The busiest American Express debut in many years we all imagined it would be with three top 10 players currently in the top seven on the leaderboard, including Sam Burns, who is currently second behind Davis Thompson. But he scored an astonishing 62 on Thursday. ,
Jon Rahm and Xander Schoeffel are among the other top stars in the hunt after 18 holes in Palm Springs. More on those in a bit, but first we need to look at how Thompson took an early two-stroke lead on this great field and whether it’s likely he can maintain it over the next three days.
leader
T1. Davis Thompson (-10): The former Georgia star walked out on 28 with 59 dance appearances, but he only came home in 34 to shoot 62 and take the lead. Thompson is a fine young player who won last year on the Korn Ferry Tour and had a pair of top-12 finishes on the PGA Tour in the fall. I’m not sure he can maintain the momentum he’s on his heels, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the mix at the end of the week.
Thompson said of trying not to think about shooting the 59, “Yeah, that was my biggest challenge today to stay in my mind and try to put one foot in front of the other.” But I played a lot of rounds where I tried to teach myself over and over again that you can’t get ahead of yourself.”
other claimants
T2. Sam Burns, Matthias Schmid, Taylor Montgomery, Jon Rahm, Tyler Duncan (-8)
T7. Xander Schauffele, Harrison Endicott, Eric Van Rooyen, Denny McCarthy, Dean Burmester, Eric Cole, JT Poston, Michael Block, Sungjae Im (-7)
Rest of the week is going to be interesting. He withdrew from the Tournament of Champions to start the year with a bad back, but had a stellar 7-under 65 on Thursday with just one bogey. Rahm, on the other hand, is looking for his second win in a row and is looking better in every way. to risk i accused him of being, I don’t know if he’s going to win this week or not, but if he does, we could be on to the six-win Rahm season I’ve been predicting for the last five years.
Also, it is.
contextualizing the golf course
Because the tournament is played on three different courses, it’s worth looking at the course averages for each during Round 1. Here’s a gander.
- Stadium Course — 69.5
- La Quinta – 69.3
- Nicklaus – 69.0
All these pars are 72 so there won’t be much discrepancy in par scores after round 1. Perhaps a little more surprisingly, the three tracks were separated by just half a stroke so Thursday’s leaderboard is more or less a correct leaderboard.
best stroke
Here Lucas Glover’s backstroke nearly broke me. I don’t think he took it back more than a millimeter! Certainly when it comes to putting down the strokes you’ve lost in 18 of your last 21 rounds, you’ll probably try just about anything. Glover shot 3-under on the Stadium Course on Thursday, although … he missed stroke putts.
2023 American Express updated odds and picks
- Jon Rahm: 12/5
- Taylor Montgomery: 9-1
- Sam Burns: 9-1
- Xander Schoeffel: 11-1
- Davis Thompson: 16-1
- Sungjae Im: 18-1
- Scotty Scheffler: 18-1
- Patrick Cantlay: 22-1
You have to think that the ultimate winner is coming from this list. I really like Burns at 9-1, I like Rahm at 12/5 or say, Cantley at 22-1. Burns shot 64 on the toughest course and in the process he hit the ball beautifully. He hasn’t been playing his best golf of late, but I think he’s going to be in it on Sunday afternoon, and I think his chances at 9-1 are going to be very slim going into the weekend.
