GORDON SEAY PHOTO
By TOM LaMARRE
The PGA Tour has wrapped up the West Coast Swing and is heading South of the border for the eighth event of the season before moving on to Florida.
The 70th version of the Mexico Open at Vidanta will be played beginning Thursday at Vidanta Vallarta Golf Club, which plays along the Ameca River and provides scenic views of the Sierra Madre Mountains from every hole, in Nuevo Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.
This is only the third season the Mexico Open has been part of the PGA Tour, with Jon Rahm of Spain winning the first one in 2022 by one stroke over Tony Finau (pictured), who reversed that when he defeated Rahm by three shots last year.
This is the fourth time this season that the third-ranked Rahm has been unable to play in a tournament that he won in recent because he has been suspended by the PGA Tour for taking a huge bonus to join LIV Golf.
“There’s definitely different feelings coming back to a golf course that you’ve had success,” said Finau, who has won six times on the PGA Tour. “Once you get on the golf course, you know it’s a course that you’ve had success and you’ve won before, so you definitely have that sense of confidence I think walking around a place that you’ve won before. Hopefully, that’s the case this week.
“This golf course is high on my list as far as courses that look good to me and that I like, so I’ll be looking to definitely get after it again this week and try to defend this title.”
While their nine players from the top 10 in the World Golf Rankings playing in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades last week, there are none in the field in Mexico.
However, their still is a solid cast, including Finau, Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark, Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, Taylor Pendrith of Canada, Thomas Detry of Belgium, Charley Hoffman of Poway, Cameron Champ of Sacramento, Scott Stallings, Ryan Fox of New Zealand; Eric van Rooyen, South Africa; Maverick McNealy of Portola Valley and Stanford, Stephan Jaeger of Germany, Keith Mitchell, Patrick Rodgers of Stanford, Aaron Rai of England, Mackenzie Hughes of Canada, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Thorbjorn Oleson of Denmark.
After this week, the PGA Tour moves to Florida for four tournaments, including The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach in four week, and the first major of the season, the Masters, is only eight weeks away.
BEST BETS
1. Tony Finau, United States
2. Nicolai Hojgaard, Denmark
3. Emiliano Grillo, Argentina
4. Maverick McNealy, United States
5. Taylor Pendrith, Canada
6. Keith Mitchell, United States
7. Stephan Jaeger, Germany
8. Thorbjorn Oleson, Denmark
9. Ryan Fox, New Zealand
10. Erik van Rooyen, South Africa
OTHER PLAYERS TO WATCH: Mark Hubbard, United States; Aaron Rai, England; Cameron Champ, United States; Ryo Hisatune, Japan; Patrick Rodgers, United States; Brandon Wu, United States; Charley Hoffman, United States; Mackenzie Hughes, Canada; Ryan Palmer, United States; Victor Perez, France.
SLEEPERS
1. Parker Coody, United States
2. Jorge Campillo, Spain
3. Joe Highsmith, United States
4. Jacob Bridgeman, United States
5. Raul Pereda, Mexico
For first-round tee times and results once the tournament starts, visit: https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard
