This week the PGA TOUR heads south of the border to VidantaWorld for the 2025 Mexico Open. It’s a vastly different field from last week’s limited-field Signature Event at The Genesis Invitational. This week is a full field event with typical cut rules and without most of the big names, who are taking the week off between the California and Florida portions of the schedule. As a result, fantasy golf players need to adjust their strategy. If you’re planning on playing in “cash game” formats on DraftKings, my favorite three options are Akshay Bhatia ($10,700), Greyson Sigg ($8,000) and Ryan Gerard ($7,600).
Earlier on Wednesday, I broke down my top three pivot plays for tournament lineups in a companion piece to this post. The picks in both posts have things that I like about them for this week’s event. The pivot plays for tournaments are more aggressive, while these three plays are safer options but will also likely have much higher ownerships. Think of the picks as playing a par 5 as it was designed looking for a solid birdie, while the tournament plays are more aggressive picks to try to go for the green in two. There is potentially more reward with those picks but also more risk.
The picks I highlight here are designed for “cash game” contests, which are contests on DraftKings that pay out to about the top half of entries. Typically, they are in the 50/50s & Double Ups or Head to Head sections of the DraftKings lobby. In this style of contest, it’s important to minimize risk and try to focus more on the “floor” of your entry rather than the ceiling.
While you definitely still want to get players that can contend and win the tournament, the priority is to avoid disasters. With such a thin field, the cheap golfers this week have a very high chance of missing the cut, so typically cash lineups will be more balanced in their spending. In cash games, finding low ownership plays doesn’t matter as much as since you’re just trying to finish in the top half of contests rather than finish at the top of a GPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool).
With those ground rules in place, let’s dive into my top three cash game plays for this week at the Mexico Open:
Akshay Bhatia ($10,700)
If you’re looking for the safest “star” in the field, Bhatia clearly stands out from the rest of the pack. He’s the most expensive play in DFS contests this week and the betting favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook. His salary skyrocketed from $7,100 in last week’s Elevated Event to $10,700 this week since there are so few other big names.
Bhatia has played this event once in his career, finishing T4 in 2023. He has typically been at his best in tropical, resort-style environments like this one, and he has shown the ability to go very, very low in favorable scoring conditions.
Since his last appearance on this course, the 23-year-old lefty has picked up a pair of PGA TOUR victories. His first came at the Barracuda Championship and his second last year at the Valero Open, both in playoffs. Last year, not only did he win the Valero, but he also made the cut in 11 of his final 13 events of the season, including top-five finishes at the unofficial events in December: the Hero World Challenge and the Grant Thornton Invitational.
This season, he has continued his strong play with four made cuts in four events including his first top-10 finish of the season last week at The Genesis Invitational. He ranks eighth in the field in Total Strokes Gained over his last 12 rounds and in the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Approach. Those numbers are especially impressive since he has played tougher courses in harder events than many in the field.
He comes into this event locked in and ready to flourish, and even if he doesn’t win, he should have enough margin to post a high finish and be worth playing in cash formats.
Greyson Sigg ($8,000)
Sigg is a very solid play on this track with a good course history and strong form. He may not have the upside of some of the other players around his price range, but his steady, consistent results make him perfect for cash game constructions.
This event has been a PGA TOUR stop for three seasons, and Sigg has played all three times. He finished T33 in 2022, T18 in 2023 and T19 in 2024. His top-25 at this event last season was one of his nine top-25 finishes on the PGA TOUR last year, where he missed more cuts (15) than he made (14), but still finished in the top 125 at the end of the FedExCup Fall to keep his full-time PGA TOUR card. Sigg doesn’t typically contend in top field events but has posted strong results in events with weaker fields like this one. Last year his early season top 15s came at the Corales Puntacana Championship, the Myrtle Beach Classic and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Towards the end of last year, Sigg found some consistency. He finished T4 at the Procore Championship to begin the FedExCup Fall and added top-12 finishes at the Black Desert Championship and Butterfield Bermuda Championship (again in events with weaker fields). He has carried that success to 2025 with three made cuts in four events, including a top-10 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and a T32 in Phoenix two weeks ago.
Given his past history on this track and the way he typically shows in this kind of event, he’s a safe play at $8K and does also come with a good ceiling if he can have another week like he did at Torrey Pines last month.
Ryan Gerard ($7,600)
Gerard is another steady grinder I like in this spot this week. He also had a good week last month at Torrey Pines, which is another long track like Vidanta Vallarta. The correlation isn’t perfect since the Mexico Open is typically much lower scoring, but Gerard is strong enough off the tee to set up birdie chances on courses like this one.
In his one previous appearance at this course, Gerard made the cut and finished T33 in 2023. He played quite a few events on the PGA TOUR that season after a top-five finish as a Monday qualifier at The Honda Classic. He didn’t quite get enough points to stick, so he played on the Korn Ferry Tour last season. On that tour, he made 20 cuts in 26 events and won the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX. He finished No. 12 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, securing a full-time membership on the PGA TOUR for this season.
Gerard is still just 25 years old and has started this season strong with three made cuts in three appearances. He finished T15 at the Farmers Insurance Open in his most recent event, and over his last 12 rounds, he ranks in the top 15 in this field in Total Strokes Gained and in the top 25 in Strokes Gained: Approach.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR SINGLE ENTRY $25 Double Up (PGA TOUR).
