The PGA Tour will travel across the border for the Mexico Open at Vidanta. The tournament debuted on the PGA Tour schedule in 2022. The field for the first two Mexico Opens consisted of Jon Rahm and a bunch of golfers ranked outside the top-50 of the World Golf Rankings. Last year it was Tony Finau and a bunch of scrubs. The field this week does not consist of any golfers ranked in the top-25 of the World Golf Rankings. This tournament is wide open this week. It is like a Superspeedway race in NASCAR….. Anyone can win and that is going to make it a bit tougher for our DFS lineups to cash.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
The tournament will be played at the Greg Norman Signature course at Vidanta Vallarta Resort. (Yes, Mr. LIV Golf, Greg Norman) This is a new course that just opened in 2016. It is located between the Ameca River and the Sierra Madre Mountains. The course plays as a par-73 for members, but two of the par-5s have been converted to par-4s to make the course a par-71 for the field this week. The course will play 7,485 yards in length and the grass in the fairways and greens will be paspalum (not a type of grass the PGA Tour usually sees on its schedule). This grass is “sticky” and it usually does not allow a lot of roll-out on the golfer’s drives.
The bombers dominated this event last year and I expect the same this week. The par 3’s are long and so are the par 5’s. 35% of the approach shots averaged over 200-yards last year. That is double the PGA Tour average. I want golfers who bomb it off the tee, are good with their long irons, rank high in Birdie or Better % and rank highly in the comparable courses.
Click here to see the course: Vidanta Vallarta Resort Golf Club
KEY STATS FOR THE MEXICO OPEN
– Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee
– Stroke Gained Approach 200+ Yards
– Distance Off-the-Tee
– Birdie or Better %
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
TOP 30 GOLFER RANKINGS
CORE GOLFERS FOR MEXICO OPEN
MEXICO OPEN STRATEGY
I will have two strategies for my Cash Contest lineups this week. Akshay Bhatia is clearly the best golfer in this field and this tournament has had a history of the top golfer holding the trophy on Sunday (Jon Rahm 2022 and Tony Finau 2023). I will build some lineups with Bhatia, three golfers from the $8K price range and two golfers from the lower $7K price range. The lineups will look something like this: AKSHAY BHATIA ($10,700), JAKE KNAPP ($8,600), NICOLAI HOJGAARD ($8,100), GREYSON SIGG ($8,000), ANTOINE ROZNER ($7,300), ALDRICH POTGIETER ($7,300).
My other strategy for Cash Contest lineups will be to use a “stars and scrubs” approach. I will fade Akshay Bhatia (He will be over 50% owned in Cash Contests) and play two high upside golfers from the $9K price range, two golfers from the $8K price range and two golfers from the $7K price range. My lineup using this strategy is listed below.
My strategy for Tournament Contests this week will be to select five golfers from the $10K and $9K price range and try to be overweight vs. the field with them. Then I will sprinkle in a lot of golfers from the $7K and just a few from the $6K price range. Hopefully the highest priced golfers I selected finish in the top-five and some of the $7K golfers hit this week. That has typically been the winning combination in this tournament.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
SSTEPHAN JAEGER ($9,600): I will have many Cash Contest lineups that start with Akshay Bhatia, but this lineup gives me a bit more firepower at the top. Jaeger is a horse for the course and he enters in pretty good form. He finished 3rd (last year), 18th (2023) and 15th (2022) in his three Mexico Opens. He just finished 44th at the Genesis and 40th at Pebble Beach (Signature Events). Jaeger should have a good chance to win Sunday.
PATRICK RODGERS ($9,500): The narrative with Rodgers in Fantasy Golf is to play him on the west coast and then fade him the rest of the season. For some reason, Rodgers always shows up near the top of the leaderboard in California and Mexico. He finished 6th (last year), 10th (2023) and 10th (2022) in the Mexico Open. Rodgers is coming off a third-place finish last week at the Genesis Invitational. This is one of the best tournaments for Rodegers so I will have a lot of shares of him this week.
NICOLAI HOJGAARD ($8,100): I will be playing both Hojgaard brothers this week. I actually like stacking them in tournament contests because they are essentially the same player. We a get huge discount with Nicolai; so he gets a spot in my Cash Contest lineup. Hojgaard has made every cut this year on the PGA Tour and the World Tour. He has also made every cut in the Mexico Open. He has a high floor and a high ceiling this week and that makes Hojgaard the perfect golfer for the Cash Contest lineup.
GREYSON SIGG ($8,000): Sigg checks all of the boxes this week. He has made every cut at the Mexico Open, including top-20 finishes the last two seasons. His form is good too. Sigg just finished 9th at the Farmers Insurance Open and 32nd at the Waste Management Open. He ranks No. 15 in the Key Stats, so all signs point to a top-15 finish from Sigg in Mexico.
CARSON YOUNG ($7,700): Young is another course horse at Vidanta Vallarta Resort. He finished 8th (last year) and 15th (2023) in his two trips to the Mexico Open. Young also finished 29th in the American Express and 57th in the Waste Management Open. He ranks No. 7 in the field in SG Putting, so the flat-stick should keep Young in contention this week.
MATTEO MANASSERO ($7,100): I am going to play a golfer who I doubt will have much ownership in Cash Contests this week. Manaseero has been playing really well on the DP World Tour. He is skipping the Kenya Open on the DP World Tour this week to play in Mexico. Manassero has had a lot of success in that tournament, so he must think he can play well in Mexico to skip one of his better tournaments. Manassero finished 43rd at the American Express and 25th at the Farmers Insurance Open. He ranks No. 33 in the Key Stats, so I will take a chance with Manassero in Mexico.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST
AKSHAY BHATIA ($10,700): Bhatia is the best player in the field this week. He should win if he brings his A-game to the course. Bhatia should finish in the top-10 in he brings his B-game to the course. Bhatia has made every cut this year and that includes a ninth-place finish last week at the Genesis Invitational. I will pay up for Bhatia this week and hope he can win as the favorite, just like Jon Rahm and Tony Finau did over the last three seasons.
TAYLOR MOORE ($9,000): Moore has been playing good golf this year. He has made every cut since the Sony Open in Hawaii. That includes a 7th-place finish at the American Express, 22nd-place finish at Pebble Beach and a 9th-place finish at the Waste Management Open. Moore ranks No. 2 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 11 in SG Approach and No. 2 in Scrambling. He also ranks No. 101 in SG Putting. If he can putt, he can win. Moore gained a stroke on the field last week with the flat-stick. I think he can do it again in Mexico.
JAKE KNAPP ($8,600): I paid $6,100 for Knapp last week and now I am paying $8,600 for him this week. That just feels weird. Knapp won this tournament last year. He has the Signature Event at Torrey Pines. I like his course history and he form, so Knapp gets a spot in the lineup this week.
ANTOINE ROZNER ($7,300): This will be the first trip to the Mexico Open for Rozner, so he does not have much course history. This tournament is pretty straight-forward. Golfers need to bomb it off-the-tee and sink some putts. That is something Rozner is good at. He finished 4th a couple of weeks ago at the Qatar Masters and 48th at the Farmers Insurance Open. Rozner is one of my favorite golfers from the DP World Tour in the field this week.
KRIS VENTURA ($7,300): Ventura has the game that should play well Vidanta Vallarta Resort. He ranks No. 11 in Distance Off-the-Tee and No. 2 in Shots Gained Approach 175+ Yards. Ventura should have no problem getting to the green. I just need him to put this week like he did at Torrey Pines a few weeks ago. Ventura finished 4th at the Farmers Insurance Open and he has the upside to finish in the top-10 Sunday.
VINCENT NORRMAN ($7,000): I need a cheap golfer at the bottom of my lineup who can make the cut. Norrman is that golfer. He has made every cut on the PGA Tour this year. He ranks No. 14 in Distance Off-the Tee and No. 2 in Greens in Regulation. These two stats keep Norrman in the field for four rounds. He finished 18th in the Mexico Open in 2023. I would not be surprised if Norman had a similar finish Sunday.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the seventh tournament in Segment 1. There are 10 tournaments in this segment, so use your golfers wisely this week. We need to save some of our top golfers for the last signature event (The Arnold Palmer)
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: AKSHAY BHATIA (MEXICO OPEN)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Collin Morikawa (17th), Tom Kim (44th), Patrick Cantlay (33rd), Jason Day (32nd), Sungjae Im (MC), Corey Conners (MC)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: PATRICK RODGERS (MEXICO OPEN)
– One & Done picks used so far this season: Taylor Pendrith (50th), Nick Taylor (25th), Collin Morikawa (17th), Jason Day (32nd), Russell Henley (10th), (Sungjae Im (3rd), Ben Griffin (15th), Nico Echavarria (29TH), Harris English (14TH), Beau Hossler (56TH), Tom Kim (MC), Keith Mitchell (MC), Ben Griffin (37th)
BEST BETS FOR MEXICO OPEN
PATRICK RODGERS (22-1)
TAYLOR MOORE (25-1)
STEPHAN JAEGER (28-1)
ALEX SMALLEY (35-1)
NICOLAS HOJGAARD (50-1)
MATTHIAS SCHMIDT (90-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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