The PGA TOUR is leaving California for a stop in Mexico. The Mexico Open tees off on Thursday at VidantaWorld in Vallarta, Mexico.
Mexico Open
The Mexico Open will be played at VidantaWorld in Vallarta for the fourth straight season. VidantaWorld is a Greg Norman-designed par 71 golf course and ranges 7,456 yards. The Mexico Open field is lacking most of the top players on Tour but is a great showcase for some of the players who don’t make the field in the Signature Events. There is a field of 132 golfers, with a standard cut before the weekend. The Mexico Open has manageable rough and attackable Par 4s, so the biggest hitters typically thrive on this course. Recent winners include some of the world’s biggest hitters Tony Finau and Jon Rahm. There are typically very low scores at this tournament, so birdies will be plentiful all week.
Here is a look at my two picks to lead after the first round of the Mexico Open:
Patrick Rodgers FRL +4000
Patrick Rodgers had a fantastic tournament last week at the Genesis Open. He was the leader heading into Sunday but couldn’t hold off Ludvig Aberg, which is nothing to scoff at. Rodgers ended up finishing T-3 in a very competitive field and should be feeling great heading into this week with a much weaker field. Rodgers also has had great success at the Mexico Open in his career. In all three of his career starts at VidantaWorld, Rodgers shot a four-day score of 271, the equivalent of 13-under-par for the tournament. All three times that was good enough for a top-10 finish, including a sixth-place finish last season. Rodgers is by far the best in the field when it comes to course history over the past 12 rounds, with 2.25 strokes gained. If Rodgers can carry over that momentum from last week, he could easily go low on Thursday.
Aldrich Potgieter FRL +6000
Aldrich Potgieter is one of the most exciting young players on Tour. Potgieter is only 20 years old and this is his rookie year on the PGA TOUR. This course is set up similarly to where Potgieter had his only professional win, the Korn Ferry Tour in The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. He has also proven that he can contend with solid PGA TOUR fields already, finishing T-15 at the Farmers Insurance Open a couple of weeks ago. Potgieter is a bomber and at just 20 years old, he is already one of the longest hitters on Tour. In fact, he ranks first on Tour in driving distance and second in strokes gained off the tee this season. Potgieter’s short game is not yet up to the level of top PGA TOUR players but at VidantaWorld, that isn’t a big deal. The rough is really manageable and the greens are quite simple. If Potgieter can drive some greens on the Par 4s and have wedges into the Par 5s, he could easily go low enough to lead after the first round.
