An early look at the Mexico Open from Niall Lyons.
The third edition of the Mexico Open in Puerto Vallarta carries a purse of $8.1 million.
Mexico Open Field News
The Mexico Open Field has dropped, and there are some notable absentees, including former winner and runner-up last year Jon Rahm, who of course won't be taking part in Vidanta, as he has joined LIV Golf.
Tony Finau is the favourite and highest-ranked player in the field, while the other players in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings include Nicolai Hojgaard, Emiliano Grillo and Ryan Fox.
Will Zalatoris is listed to play in Vidanta and could be an interesting play if he can back up his performance at the Genesis Invitational, where he is currently 12 under par at the time of writing, trailing Patrick Cantlay.
With only two editions of this event we don't have a lot of history to fall back on but Jon Rahm and Finau have shared the top two positions for the past two years. Rahm was strong favourite on both occasions and it was evident the best players rose to the top.
What Rahm and Finau have in common is they both hit the ball a long way off the tee and with others in contention such as Kurt Kitayama and Cameron Champ we can safely assume the course lends itself to the longer hitters. The former, Kitayama, is not listed on the field for next weeks open.
It's clearly an opportunity for the better players in the game to land a victory and it'd be no surprise should the winner come from the top end of the market.
For Niall’s PGA Tour tips for this week’s event, click here.
His top selection for this week was Ludvig Aberg (tipped each-way at 22/1 on Sky Bet), who has played in 15 PGA Tour events before this week. He has recorded a victory at the RSM, two runner up finishes and a further three top 10s.
Mexico Open Course
Unlike Mayakoba, this course is at sea level so the shorter hitters have a larger bridge to gap. A par 71 measuring close to 7500 yards suggests this will be dominated by the bigger hitters once again.
With Paspalum fairways and greens a nod to form at Coco Beach and Corales could prove fruitful as well as results from San Antonio, another Norman designed course.
Rahm was the longest driver in the field when winning back in 2022 and the first and second last year both ranked in the top two for strokes gained off the tee. This is a course where length really pays and anyone who has prior form on Paspalum greens will be of particular interest.
Mexico Open Winners & Winning Score
- 2023 – Tony Finau (-24)
- 2022 – Jon Rahm (-17)
Mexico Open Stats
Here is a look at the key stats from the top five finishers in 2022 and 2023.
| 2023 Mexico Open | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Position | OTT | APP | ATG | T2G | PUTT | DD | DA | GIR | SCR |
| Finau | 1 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 2 |
| Rahm | 2 | 1 | 32 | 39 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 37 | 4 | 53 |
| Wu | 3 | 7 | 59 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 36 | 1 | 45 | 23 |
| Bhatia | 4 | 28 | 5 | 46 | 7 | 6 | 23 | 43 | 17 | 51 |
| Cole | 5 | 36 | 21 | 38 | 20 | 4 | 43 | 40 | 49 | 10 |
| Grillo | 5 | 49 | 1 | 65 | 10 | 9 | 32 | 19 | 4 | 53 |
| Smotherman | 5 | 37 | 7 | 21 | 4 | 24 | 51 | 40 | 31 | 2 |
| 2022 Mexico Open | ||||||||||
| Player | Position | OTT | APP | ATG | T2G | PUTT | DD | DA | GIR | SCR |
| Rahm | 1 | 2 | 30 | 22 | 3 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 7 | 17 |
| Finau | 2 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 60 | 38 | 47 | 1 | 31 |
| Kitayama | 2 | 11 | 18 | 39 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 21 | 11 | 57 |
| Wu | 2 | 7 | 8 | 70 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 7 |
| Riley | 5 | 15 | 68 | 28 | 43 | 1 | 13 | 39 | 35 | 24 |
