Davis Thompson settles for 62 and lead in his first The American Express

Thompson’s 62 matches the first-round lead from the golf course last year

The story is about as old as the 64-year-old American Express PGA Tour event.

Someone goes to La Quinta Country Club and tears apart the front nine, only to hit a wall on the back nine. Rounds that seem destined to sniff 59 suddenly turn into solid but somehow disappointing rounds in the low 60s.

The story was repeated again Thursday, with Davis Thompson providing the drama. A brilliant 8-under 28 on the front nine at La Quinta, including back-to-back eagles on the par-5s at the fifth and sixth holes, was followed by a pedestrian 2-under 34 on the tougher back nine. The result was a 10-under 62 that pushed Thompson into the first-round tournament lead but left Thompson wanting more.

“That was kind of like my biggest challenge today was staying present-minded and trying to put one foot in front of the other,” said the 23-year-old Thompson, playing in the tournament for the first time after spending 2021-22 on the Korn Ferry Tour. “Your mind definitely starts to wander a little bit. But I played enough rounds to where I try to teach myself over and over you can’t get ahead of yourself.”

Sam Burns seemed on the verge of catching Thompson most of the afternoon, going 7 under through nine holes at the tougher Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West. But Burns also cooled off on his final nine holes, bogeying the 18th for a 64. That left Burns in a five-way tie for second place with Jon Rahm who played at La Quinta, Tyler Duncan, who played the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West, Matti Schmid, who played the Stadium Course, and Taylor Montgomery, who shot his 64 at La Quinta.

Nine players finished at 65, including Southern California PGA section representative and PGA of America player of the year Michael Block, and world No. 6 Xander Schauffele.

Thompson’s 62 at La Quinta in the first round was hardly unique for the low-scoring American Express. Patrick Cantlay and Lee Hodges shot 62 in the first round on the course last year, and Phil Mickelson fired a 60 in the first round in 2019. Rahm shot 62 at La Quinta Country Club to start the 2018 event that he won.

If there was a surprise in Thompson’s round, it was that he had never played the course in competition. But he made sure to learn something about desert layouts before coming to La Quinta.

“I was able to come out here early before I went to Hawaii (the Sony Open) and played out here on the Nicklaus Course. So I was a little familiar with it,” said Thompson, who played in eight PGA Tour events in 2020-21 and in three more in 2021-22. “But just got off to a hot start and just kind of coasted on my way in. But it’s always good to see some putts go in early and give you confidence to just keep it rolling.”

Fast start at La Quinta

Thompson birdied three of the first four holes at La Quinta before hitting the scoring holes of the fifth and sixth, consecutive par-5s that are reachable for all the PGA Tour pros. He rolled in a 12-foot putt for eagle on the fifth hole, then missed the green in two on the sixth hole but chipped in from 60 feet for his second consecutive eagle to reach 7 under through six holes.

“I had good numbers on both those holes. I actually missed the green on 6 and chipped in,” Thompson said. “I put two good swings on it and had a really nice chip and a really good putt.”

But Thompson added just one more birdie on the front nine at the ninth hole, then made birdies on the 13th and 18th holes on the back nine to cap the 62.

Rahm, ranked fourth in the world and coming off a win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks ago, didn’t have the red-hot nine like Thompson or Burns. Instead, he opened with five birdies on his front nine, including birdies on the two par-5s. He then bogeyed the 10th hole but added three consecutive birdies after that. A birdie at 17 pushed him to 64 on a course he knows he must play well.

“Give me enough time, I’ll be picky about a lot of things,” Rahm said after the round. “But it’s a great start to the tournament. You can’t really win it on this golf course, but you can sure fall off the pace. It’s a great start, solid round of golf, great putting out there. Hopefully, I can keep that going the whole week and feel a little bit better tee to green.”

Rahm was part of a field of five of the top seven players in the world in the desert tournament this week, and those players all fought into contention. Schauffele’s 66 at La Quinta left him tied for sixth. Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay each shot 68, while Will Zalatoris shot 69. In all, 123 of the 156 pros in the field broke par-72.

Rahm admits he’s playing golf as well as anyone in the world right now.

“Very confident. I think it showed out there. I didn’t have my best. I didn’t find myself in the fairway very often through the round, but was able to get birdies out of it. And that’s the beauty of that,” Rahm said. “I mean I would like people to think that it’s hard to beat me and almost impossible because, again, if I don’t have my A game and I’m shooting rounds like this it should be a pretty good year.”

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2023 American Express picks: Rickie Fowler (90/1), Jason Day (70/1) among long shots you should target at PGA West

Fowler already has T-2 and T-6 finishes this season. Can he grab his first Tour win since 2019 this week?

A loaded field consisting of 10 of the world’s top 19 players has made its way to the California desert for the American Express at PGA West.

World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and No. 4 Jon Rahm are the two betting favorites while Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris are the other top 10 players set to tee it up Thursday.

With a three-course rotation used over the first three rounds, the cut will be made after 54 holes. Pete Dye’s Stadium Course will host the final round Sunday.

We already covered some of the best bets for the week, highlighted by Zalatoris and Tony Finau, but now it’s time to take a look at some long shots.

2023 American Express odds: Will Zalatoris, Tony Finau among best bets at PGA West

Both Zalatoris and Finau are coming off top 11 performances at the Sentry TOC.

After a few weeks in paradise, the PGA Tour heads to the desert of California for the American Express. Lucky for us, most of the top players in the world have made the trip.

Ten of the top 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking will be battling in the event, including No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and No. 4 Jon Rahm. Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris round out the top 10 players in the field. Rahm, who recently won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui, captured the title at this event in 2018.

Players will rotate between three golf courses during the first three rounds before the final round is played at the Pete Dye Stadium Course. There will be a 54-hole cut.

AmEx: 10 players to watch

Golf courses

The American Express 2022
The 16th hole during the first round of The American Express on the Stadium course at PGA West on January 20, 2022, in La Quinta, California. (Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

PGA West (Stadium Course) | 7,187 yards | Par 72
PGA West (Nicklaus Tournament Course) | 7,147 yards | Par 72
La Quinta Country Club | 7,060 yards | Par 72

Data Golf Information

Course Fit (compares golf courses based on the degree to which different golfer attributes — such as driving distance — to predict who performs well at each course – DataGolf): 1. The Reinassance Club, 2. Caves Valley Golf Club, 3. TPC Lousiana

Trending (the players’ last three starts): 1. Jon Rahm (1, T-8, 1), 2. Tony Finau (1, 7, T-7), 3. Scottie Scheffler (T-9, 2, T-7)

Percent chance to win (based on course history, fit, trending, etc.): 1. Jon Rahm (10.8 percent), 2. Scottie Scheffler (9.7 percent), 3. Patrick Cantlay (6.5 percent)

Golfweek’s weekly podcast

Listen to Riley Hamel and Andy Nesbitt on this week’s episode of Twilight 9! The boys discuss Si Woo Kim’s win at the Sony Open, preview the American Express and make a few picks for the week. Plus, Justin Thomas stops by for a quick chat!

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Betting preview

Two double eagles in one round? An amateur golfer pulled off this remarkable feat at PGA West

“If I wasn’t there, it almost sounds like a fish story,” his father said.

Whether it’s called a double eagle or an albatross, a score of 3-under par on a golf hole is close to the game’s Holy Grail, something few golfers ever come close to achieving.

That was true of 27-year-old Danny Syring of Tampa, Fla., at least until last Sunday. That’s when Syring did the unimaginable, making two double eagles in the same round at the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West in La Quinta.

“If it hadn’t happened to me, I wouldn’t believe it,” Syring said.

In a foursome with his father Kevin, a PGA professional from New Jersey, and friends Jay and Renate Green of La Quinta, Syring made a 2 on the par-5 11th hole of the Nicklaus Tournament Course, holing a 6-iron from 200 yards. Then on the demanding par-5 15th hole with its island green, Syring holed a 5-iron from 205 yards.

“If I wasn’t there, it almost sounds like a fish story,” said the elder Syring, a 40-year PGA professional and head pro at Deer Run Golf and Tennis Club in Lincoln, Park, N.J.

“I wouldn’t be telling this story unless I actually witnessed this,” Jay Green said. “But it was just so extraordinary, so unbelievable. I’ve been playing golf for 63 years. I have never seen a double eagle.”

According to Michael Christensen of the website doubleeagleclub.org, Syring’s is only the third recorded instance of a player making two double eagles in the same round. The first was in 1964 and the second in 2015, and both previous times the golfers made two holes-in-one on short par 4s.

Christensen’s website says the odds of making a single double eagle are difficult to determine, with odds quoted around the internet as low as 1 million to 1 and as high as 6 million to 1.

“Some years there might be one or two double eagles on the (PGA Tour) and there might be 15 or 20 holes-in-one,” Christensen said.

“Danny is always making fun of me, because I’ve made 11 aces and he’s never made one,” said the elder Syring. “But I’ve been playing golf for 50 years, and not only have I never had one, I’ve only witnessed two up until that day.”

Danny Syring, center, celebrates his second double eagle of his round last Sunday with his father Kevin, left, and Jay Green of La Quinta, right. (Contributed photo)

Playing from the blue tees of the Nicklaus Tournament Course with his father, Syring put his tee shot on the 490-yard par-5 11th into the dormant Bermuda rough just left of the fairway.

“I had 200 yards, and I hit a kind of high, thin 6-iron,” Syring said. “I hit the ball pretty high, and I always thought that’s why I’ve never had a hole-in-one. First, I’m not lucky, and second, I hit the ball so high it comes down and just stops.”

As the foursome reached the green, Syring’s ball wasn’t seen on the putting surface.

“My wife got out of the cart and my wife says, ‘Danny, where is your ball?’ and he said I think it might be in the hole,” Green said. “And my wife was the first one to look in the hole and the ball was in the hole.”

“I was pretty excited,” Syring said. “I took a picture and put it on Facebook, hey, I just made a double eagle.”

“When he made the first one, I said to him, that’s like making five aces,” the elder Syring said.

A second albatross

Four holes later, Syring had to take that photo down. On the 516-yard 15th hole, considered one of the toughest holes in the rotation of the PGA Tour’s American Express tournament, Syring’s drive left him in the fairway 205 yards from the cup.

“I hit a 5-iron, because it was a little against the wind,” Syring said. “And it looked good. My dad is 62 and he can’t see it and the Greens are both older, so I was the only one who could see it.”

Syring tried to convince himself the ball disappeared because it had rolled over a hump that divides the green from left to right.

“He hits the ball extremely high. If it was a normal kind of trajectory 5-iron, it never could have gone in the hole because it would have hit the front of the green and just ran to the back,” Green said. “And I couldn’t see where it ended up, because I’m 74 years old. And Danny said yeah, it might even have been in the hole. And we went up there and the ball is in the hole.”

“It was almost like surreal,” Kevin Syring said. “It was like, there is no way that went in.”

Any clubhouse celebration of the two albatrosses had to be put on hold, because an hour’s frost delay that morning at PGA West meant the father and son had just enough time to toss their clubs in the back of their car and head toward Los Angeles International Airport nearly three hours away to catch flights back to the east coast.

In fact, Syring said the time crunch might have led him to a three-putt on the 16th hole for a bogey and to hit an approach shot into a greenside bunker for another bogey on the 18th hole for a 32 on the back nine and a round of 70.

“I didn’t really play that well,” Syring said. “I was 6 under for those two holes and shot 70. If I was making it up, I wouldn’t have bogeyed two of the last three.”

A decorated high school player in New Jersey who, like any college player, flirted with the idea of turning pro while playing at the University of Tampa, Syring works for a medical employment recruiting company in Tampa. Syring said he still plays, but maybe no more than three times a month in the last three months.

As for the two double eagles, Syring says he hopes he doesn’t make one the next time he plays.

“Who would believe that?” he laughed.

Despite making the two double eagles, Syring says there is something still missing on his golf resume.

“I would trade one of (the double eagles) for a hole-in-one,” he said.

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I escaped Alcatraz with a birdie and other tales from playing 36 at PGA West after the American Express

Adam Schupak took on Pete Dye’s famously difficult Desert layout a day after pros played the American Express and lived to tell about it.

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Patrick Cantlay has nothing on me.

Sure, he shattered the course record at PGA West’s Pete Dye Stadium Course on Sunday, shooting an 11-under 61, and I made my 61st stroke on my approach to 14, but at Alcatraz, the course’s infamous par 3, he hit a safe but unspectacular shot to 34 feet and made par. Yours truly? Well, I thought you’d never ask. Stuck it to four feet and rolled in the birdie putt less than 24 hours later. What Cantlay wouldn’t have given for that shot. One more birdie and he likely would have been in a playoff with American Express champion Si Woo Kim.

I woke up at Zero-Dark-30 on Monday morning for probably the earliest official tee time in my 40 years playing the game – 6:45 a.m. to be exact – and was first off the tee at PGA West. Same course, same hole locations, same slick greens. I’ve been fortunate to play several major championship sites the day after the pros, and there’s nothing more thrilling than playing under virtually the same conditions they faced (minus the pressure of a seven-figure winner’s check) and seeing if you can emulate their great shots just once or twice.

No disrespect to Cantlay or Kim, who shot a bogey-free 64 to clip Cantlay by a stroke, but no way either of them would have gone as low as they did had they been playing on Monday. The temperature was mid-40s, spitting rain and someone turned the fan from off to the high setting. It was as if Dye, who passed away just over a year ago, had whispered into Mother Nature’s ear and said, “Hey, can you do me a solid. I built the hardest course ever designed and these modern-day gladiators in Soft Spikes are playing video game golf on one of my masterpieces.”

Indeed, when Dye built his Stadium Course in the desert and the pros played it for the first time in competition at the 1987, they pitched a fit like never before. Players signed a petition refusing to play there again. The PGA Tour is a “player-run” association, but this was the ultimate player mutiny. Unwilling to risk losing the Tom Watsons of the world from the field, the tournament relented and it took nearly 30 years for the course to return to the course rota at what is now formally known as the American Express.

The snow-capped Santa Rosa mountains loom in the distance at the par-4 ninth hole at PGA West’s Pete Dye Stadium Course (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

For the masochistic types like myself that want to see if this crazy game can bring us to our knees, being told that Dye’s course was too tough for the pros and had the highest course rating/slope in the country, made it all the more appealing. As golf writer Brian McCallen once wrote of Dye’s Stadium Course, “It’s a bermudagrass Colosseum with 18 hungry lions poised to devour out-of-towners.”

It was born in the 1980s in what today feels like a bygone era where hard equaled “must play.” It also didn’t hurt the course’s reputation that it hosted the Skins Game, including in 1987 when Lee Trevino made an ace at 17 and leaped into caddie Herman Mitchell’s arms in celebration. In other words, I’ve always wanted to play it.

Dye’s diabolical course has been softened over the years – maybe too much for the best players in the world – but it remains a great test for us mere mortals. I needed to sink a 10-foot comebacker at the first hole just to save bogey after underestimating the speed of the greens. At No. 2, I thought I hit a beautiful approach about 10 feet below the hole until the false front sent it rolling backwards off the green. My high-school buddy, Evan, laughed as he informed me that I was away. Fortunately, I made a good two putt or I might have been in need of therapy for the next six months.

These opening holes are just a warm up for the stretch from Nos. 5-7, which are outstanding. The fifth hole is a par 5 with water lining the left side off the tee and the right side on the second shot all the way to the green. Somehow neither of us lost a ball and we both made par. The challenge gets tougher at the par-3 sixth hole, a 244-yard hole from the tips over water with a bit of a bail out left. Named Amen, my prayers went unanswered as my 3-wood into the wind took a swim. That led to my only double bogey of the day.

If you haven’t puckered up yet, the par-4 seventh will send the fear of Dye, especially with the wind playing mind games with us. It is a short hole played over the same man-made lake as the sixth hole. I had 80 yards to the flag but with the hole located just a few steps on to the putting surface and with water guarding the front of the green it didn’t feel like I could attack – I used caution and settled for par.

Hole after hole the flags were tucked just over a bunker, near a watery grave (back left on 13) or no more than four paces from an edge. Dye was a master illusionist and he often points you at a hazard rather than a safe landing area.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak tried to take bite out of one of PGA’s West most devilish holes and lived to tell about it.

The similarities in strategy and layout to the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, home of the Players Championship, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, are uncanny. On the back nine, the par of each hole is the same at both course. Both have water left on the par-3 13th and end with three of the best holes you’ll ever play. The par-5 16th at PGA West is called San Andreas Fault for its 19-foot deep bunker. As the story goes, when developer Ernie Vossler, a former Tour player, got his first look at the two-story high bunker nearly surrounding the left side of the green, he declared that Dye had gone too far and demanded he make the crater less penal. Dye refused to give in, so they made a bet. If Dye could splash out within 10 feet of the hole in three attempts, the cavernous bunker would remain as is. Dye needed just one attempt, lofting a shot to two feet. I managed to avoid hitting into the bunker but ventured down into the sand for giggles to see if I could match Dye’s efforts to clear the steep slope. After three attempts rolled back to my feet, I conceded as former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill had done years before in the pro-am, eventually throwing his ball out.

Playing to the 15th green at the Nicklaus Tournament Course is the quintessential risk-reward challenge. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

And then the hole we’d been waiting for all day. Alcatraz is a desert version of Dye’s famous island green. This one plays downhill to a green surrounded by jagged rocks and water. The pros played it from 146 yards on Sunday – c’mon, let’s see these guys sweat from the back tee at 168 yards on payday – so that’s where I took dead aim and planted my 9-iron four feet from the hole. (Did I mention that yet?) It was my only birdie of the day, but if there’s only going to be one that’s the one you want to do it on.

No. 18 is almost a replica of the finishing hole at TPC Sawgrass. One more rugged challenge before you get to add them up and weep. I made a pretty nifty up and down to post 7-under 79. That’s a good day for this 6 handicap with a fragile game and psyche to match. Plus, I beat Russell Knox’s prediction. After he shot 64 on Saturday, I asked him what a player of my caliber would score on Monday under tournament condition and he said mid-80s.

“It’s not an easy golf course if you don’t hit it where you’re looking,” he said.

It wasn’t even 10:30 a.m., the liquid sunshine had stopped and it was warming up so we took on the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West, which the pros played during one of the first two rounds. The Jack Nicklaus design felt like the equivalent to the Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass: it’s a really good golf course in its own right, but it’s not the Stadium Course. It’s like being Gal Gadot’s sister. She’s not Wonder Woman.

The Nicklaus Tournament Course typically surrenders lower scores but the putting surfaces were re-done last year and firm greens mitigated some of the difference in scoring this year. It’s a bit more playable, especially off the tee, but there still are some potentially penal forced carries over water at par-3s and a peninsula green at the par-5 15th that makes for a great risk-reward hole. The finishing holes on both sides share a green and a lake that can ruin a good round. I deposited a sleeve at 18, which was good because my bag was going to be over the weight limit. At least that’s what I told myself afterwards.

I’m still not sure how Patrick Cantlay and Si Woo Kim shot their rounds on Sunday, but I sure enjoyed trying to match them.

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Phil Mickelson: ‘If I don’t play well early on, I’ll start to re-evaluate’ future on PGA Tour

Ahead of the American Express, Phil Mickelson says: “What’s fun for me is competing, getting in contention and trying to win tournaments.”

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Frannie and Steve Lay were on their late-morning walk around the block when Phil Mickelson crossed the street from the 10th green at PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course and walked right in front of them on the way to the 11th tee.

There are no spectators allowed this week at the American Express due to COVID-19, but the two courses being used this year – PGA West’s Stadium Course is the other – are lined by homes and homeowners like the Lays, who said they had allowed South Korea’s Sungjae Im to use their bathroom a day earlier. This, however, was Mickelson, 50, the winner of 44 PGA Tour titles including five majors, and one of golf’s biggest draws for going on three decades. Like a schoolgirl seeing her celebrity crush, Frannie Lay squealed, “What timing! He’s my favorite.”

As Mickelson teed off, a third passerby stopped to applaud and exclaimed, “Looks like a bomb.”

Mickelson is still attempting to hit his patented “bombs,” as he refers to them, and is making his 18th start at the AmEx this week as the tournament host and ambassador, where a win would make him the winningest Tour player in the state of California. (He’s currently tied with Tiger Woods at 14.)

During an abbreviated 2019-20 season, Mickelson threatened to win a couple times on the PGA Tour, but was a disappointing non-factor in the majors. After turning 50 in June, he blitzed the field, winning twice in two starts on the PGA Tour Champions. It has Mickelson thinking about dabbling more and more on the senior circuit while still motivated to make more history against the best players in the world. Only seven players have won after age 50 on the PGA Tour, and the oldest player to win a major is Julius Boros at age 48.

Phil Mickelson
Frannie and Steve Lay watch Phil Mickelson at PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course in La Quinta, California, ahead of the 2021 American Express. Photo by Adam Schupak/Golfweek

“I’m excited to start the year and see if I’m able to continue playing at the highest level. If I am, I’m going to really try to play more events on the PGA Tour and make a push hopefully for the Ryder Cup,” he said. “But if I don’t play well early on, I’ll start to re-evaluate things and maybe play a few more events on the Champions tour because what’s fun for me is competing, getting in contention and trying to win tournaments.”

As a testament to Mickelson’s longevity, this month marks the 30-year anniversary of Mickelson’s first Tour title, when he captured the now-defunct Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Arizona, as an amateur. Former Masters champion turned golf commentator Trevor Immelman watched part of Mickelson’s practice round, and marveled at how he appears to be in the best shape of his life.

AMERICAN EXPRESS: Tee times, TV info | Field by the rankings

“It fascinates me how he keeps the fire burning after being at the sport for so long,” Immelman said. “It just doesn’t happen in sports. It takes a tremendous toll physically, mentally and emotionally, to stay in the spotlight for that long.”

Mickelson’s desire continues to burn bright and his work ethic remains intact.

“I find myself just internally motivated because of my love to compete and my love to try to bring out the best in me,” he said. “It’s the ability to play and compete against the best in the world that gets me in the gym every morning at 6 or 7, that gets me on the range working on my game, on the putting green working on my putting. That challenge of trying to play and compete against the best is what really drives me, and so I need to have that or else I feel I might get complacent.”

This week, Mickelson will be without his brother, Tim, who handles his caddie duties but is instead at home with his wife awaiting the birth of their first child.

“I just know that the birth of your first is the most emotional experience that you could possibly share and there’s no sense to take any risk,” said Mickelson, who has his instructor, Andrew Getson, filling in. “So he’s at home with his wife, they’re due any minute, any day, and I’m excited for them.”

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