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Boy, what a start to the 2023 PGA Tour calendar.

At the first event of the year, Collin Morikawa blew a historic six-shot lead heading into the final round and watched Jon Rahm steal the Sentry Tournament of Champions from his clutches. The following week, Si Woo Kim came back from three strokes down and birdied the final two holes on Sunday to win the Sony Open.

The PGA Tour travels back to the mainland this week for the American Express in La Quinta, Calif. We’ve got a stacked field with 10 of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking teeing it up at the third event of the year, and World No. 4 Jon Rahm has been pegged as the betting favorite to win.

Be careful if you plan on backing Rahm, though, because the fiery Spaniard isn’t a fan of the course setup at the American Express.

2023 American Express odds: Jon Rahm favored to win

Rahm should be the betting favorite to win every tournament he enters the way he’s playing right now, and that’s exactly the case at this week’s American Express. The 28-year-old, who is coming off a win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, is a +600 favorite to win his second start in a row.

Right below him is World No. 5 Patrick Cantlay at +950, World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler at +1000, and World No. 12 Tony Finau at +1400. That’s some serious firepower at the top of the odds board.

Check out the rest of the 2023 American Express odds below:

PlayerBetting Odds
Jon Rahm+600
Patrick Cantlay+950
Scottie Scheffler+1000
Tony Finau+1400
Will Zalatoris+1900
Xander Schauffele+2000
Tom Kim+2000
Sungjae Im+2100
Cameron Young+2100
Sam Burns+3100
Tom Hoge+3100
Si Woo Kim+3400
Brian Harman+3400
Cam Davis+3400
Aaron Wise+3700
Taylor Montgomery+3900
Sahith Theegala+4500
J.T. Poston+5000
Andrew Putnam+5000
K.H. Lee+5000
Adam Hadwin+5500
Rickie Fowler+6500
Wyndham Clark+6500
Jason Day+7000
Harris English+8000
Chris Kirk+8000
Taylor Pendrith+8500
Justin Rose+9000
Patrick Rodgers+9500

Check out the full list of outright odds on FanDuel.

Jon Rahm absolutely hates the course setup at the American Express

Jon Rahm celebrates after winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Jon Rahm celebrates after winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Golf Club | Harry How/Getty Images

Rahm has a complicated relationship with the American Express at the La Quinta resort. The Spaniard won here in 2018 when the event was called the CareerBuilder Challenge, and he finished T14 in 2022. But that wasn’t the headline from his appearance in La Quinta last year.

During his second round, Rahm was caught on video cursing out the course setup while walking off a green. The video quickly went viral online.

“Piece of s*** f***ing setup. Putting contest week,” Rahm said in disgust. He doubled down on the outburst a few days later.

“I mean, we’re the PGA Tour. We’re the best golfers on the planet, and we’re playing a golf course where missing the fairway means absolutely nothing,” he told reporters. “There was times where missing the fairway by an inch was worse than missing the fairway by 20 yards. That to me is a mistake. I don’t know what else to say.”

Despite his qualms with the tournament, Rahm has enjoyed a ton of success here over the last few years. He deserves to be the betting favorite to win, and he could lap this field if he avoids the emotional meltdowns.

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