Gooch's form Talor made for Amex

Hideki Matsuyama used his 3-wood on the first playoff hole of the Sony Open that he knocked stiff to 3 feet for eagle that garnered his eighth career PGA Tour victory at the Sony over Russell Henley at a price of 18/1. Henley had a one-stroke lead heading to the par-5 18th, but found the fairway bunker and settled for par. He found the same fairway bunker on the first playoff hole, and Matsuyama’s amazing 3-wood sealed Henley’s fate.

This week, the PGA Tour leaves the islands and commences the West Coast swing in Palm Springs, Calif., with The American Express. World No. 1 Jon Rahm finished runner-up two weeks ago at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to eventual winner Cameron Smith and is the tournament favorite at 6/1, plus is a former winner here in 2018. Patrick Cantlay (9/1) was the runner-up here last year, losing by one stroke to Si Woo Kim (50/1).

Other favorites in the tournament include Scottie Scheffler (20/1), Sungjae Im (22/1), Tony Finau (25/1) and Corey Conners (25/1).

Here are some players who are worth a wager this weekend.

Talor Gooch (28/1): Gooch won the last event of 2021 at the RSM Classic to earn his first PGA Tour victory. He has made all four of his cuts here with a fourth, 17th, and 21st over the past three appearances.

He does add to this with some strong correlating form with a T-5 at the Players (on Dye-designed TPC Sawgrass), a fourth at the Fortinet Championship last year, as well as recording multiple top 20s at the Sony Open and Shriners Open.

Abraham Ancer (25/1): Perhaps he is too obvious of a choice due to finishing runner-up here in 2020 and T-5 last year, but 30/1 seems a fair price even off a missed cut last week in Hawaii. Ancer has the look of a Pete Dye specialist with a runner-up in 2020 at the RBC Heritage, a T-4 last year at the Travelers, a T-8 last year at the PGA Championship. No player in the field has been better over the past 36 rounds on Dye layouts than Ancer, having gained 71 strokes.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (50/1): The South African rates sixth in the field for SG: Putting and second for SG: Short Game over the past 36 rounds. He finished a respectable T-17 last week at the Sony Open on debut.

Russell Knox (80/1): Knox finished seventh last week at the Sony Open and gained strokes across the board. He has good pedigree on Dye courses, having been a winner at the Travelers and having a runner-up at the RBC Heritage.

Tom Hoge (100/1): While missing the cut last week at the Sony, Hoge returns to a place where he has played well before (T-6 in 2020). Hoge has been knocking at the door for his first PGA Tour victory for a while now and has five topfive finishes in the past four seasons.

Hayden Buckley (100/1): PGA Tour rookie Buckley posted two top-10 finishes (T-4 at Sanderson Farms, T-8 at Shriners) during the fall series.

Andrew Putnam (100/1): Putnam has made six of eight cuts this season, highlighted by a T-11 at the Shriners (TPC Summerlin a correlated course), and was T-27 last week at the Sony, where he shot four rounds of 68 or better and gained strokes in all categories.

Adam Schenk (150/1): Schenk posted a career-best finish last fall at the Shriners (TPC Summerlin), finishing third.