Yahoo PGA DFS Picks: The American Express Cash and GPP Strategy

The American Express

La Quinta, California
PGA West (Stadium Course) - Par 72 - 7,210 yards
PGA West (Nicklaus Tournament Course) - Par 72 - 7,147 yards
La Quinta Country Club - Par 72 - 7,060 yards
Field - 156 entrants
Purse - $8.8M

The Preview

The 2025 season-opening Hawaiian Swing culminated this past weekend with Nick Taylor emerging from a massive slump to secure his fifth career PGA Tour victory, notching the surprising win over Nico Echavarria in a two-man playoff Sunday afternoon. As we now look ahead to a desert backdrop in the contiguous U.S. this week, sluggish rounds of five-plus hours await at The American Express where each of the 156 professional entrants will be paired with an amateur in a pro-am format. The action is spread out across an unusual three-course rotation from Thursday to Saturday with a 54-hole cut down to the top 65 and ties to follow, with PGA West's Stadium Course hosting the final round Sunday.

All three layouts are relatively short in length for par-72s and they each feature several reachable par-5s, so they're especially easy from a scoring perspective with La Quinta Country Club serving as the most elementary. Given the bermudagrass is dormant at PGA West this time of year, the greens this week are all overseeded with poa trivialis, which will run on the slower side but also much smoother than the traditionally bumpy poa annua you hear about so often during broadcasts. Many west-coast players express their affinity for the poa trivialis putting surfaces on these specific tracks at the AmEx. Par-breaker opportunities will come in bunches without much wind in the forecast, so it's safe to expect the eventual winning score to surpass at least the 20-under-par mark.

Recent Champions

2024 - Nick Dunlap
2023 - Jon Rahm
2022 - Hudson Swafford
2021 - Si Woo Kim
2020 - Andrew Landry
2019 - Adam Long
2018 - Jon Rahm
2017 - Hudson Swafford
2016 - Jason Dufner
2015 - Bill Haas

Key Stats to Victory

SG: Approach
Birdie or Better percentage
SG: Putting (poa trivialis)
Par-5 Efficiency

Yahoo Value Picks

Based on $200 salary cap

Cream of the Crop

Patrick Cantlay - $42

The California native checks off the course history box in La Quinta, highlighted by a T9-2-9 stretch of finishes across three outings here from 2019 to 2022. In terms of recent form, he lost 2.4 strokes on his approaches at The Sentry where he recorded a T15, but it was really just the 125-150 yard shots that crushed him in that department, while he gained a collective 4.8 strokes on and around the greens in Maui. In a potential putting contest on poa trivialis this week, Cantlay should be at an advantage with the flat stick once again.

Sungjae Im - $40

Stepping into the betting favorite role after Xander Schauffele's (undisclosed) early withdrawal, Im has yet to place outside of the top-25 through his first six career AmEx appearances, and he's now coming off a third-place effort at The Sentry where he ranked top-4 among the field in both SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Putting en route to 32 total par-breakers.

Glue Guys

Si Woo Kim - $33

I always love leaning into the volatility and ceiling outcomes in GPPs for players like Si Woo Kim, who just missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii by only one shot despite losing nearly six strokes on the greens across 36 holes at Waialae Country Club. Our hope is that the recent MC result and awful putting performance help put somewhat of a lid on his ownership at The AmEx, given it would otherwise balloon at just a $33 salary due to his impressive run of T25-T22-T11-Win here since 2021. He's always putted well at PGA West's Stadium Course, so I'm banking on some positive regression for Kim after last week's debacle.

Harry Hall - $31

The Englishman just continues to stack top-15s, placing no worse than T14 in five straight starts dating back to October's Shriners Children's Open during the FedExCup Fall. Hall most recently opened his 2025 campaign with back-to-back top-10s along the Aloha Swing, notably ranking fifth among the Sony Open field in SG: Putting on the way to 22 total birdies and an eagle. Repping just a $31 salary, Yahoo hasn't yet caught up to Hall's market value elsewhere in the betting and DFS streets.

Bargain Bin

J.J. Spaun - $27

Spaun went out and paced the entire Sony Open field in both SG: APP and GIR percentage last week, ultimately tying for third as he fell one stroke shy of joining the playoff between eventual champion Nick Taylor and runner-up Nico Echavarria. He's also No. 1 in SG: APP over his last 50 measured rounds amongst this week's AmEx attendees. Spaun hasn't lost strokes with his approach play in a single event since the Valspar Championship in March of 2024.

Daniel Berger - $27

Berger's Yahoo salary has finally budged from the $20 minimum, but curiously enough, this inflation comes after a missed cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii where he was a chalky punt piece in a lot of failed lineups. The increased salary and MC allow us to hop back on the Berger train at discounted ownership, and he still gained 2.2 strokes with his ball striking at Waialae, so it wasn't some complete disaster. Additionally, Berger is a collective 48-under-par across his last three voyages to La Quinta.

Mac Meissner - $22

Meissner is not a plus putter, but his ball striking really stands out at this price, and it's led him to a ranking of second in Opportunities Gained and ninth in overall proximity throughout his last 50 rounds. He just posted a top-25 at the Sony Open in Hawaii where he shot 68 or better all four rounds, ultimately finishing behind only the aforementioned Spaun in SG: APP. Meissner owns four consecutive top-40 results dating back to the Sanderson Farms Championship in early October.

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