odds and we’ve got another birdie-fest on tap for this weekend. We did hit with him as our Top 20 pick at +300, so it wasn’t all bad.
Winner: Sam Burns +1600
Winner: JT Poston +5500
Winner: Brian Harman +6500
Top Twenty: Wyndham Clark +130
Top Twenty: Jhonattan Vegas +240
Top Twenty: Blades Brown +1000
Our Promos
You can now view all of our betting promos, for every book we work with, all in one place!
You can toggle by state as well, so that you only see the promos that are relevant to you.
With Performance Golf
This Cures Inconsistency & Distance Problems
Discover the weird secret behind the BEST SHOT Sir Nick Faldo ever hit and how it gives YOU an extra 15-25 yards of average driving distance, the accuracy to hit 10-13 fairways a round, and the consistency to never collapse under pressure again.
Shots Heard Round The World
5 Ways To Improve TGL
Tiger is crying laughing after Kevin Kisner skulled it out of the bunker 😂
— ESPN (@espn)
2:17 AM • Jan 15, 2025
I am not confident that TGL will last very long, but here’s five things I’d do to improve it.
Shorten the matches. Two hours is too long for the modern attention span, but beyond that, it just feels like things drag on a bit. Last nights match ran over and delayed people from watching a premier college basketball game.
Fix the sim. It does not feel like the simulator they are using is nearly accurate enough. Max Homa even said something about the ball not cutting on the screen.
No more Kisners. Kevin Kisner showed everyone why he’s headed to the booth. He clearly can’t compete with these guys and while I understand he was there because of his ability to chirp the other guys, you can’t really do that if you’re hitting 180 yard shots 35 yards short.
Make up your minds. It seems that many fans expect this to be competitive and require a high difficulty of shot making, but for the players it feels a bit forced and very unserious. Which is it going to be?
Better commentary. The guy in the booth is doing his best, but it would probably be better to have a guy like Charles Barkley in there or something. It currently just feels too contrived.
Thing We’d Buy: Golf Babe Calendar
Popular golf babe has released her 2025 golf calendar and you can get it for 25% OFF with code HAPPY25 at checkout.
What'd you think of today's newsletter? |
That’s all folks! See you Saturday!