Davis Riley and Nick Hardy won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans finishing two strokes ahead of Beau Hossler and Wyndham Clark. Heavy favorites, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele finished T4.
We now head to Vidanta Vallarta resort for the second edition of the Mexico Open. This week’s field is extremely weak despite World No.1 Jon Rahm being in the mix. He’s the defending champion of this event and will look for his fifth PGA Tour victory this season.
- Dates: April 27th, 2023 – April 30th, 2023
- Location: Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
- Course: The Norman Course at Vidanta Vallarta
- Course Type: Coastal
- Par: 71 (5x 3’s / 9x 4’s / 4x 5’s)
- Length: 7,456 yards
- Format: 72-hole stroke play
- Greens: Paspalum
- Fairways: Paspalum
- Rough: Paspalum 2″
- Bunkers: 106
- Water Hazard(s): – (In-Play on 13 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 7,000 sq. ft.
- Stimpmeter: 11-11.5 ft.
- Purse/ Winner: $7,700,000/ $1,400,000
- FedEx Cup Points: 500
- Field/ Cut: 144 Pros | Top 65 and Ties – 36 Holes
- Historic Cut Line:
- 2022: -1
- Course Scoring Average:
- 2022: 70.32 (-0.68), Rank 24 of 50
Course Architect:
- Course Architect: Greg Norman (2015)
Comparable Courses & Greens:
- Comparable Courses:
- Designer Link (Greg Norman):
- TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course) – Valero Texas Open
- Comparable Location (Mexico):
- El Camaleón – Riviera Maya, Mexico – WWT Championship at Mayakoba
- Comparable Yardage (7,456 Yards):
- The Country Club of Jackson – 7,461 Yards – Sanderson Farms Championship
- Bay Hill Club & Lodge – 7,466 Yards – Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Comparable Greens (Paspalum):
- Grand Reserve Golf Club – Sea Dwarf Paspalum – Puerto Rico Open
- Corales Golf Course – Supreme paspalum .100” – Corales Puntacana Championship
- Comparable Average Green Size (7,000 sq. ft.):
- El Camaleón – 7,000 sq. ft. – WWT Championship at Mayakoba
- PGA National Resort (The Champion) – 7,000 sq. ft. – The Honda Classic
- Memorial Park Golf Course – 7,000 sq. ft. – Cadence Bank Houston Open
TV Information:
- Round 1: Thursday, April 27th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM ET
- Round 2: Friday, April 28th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM ET
- Round 3: Saturday, April 29th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 1:00 PM -3:00 PM ET
- CBS – 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET
- Round 4: Sunday, April 30th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 1:00 PM -3:00 PM ET
- CBS – 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET
- Thursday: Sunny 85 F, 12 mp/h WSW, 54% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Friday: Sunny 85 F, 12 mp/h WSW, 53% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Saturday: Mostly Sunny 84 F, 12 mp/h WSW, 50% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Sunday: Partly Cloudy 83 F, 11 mp/h SW, 54% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
Course/ Tournament History:
The PGA Tour heads to Vidanta Vallarta resort for the second edition of the Mexico Open. Vidanta Vallarta is a resort that has multiple courses, but we’ll be focusing on The Norman Signature Course. Greg Norman designed the course in 2015. It’s located near the shore of the Pacific Ocean with the Ameca River running through several holes. A fun fact about this track is that it’s only accessible via the world’s longest golf cart suspension bridge.
- 72-Hole Record:
- 267, Jon Rahm (2022)
- 18-Hole Record:
- 63, Tony Finau (Round 4, 2022), Brandon Wu (Round 4, 2022)
Course Guide/ Scorecard:
In terms of length, the Norman Course at Vidanta Vallarta is one of the longest courses on Tour measuring 7,456 yards. It ranks 6th out of 46 courses in length. The fairways are on the wider side, ranking 6th of 46, with the average fairway width being 40.4 yards. The average green size is roughly 7,000 square feet which is on the larger side when compared to the other courses on the PGA Tour. One of the main defenses of the course is the copious amounts of bunkers (106) which ranks as the 3rd most of the 46 courses. In addition to the sand traps, the wind coming off the Pacific will also be a factor.
The five par 3’s range between 170 yards and 226 yards. Four of the five played over par last year with the lone exception being No. 13.
Most of the nine Par 4’s range between 450-500 yards. No. 7 is the shortest listed at 293 yards with the longest being No. 4, playing 520 yards.
The four Par 5’s are No. 6, No. 12, No. 14, & No. 18. They all played under par last season, but are some of the longer par 5’s on Tour given their distance. Two of these par 5’s are over 600 yards.
Key Statistics:
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
- Driving Distance
- Par 3 Scoring: 150 – 175 Yards (x2)
- Par 4 Scoring: 450 – 500 Yards (x4)
- Par 5 Scoring: 600 – 650 Yards (x2)
- Proximity: 250+ Yards
- Strokes Gained: Putting (Paspalum)
- Comparable Courses and Event History
The Field/ Odds:
There will be 144 players in the field at this year’s Mexico Open. It’s an extremely weak field with only three of the world’s fifty players teeing it up. Here are the current favorites in this week’s event:
- Jon Rham (+260) is the defending champion of the Mexico Open at Vidanta. He’s already won four times this season, most recently at Augusta National. In addition to those victories, Rahm has four top 10-finishes. He’s also yet to miss a cut this season.
- Tony Finau (+750) finished T2 at this event last season. His last victory on Tour was earlier this season at the Cadence Bank Houston Open. Since then, he has yet to finish worse than T31 in his last eleven starts on the PGA Tour.
- Wyndham Clark (+1800) played in this event last finishing T67. He lost strokes in every category besides on approach. Clark made the cut in every event after missing back-to-back cuts at the Sanderson Farms Championship and Shriner’s Children’s Open. During that span, he has seven top-20 finishes and has yet to finish outside the top 50. In his last three solo starts, he has two top-10 finishes.
- Gary Woodland (+2500) finished T24 at the Mexico Open last year. He hasn’t had a ton of success this season with only three top-20 finishes in his fourteen starts. Woodland has only gained strokes on the green in three of those starts. However, he did gain strokes putting in his last two events (RBC Heritage & the Masters).
- Previous Winners in the Field:
- Jon Rahm (’22)
- Notable Withdraws:
- Nick Hardy (Undisclosed), Davis Riley (Undisclosed), Ryan Brehm (Undisclosed)
To see the most up-to-date odds, you can click the following link.
To see the full field for this event, you can click the following link.
Horses for Courses:
(Only using data from the 2022 Mexico Open held at Vidanta Vallarta)
- Jon Rahm: 1
- Brandon Wu: T2
- Tony Finau: T2
Davis Riley: 5- Alex Smalley: T6
- Cameron Champ: T6
- David Lipsky: T6
- Patrick Rodgers: 10
Donkeys for Courses:
“Horses for Courses” is a phrase that is widely used and describes the best course/tournament fits. These are the players that have had success at the particular course/event. “Donkeys for Courses” is something I came up with that highlights the players who have struggled at a specific course/tournament.
(Only using data from the 2022 Mexico Open held at Vidanta Vallarta)
- Max McGreevy: MC
- Ben Martin: MC
- Andrew Putnam: MC
- Dylan Wu: MC
- Joseph Bramlett: MC
- Kevin Tway: MC
- Ryan Armour: MC
Previous Winners Scores & Prices:
- 2022: Jon Rahm (-17)
- Price: 9-2
Picks (Outrights):
No outrights this week, I don’t love the market especially as I can see Jon Rahm running away with this event. There are also markets without Rahm and Finau this week but I’m going to stay away from that as well.
Total Risk on Outrights: 0.00 Units
Picks (Top 20):
- Gary Woodland (+125) – FanDuel
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.25 Units
- Nicolai Hojgaard (+155) – FanDuel
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.55 Units
Total Risk on Top 20s: 2.00 Units
Picks (Top 40):
- MJ Daffue (+125) – FanDuel
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.25 Units
- Dylan Wu (+135) – FanDuel
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.10 Units
Total Risk on Top 40s: 2.00 Units
Total Risk on the Mexico Open: 4.00 Units
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting. Any feedback whether positive or negative is always encouraged.
