The PGA Tour returns to Mexico for this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta, which begins Thursday in Vallarta.
Jon Rahm is about to defend his title at Vidanta Vallarta, the place he received by a shot final 12 months over Tony Finau, Brandon Wu and Kurt Kitayama. Our golf consultants preview the occasion and supply their favourite prop picks and finest bets to win.
MEXICO OPEN AT VIDANTA
Location: Vallarta, Mexico, April 27-30
Course: Vidanta Vallarta (Par 71, 7,456 yards)
Purse: $7.7 million ($1.386 million)
Defending Champions: Jon Rahm
FedEx Cup chief: Rahm
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming on ESPN: Thursday-Friday, 8:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: @MexicoOpenGolf
PROP PICKS
–Nico Echavarria to Finish Top 20 (600 at BetMGM): Echavarria enters the week ranked 284th on this planet regardless of claiming his first PGA Tour victory in Puerto Rico in March. That’s as a result of the 28-year-old has struggled in sturdy full-field occasions, together with missed cuts at The Players, Valspar and RBC. With solely three top-50 gamers on this week’s area, we just like the younger Colombian’s probabilities of cashing in an honest payday. He did put up a T12 on the Sony and a T28 on the Valero in opposition to modest fields this 12 months.
–Jon Rahm to Win Tournament Group (-105 at DraftKings): As the heavy pre-tournament favourite in opposition to a tender area, it is tough to search out attractive props involving Rahm. We discovered one with a match group together with Tony Finau (250), Wyndham Clark (550), Patrick Rodgers (700) and Maverick McNealy (900). Rahm has already received on this course and is motivated to maintain separation between him and Scottie Scheffler atop the world rankings.
–Nicolai Hojgaard Top Nordic Finisher (165 at PointsBet): The 122nd-ranked Dane has shorter odds than No. 50 Alex Noren (220) for good purpose. While Noren completed T15 on the Valero Texas Open, he additionally has 4 missed cuts in his previous seven begins. Meanwhile, Hojgaard has taken benefit of his previous two PGA Tour begins with a solo second at Corales and a T28 on the Valero. That adopted 4 top-15s in his previous 5 begins on the DP World Tour, which has contributed to Hojgaard being BetMGM’s second-biggest legal responsibility to win this week. Others within the Nordic prop at PointsBet are Vincent Norrman (350), Henrik Norlander (650), Jonas Blixt (1600) and Richard Johnson (4000).
2023 Prop Picks Record: 19-23-1
BEST BETS
–Rahm (250 at BetMGM) is trying to efficiently defend a PGA Tour title for the primary time in his seventh try. He was compelled to withdraw whereas holding a six-shot lead after three rounds on the 2021 Memorial. Rahm is coming off a T15 on the RBC Heritage following his Masters title. He leads the sector with 16.7 p.c of the cash backing the Spaniard to win and is second with 8.7 p.c of the whole tickets.
–Finau (750) tied for second behind Rahm final 12 months and went on to win three of his subsequent 15 begins. He is third within the area, with 7.2 p.c of the tickets at BetMGM backing Finau to win.
–Clark (1800) has but to win on the PGA Tour, however nonetheless enters the Mexico Open with the third-shortest odds and is the sportsbook’s third-biggest legal responsibility this week whereas drawing 11.0 p.c of the outright winner cash. That speaks to the general energy of the sector, though Clark has posted three top-10s whereas making all 9 cuts up to now in 2023.
–Gary Woodland (2500) is BetMGM’s greatest legal responsibility this week, having drawn essentially the most successful tickets at 11.7 p.c whereas being second with 11.6 p.c of the cash backing the previous U.S. Open champion to win. Woodland enters eightieth on this planet however has proven indicators of returning to type, together with a T14 on the Masters.
–Wu (5500) carded a final-round 63 to complete T2 final 12 months, and earned his second profession runner-up on tour at this 12 months’s ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
–Matt Wallace (6600) is coming off a missed reduce on the RBC, however he did win the Corales Puntacana Championship final month following at T7 on the Valspar.
NOTES
–Rahm, who has 4 wins in 10 begins in 2023, is searching for to change into the primary participant to win 5 instances in a season since Justin Thomas in 2016-17. He has already change into solely the second participant to achieve $13 million in earnings in a single season.
–There are seven gamers from Mexico within the area, led by Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, who can be making his thirty fourth profession PGA Tour begin. Four can be making their tour debuts.
–No. 1 Rahm, No. 16 Finau and No. 50 Noren are the one high 50 gamers within the area.
–Sebastian Vazquez (2016), Austin Smotherman (2018) and Alvaro Ortiz (2021) are within the area and received the occasion when it was sanctioned by PGA Tour Latinoamerica.
–Field Level Media