After last week’s dramatic conclusion at the Genesis Invitational, the PGA Tour returns to a much more sedate pace with the 2025 Mexico Open.
Several of the PGA Tour’s biggest names are set to give this week a miss which presents a golden opportunity for some of the PGA Tour’s lesser lights to take centre stage.
As well as $1.1 million being up for grabs for the winner, victory this week will give the winner a two year exemption on the PGA Tour and put them in a brilliant position in the year end FedEx Standings.
Last year’s tournament was won by Jake Knapp who used his victory to take his career to brand new heights. There will be several players in the field who will hope to emulate Knapp’s success this week.
Ahead of the action starting - here is everything you need to know.
The Course
The action this week will take place at the scenic Vidanta Vallarta and this will be the fourth year that this course will be used to host Mexico’s premier tournament.
A beast of a course that measures over 7,400 yards it is a course that favours the bigger hitters and it isn’t surprising that Jon Rahm, Tony Finau and Jake Knapp are all on the list of the tournament’s former winners.
Hitting the ball far and with accuracy is absolutely paramount if a player is to be successful this week. If the player can successfully find the fairways there is a great chance that they will find the scoring opportunities to be plentiful. Last year Knapp with a total of -19 and few would be surprised if that total was surpassed this year.
Players to Watch
With a string of high profile absences favourite for victory this week Akshay Bhatia.
Ranked 30th in the world, Bhatia has been a presence on Tour for years but is still one of the youngest players in the top 50 and the talented lefty is no stranger to PGA Tour success.
Twice a winner on the PGA Tour including at last year’s Texas Open and he heads to Mexico in fantastic form following a ninth place finish at last week’s Genesis. That top ten finish came against the very best players on the PGA Tour and he will be hopeful of repeating something similar this week.
Viewed as having a live chance to make the American Ryder Cup team later this year, Bhatia will hope to capture the attention of U.S Captain Keegan Bradley this week.
Next in the betting comes one of Europe’s brightest prospects in the shape of Rasmus Hojgaard. Hojgaard had a brilliant 2024 which saw him win the Irish Open and finish second in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai.
His exploits last season over in Europe qualified the talented Dane to earn his full PGA Tour card for 2025 and its tournaments like these where he will want to leave his mark.
A hugely talented ball striker, Hojgaard will have no issues with the length of the course he is about to face and he has the capabilities to score with ease.
Hojgaard will have hopes of ending the season with a spot in his first ever European Ryder Cup squad and he will hope to kick on from the mixed start he has enjoyed so far on the PGA Tour.
A twelfth place finish at the Phoenix Open suggested that he can mix it up with the best on the PGA Tour but he would have been desperately disappointed to have been one of only eight players to have missed the cut at last week’s Genesis Invitational. Hoping to bounce back this week he will be looking to become the fourth European golfer to win on the PGA Tour this season.
Rounding out the top three in the betting are two players Kurt Kitayama and Stephan Jaegar.
Ranked 85th in the world, Kitayama isn’t ranked high enough to compete in the PGA Tour’s Signature Events so will be teeing it up for the first time since the Phoenix Open where he finished in 49th.
A talented player on his day, when Kitayama can piece four solid rounds together he can win as demonstrated when he won the Arnold Palmer back in 2023. That win still ranks as his best achievement on the PGA Tour and he will hope to relive those glory days once again this week.
Stephan Jaegar is another who has tasted PGA Tour success with his win coming last year at the Texas Children’s Open. The German has worked incredibly hard on his game and despite his diminutive stature he has added length to his game and it has made him a real competitive force.
As well as his win at the Texas Children’s Open he also managed top five finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open and Black Desert Championship. This course might not be the best fit for his abilities but if he can keep up with the biggest hitters he could well prove the doubters wrong.
Other Players to Watch
In a tournament like the Mexico Open there is always plenty of value that can be found and one man who could be worth backing is Patrick Rodgers.
Rodgers heads into this week following arguably the best performance of his PGA career where he finished third at the Genesis Invitational. Having never won on the PGA Tour he headed out into the final round having led the field by one stroke but was unable to seal the deal with eventually both Ludvig Aberg and Maverick McNealy overthrowing him at the top of the leaderboard.
With his accurate driving and iron play on full display last week he will hope to build on that effort this week.
Another man who could be well worth a small play this week is last year’s champion, Jake Knapp.
Knapp was in a class of his own last year as he cruised to a first ever PGA title. Since that victory Knapp hasn’t been as consistent as he would have liked and he hasn’t recorded a top ten finish since the Byron Nelson CJ Cup last May.
He has already showcased that he has the power to dominate the course and if he can get his game dialled into a similar level as he was able to do last year, he could be a very tough man to stop.
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
