Good afternoon! Welcome to Shanks. The west coast swing for the PGA Tour is officially underway. So, we will get to see the pros play at PGA West, Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach, TPC Scottsdale, and Riviera over the next few weeks. Not a bad lineup of courses.

Golf Trivia: In the last 20 years of The Amex, only one winner has failed to crack 20-under. Who was it?

Here's what we've got for ya today:

• Doin Lines: The American Express

• LIV CEO Accused Of Kidnapping

• Poetry In Motion: Ben Hogan

• Shots Heard Round The World

• Thing We’d Buy If We Weren’t Broke

Doin Lines: The American Express

🚩 Location: La Quinta CC, Nicklaus Course at PGA West & Pete Dye Stadium Course. Yes, they play this one on three different courses, in case you forgot.

💰 Purse: $8.4M -$1.5M to first.

👑 Previous Winner: Jon Rahm

👀 Watch On: Golf Channel, ESPN+

The Amex Field and How To Watch

The Tour has officially begun it’s west coast swing with a full field in SoCal.

And forecasts are calling for a birdie-fest this weekend.

Not one of the three courses could be considered long (none longer than 7200 yards) and in the last 20 years, only once has a winner not been better than twenty-under par. Usually, scores fall somewhere between 20 to 30-under.

The best in the field:

Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Tom Kim, Will Zalatoris, Sungjae Im, Rickie Fowler, Min Woo Lee, and Jason Day.

View Full Field and Tee Times Here.

How To Watch

Thursday, January 12: 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday, January 13: 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday, January 14: 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Sunday, January 15: 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Previous Winners 

2020 – Andrew Landry

2021 – Si Woo Kim

2022 – Hudson Swafford

2023 - Jon Rahm

Shanks Picks

We are determined to write some wrongs this week by doubling down on JT Poston to finish in the top five. The golf gods owe us, right?

Beyond that, we are looking at the guys who aren’t coming in cold and playing their first tourney of the year, with one exception.

Winner: Jason Day +3300

We like this number for JDay. He got off to a good start with a top-ten at The Sentry and last year he finished in 18th at the Amex. Let’s see if he can build on the career comeback he mounted last season and get Malbon gear in the winners circle.

Top Five: JT Poston +650

You already know this is about righting wrongs, but also the dude can flat out putt and that skill will come in handy during a week where you don’t need length.

Top Ten: Justin Thomas +350

There’s no logical reason to do this based on how last year went, but I think JT bounces back in 2024 and this is his first opportunity to do it.

Top Twenty: Billy Horschel +275

After picking Corey Conners at pretty short odds the last two weeks and getting burned, we are going with Billy here, who’s history at this event isn’t actually that good, but his motivation is at an all time high following a disastrous 2023.

Longshot: Keith Mitchell +8000

In the handful of times we picked Cashmere Keith last year, he kind of let us down, but his game is so good in so many areas that I convince myself he’s due. He was T-30 last week in Hawaii.

Make The Cut Parlay: Wynham Clark, Si Woo Kim, and Chris Kirk +170.

New Offer From BetMGM

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LIV CEO Accused Of Kidnapping

According to a report from The Athletic, Yassir Al-Rumayyan is being accused of “having carried out the instructions” of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with “malicious intent”.

Okay, got it. Who’s making these accusations?

So there’s this dude named Dr. Saad Aljabri, who was a former intelligence officer in Saudi Arabia, who defected and fled to Canada.

He is the one bringing the suit.

Why?

The Saudis have jailed two of his children, neither had the chance to defend themselves at trial, and the family has not seen or heard from them since their imprisonment.

The Aljabri family believes that Yassir, at the behest of the crown prince, arrested his children as retribution for his decision to defect. But there’s more…

According to The Athletic report, “These include taking steps to orchestrate an alleged campaign which include ‘wrongful kidnapping and detention,’ ‘misappropriation of property’ and the ‘expropriation’ of companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars into PIF hands,”

Shanks Says: Whom amongst us hasn’t been accused of a little light kidnapping? Probably just a misunderstanding, right? The Saudis are good guys. They only want to turn golf into a global game for the good of mankind.

Wrong. These people are absolute dictatorial scum and they should have nothing to do with the world of professional golf.

Oh, did we mention that Jay Monahan was in Saudi Arabia to meet with Yassir yesterday when all this news broke?

He hasn’t done a great job as Tour CEO, but hopefully he makes it back to the USA in one piece instead of many.

I tweeted Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood and asked them for comment, but I didn’t get any replies. Of course, they aren’t allowed to comment even if they wanted to. Free speech isn’t real popular in Saudi Arabia.

Poetry In Motion

Shots Heard Round The World

RORY JUST KEEPS ON TALKING ABOUT A GLOBAL TOUR

SERGIO GARCIA DOESN’T LIKE RORY’S IDEAS

ESPN BET HAS 300 YEAR OLD TOM KITE AT 25/1

IAN POULTER CALLS OUT HIS ENEMIES

HERE ARE THE RICH DUDES THAT MIGHT BE BUYING PRO GOLF

Thing We'd Buy If We Weren't Broke

The US Open at Pinehurst doesn’t happen until June 13! So why do we bring it up? Well, Footjoy has already decided to release their 2024 US Open Golf line and we applaud the initiative. Let’s highlight a few of our favorites

2024 US Open Script Bucket Hat - $35 which is available in navy.

2024 US Open Lisle Pinecone Print Self Collar – $90 which is a bit steep for the price of any collared shirt, but it would go nicely with the previous mentioned hat!

2024 US Open Icon Hoodie - $115 which has the same logo as the hat but comes in a striking light blue.

Check out the full 2024 US Open Apparel lineup on the Footjoy website!

Trivia Answer: Charley Hoffman, 2007. He won at -17.

That’s all folks! See you Saturday Morning.