Next on the schedule, we have the 2023 Mexico Open at Vidanta. The field is by far the weakest we’ve seen in 2024 with only four golfers ranked in the top 50 of the official world golf rankings. Those names aren’t exactly head turners either with Tony Finau, Nicolai Hojgaard, Emiliano Grillo and Ryan Fox. Will Zalatoris is also in the field currently ranked 54th.

Last year, Tony Finau held off Jon Rahm by three strokes shooting 25 under. He shot a five under 66 on Sunday and that was actually his worst round of the week. Brandon Wu made his way to the top of the leaderboard for the 2nd straight year finishing 3rd.

2022 was the first time this tournament had been played at Vidanta Vallarta. Jon Rahm won at 17 under, shooting in the sixties in all four rounds. It was a pretty lackluster field outside of Rahm and Finau. Speaking of Finau, he tied for 2nd with Kurt Kitayama and Brandon Wu. Both Finau and Wu stormed up the leaderboard on Sunday shooting finishing rounds of 63.

The cut has been 1 under in both years. Twenty-three golfers finished the tournament at ten under par or better in 2022 and 29 golfers finished at ten under or better last year. It’s safe to say this is an absolute birdie fest.

Vidanta Vallarta is a Greg Norman designed 7,500 yard, par 71, with Paspalum greens. Vidanta is a longer resort-type course with beautiful backdrops set along the Ameca River.

Vidanta is interesting with nine par fours, five par threes and four par fives. Even more interesting is the fact that there are three par fives and three par threes on the back nine. The 297 yard par four 7th hole is the easiest hole on the course boasting a 60% birdie rate. Scoring well on the Par fives is a must for anyone looking to contend this week. The par fives play as some of the easiest holes on the course.

Ball Strikers are the preferred skillset at the Mexico Open with slightly more emphasis on off the tee game. Around the green play is an afterthought here. Mainly due to the large size of these greens.

Driving accuracy is right around tour average here. Driving Distance definitely helps at Vidanta with the average drive coming in well over tour average at 296 yards. Power in general will be an advantage as 42% of all approach shots come from over 200 yards.

You would think that greens in regulation would be a bit more difficult considering the amount of lengthy approach shots. These greens are rather large and as a result GIR percentage actually comes in slightly above tour average.

However, proximity to the hole is a bit further than tour average with the average approach coming to rest at 37 feet from the hole. With many long putts, 3 putt avoidance could come into play on some holes.

All in all bombers who can make birdies should be targeted. In such a weak field anyone can really be considered here.

There are 156 Golfers in the field with the top 65 and ties making the cut after 36 holes.

2023 Mexico Open: The Key Stats

• Strokes Gained Off The Tee
• Strokes Gained Approach
• Proximity 200+ yards
• Opportunities Gained
• Driving Distance