The Mexico Open
Preview for the Mexico Open: This is just the 2nd year that the PGA Tour features the Mexico Open on its schedule. This tournament has been around since 1944, and Al Espinosa won the first edition. The PGA Tour record score at this venue is held by the only winner here, Jon Rahm in 2022, shooting a -17 to beat three others by a single stroke. Winners of the Mexico Open over the past five years includes just the aforementioned Jon Rahm in 2022.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $7.7M, the winner collects $1.386M, and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Vidanta Vallarta is 7,456 yards in length, is a par 71, and the greens are paspalum. The winning score at the Mexico Open over the past decade ranges from -7 to -23, but again, the only PGA Tour score we have so far is -17 from Jon Rahm last season. In order, some core key stats to focus on this week include strokes gained: approach, strokes gained: tee to green, strokes gained: total, driving distance, and driving accuracy percentage.
The 2023 Mexico Open field: We got 144 players in the field for this week, and the top 65 players plus ties after round 2 will advance to round 3 on Saturday and round 4 on Sunday. The field includes Jon Rahm, Tony Finau, and a slew of others but no other stars. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a C+.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of this article’s data, predictions, and insights to help with your fantasy golf picks for the Mexico Open. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the Mexico Open this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Byeong Hun An, Gary Woodland, Patrick Rodgers, Ben Martin, Eric Cole, Aaron Rai, and Nicolai Hojgaard.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Gary Woodland, Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Matt Wallace, Ben Martin, Stephan Jaeger, Aaron Rai, Nicolai Hojgaard, and Joseph Bramlett.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 8 rounds) at this event since 2018? Since we’ve only had one edition, I can only include the top gainers from 2022. These players include Jon Rahm, Brandon Wu, Tony Finau, Alex Smalley, Cameron Champ, David Lipsky, Patrick Rodgers, Martin Trainer, Nate Lashley, and Chez Reavie.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $12.0K) – Rahm is the clear-cut favorite this week and it’s not even close – he offers a lot of value at $12K since he’s exponentially better than most of the players in this field. He’s coming off the massive Masters win two starts ago, and already has four wins in 2023. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Won.
Wyndham Clark (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – He’s on a great run right now with three top 6’s in his last four starts if you include the Zurich Classic last week, and it’s because his ball-striking is excellent. Expect him to finish a lot higher than his T67 from last year given he’s on a much better trajectory now and is likely playing the best golf of his career. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T67.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $10.7K) – He had a co-runner-up finish here last year, and despite not being in tip-top shape since earlier this year, he’s still the 2nd best player in this field and his approach play is in great shape also. His worst finish this year is a T31, so he’s not doing all that bad by any means. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T2.
Patrick Rodgers (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K) – Rodgers has been playing fairly well over his last two starts with a 5th at the Texas Open earlier this month and a T19 at the RBC Heritage a couple of weeks ago. He has gained more than 14 strokes combined in the ball-striking category over his last two starts, and had a top 10 here a year ago which is another positive working in his favor. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T10.
Byeong Hun An (Salary: DraftKings – $9.1K) – He has been a consistent performer since late last Summer, had a T6 two starts ago at the Texas Open gaining 9.13 strokes ball-striking, and is coming off a T13 at the Zurich Classic with his partner. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Ben Martin (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – Martin had a solid stretch of golf from early February up until two weeks ago with three top 10’s in seven starts including a T5 at The Honda Classic. His ball-striking has been spot on and his short game has been above average. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut.
MJ Daffue (Salary: DraftKings – $8.0K) – He has played weekend golf in 7 straight starts, including the Zurich Classic, and has five top 29’s in his last six starts. His putter has been roasting lately and has gained ball-striking strokes over his last four measured starts, including a 6.14 at The Honda Classic. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Chez Reavie (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – Reavie was ice cold not too long ago missing six consecutive cut lines, but he has turned things around over his last two starts with a T6 at the Texas Open and a T11 at the RBC Heritage in a solid field. He narrowly missed out on a top 10 here last year, so he’s an attractive target this week. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T13.
Vincent Norrman (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – He’s starting to make a name for himself on the PGA Tour with two top 16’s over his last three starts and three top 21’s over his last five starts if you include him and his partner’s T9 from last week’s Zurich Classic. We don’t have any strokes gained data for those three events though, so it’s hard to know how he locked down those solid finishes but I still like him this week regardless. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Augusto Nunez (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – With only one missed cut over his last seven starts and three top 37’s over his last four starts, Nunez has some appeal to me this week. He may be worth throwing into a lineup for a stars and scrubs configuration, but don’t be overweight on him. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Sean O’Hair (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – I can’t recall the last time I recommended O’Hair but he caught my attention as he has made four cuts in a row, had a T7 at the Zurich Classic last week, and a T19 at the Valspar Championship three starts ago. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Martin Trainer (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – I like that he had a T11 here last year, and has back-to-back top 22’s including a T9 at the Zurich Classic last week. He’s likely my favorite $6K DK player this week, so he’s worth a look. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T11.
Henrik Norlander (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – It looks like Norlander is starting to right the ship with four straight cut lines made after missing three in a row, and two of those have gone for top 22’s. He should be good for a top 30 this week, but certainly don’t quote me on it. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: None.
Aaron Rai (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – I like what Rai brings to the table this week as he consistently makes cuts and has three top 28’s over his last four starts including a T19 at THE PLAYERS Championship where he gained 6.12 strokes ball-striking. He had a decent finish here last year and should finish as good or better this time, too. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T24.
SH Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $8.2K) – You can count on Kim to play all four rounds this week and he does have two straight top 15’s if you count the Zurich Classic last week. Mexico Open finishes over the last five years: None.
