The 2026 American Express PGA Tour event kicks off this week at the scenic PGA West complex in La Quinta, California, blending the signature Stadium Course with the challenging Pete Dye layout in a pro-am format that sets the tone for early-season birdie barrages.
Scottie Scheffler enters as the clear betting favourite after defending his 2025 PGA Tour title with a wire-to-wire domination, drawing a powerhouse field hungry to dethrone the World No. 1 on these soft, low-wind conditions perfect for aggressive scoring.
Scottie Scheffler to win American Express
This will be the first PGA event held on the U.S. mainland this season, with both the PGA West and La Quinta Country Club hosting this pro-am.
The American Express outright odds (top 15)
| Golfer | World Golf Ranking | Outright odds |
| Scottie Scheffler | 1 | +300 |
| Robert MacIntyre | 6 | +2200 |
| Russell Henley | 5 | +2200 |
| Ben Griffin | 8 | +2500 |
| Ludvig Aberg | 18 | +2500 |
| Si Woo Kim | 42 | +2800 |
| Patrick Cantlay | 27 | +3000 |
| Sam Burns | 25 | +3300 |
| Harry Hall | 54 | +3500 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | 22 | +3500 |
| Sepp Straka | 12 | +4500 |
| Taylor Pendrith (Canada) | 43 | +4500 |
| Daniel Berger | 53 | +5000 |
| Kurt Kitayama | 37 | +5000 |
| Ryan Gerard | 30 | +5000 |
Notable Canadians in the field
Taylor Pendrith (+4500): Pendrith has the shortest odds of any Canadian in the field to win outright, and he had a strong result in his lone 2026 event to this point, a T6 at the Sony Open last week. The Ontario native is also coming off a strong 2025 season in which he posted four top-10 results, including a pair of T5s.
Nick Taylor (+7000): Like Pendrith, Taylor is coming off a strong showing at the Sony Open (T13), an event he won back in 2025. He finished T12 at The American Express last year after missing the cut at the event in his previous two tries.
Mackenzie Hughes (+22500): This will be Hughes’ first event of the new season after he finished 2025 on a sour note, missing two cuts before a T51 result at The RSM Classic. He finished T58 at The American Express last year.
Adam Svensson (+45000): Svensson is coming off a T40 result at the Sony Open and is looking to build off of three top-25 finishes in 2025. He missed the cut at this event last year.
Taylor Pendrith top-10 finish
Three golfers to back in the field
Patrick Cantlay (+3000): The SoCal native absolutely loves this event, making six consecutive cuts with four top 10s, including a T5 last year. Cantlay is coming off a disappointing season by his standards, failing to post a win in 2025 despite nine top-10 results, so he’ll be motivated to return to professional golf’s elite ranks in 2026. It all starts this week on two courses he’s historically thrived at.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+8000): We like the South African as a long shot with tremendous value this week. He was a runner-up to Nick Dunlap at this event as an amateur two years ago, and he’s on a tremendous run right now, making 10 straight cuts with four top 10s and six top 20s to close out 2025 across PGA and DP World Tour events. Bezuidenhout is incredible with the flat stick, ranking 13th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA Tour last season while also ranking 14th in scrambling.
Beau Hossler (+22500): Hossler, a local golf hero, presents incredible value as an extreme long shot after finishing T5 here a year ago. He performs incredibly well historically on bentgrass and is coming off a T15 result at the Sony Open. Hossler boasts a wealth of home-course knowledge that should benefit him this week as he looks to build on a 2025 season that saw him accumulate eight top-25 finishes and a pair of top-10 results.