Mayakoba Golf Classic 2020: Preview and picks to win

The PGA tour makes the journey south of the border this week for the 2020 Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

This week the Mayakoba Golf Classic will play host to the PGA tour’s final event before the holiday break and with it signify the official conclusion to the 2020 portion of the PGA schedule.

The Mayakoba Golf Classic made history back in 2007 when it became the first event to be played outside of the United States and Canada, and the first PGA event to be played in Latin America.

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A historically strong field for the Mayakoba Golf Classic that includes both the World number 3 Justin Thomas and World number 12 Brooks Koepka will tee-off this week at the beautifully unique El Camaleon Golf Club.

The Course at The Mayakoba Golf Classic

The Greg Norman-designed El Camaleon is a Par 71 that will play at just under 7,000 yards this week. The course is unique in that it will introduce players to distinct landscapes across its 18 holes of play.

Golfers will face both coastal stretches along the Caribbean Shoreline, and then a Tropical Jungle surrounded by both the inward canals and vast amounts of mangroves that are nearby.

The greens are Paspalum and should play relatively slow and the course features little to no elevation changes along the way. With winning scores in the past in the high teens we can expect a relatively easy resort course style of play this week with plenty of scoring opportunities.

Finding the fairway will be important for players this week with driving accuracy being almost twice as impactful at El Camaleon as anywhere else.

Overall I’ll be looking at Golfers that are excellent with their approach play, can score on the greens, and excel at Par 4 performance also as there are eleven that will come into play this week.

For more insight into important stats at this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic I would encourage you to check out Matthew Vincenzi’s excellent breakdown each week.

Betting Favorites at this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic

The odds used in this article can be found online at popular betting sites, for more information on best odds and books available locally to you check out Golf Bet part of The Action Network

Justin Thomas +650 leads the way this week at the top of the board and the World number 3 is a worthy favorite with three top-five finishes in his last five starts. Thomas has also had success at corollary course Waialae Country Club host of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Thomas is followed by Brooks Koepka +1200 who comes into the Mayakoba Golf Classic on the back of two top-ten finishes and although he lacks course history at this event clearly comes in with the form to win this week.

Finally Harris English +1600 and Tony Finau +1800 close out the under 20/1 range, both of whom are too short a price in this type of event for my liking this week.

Abraham Ancer +2200 will begin my card this week. Ancer will be playing in his home country this week and has shown success at El Camaleon previously with an 8th place finish last year and a 9th back in 2017.

Abraham played well in his prior start at the Masters when he was in contention before falling back a bit in his final round on Sunday. Ancer is accurate off the tee and a good putter, if his ball-striking is on point this weekend he can certainly contend this week.

I’ll back someone who found some form finally in his last start Marc Leishman +5500. The Aussie showed signs of life at last month’s Masters where he finished 13th and perhaps his game is finally rounding back into shape after a long run of poor results prior to that.

Leishman produced a top 25 in his last start at the Mayakoba Golf Classic back in 2016 and he has had immense success at the similar Sony Open in the past including a 3rd in 2019. I’ll take a chance that his game is shaping up just in time this week at this fair number.

The next additions to this week’s card both come from the 70/1 range beginning with Patton Kizzire +7000 who comes in exhibiting excellent form of late with two top 25 finishes across his last three starts and a top 10 finish his last time out.

Kizzire is also a former winner of the Mayakoba Golf Classic back in 2017 and he comes into this week having gained on the greens over the last month with the putter. Even with significantly lower odds coming in Patton is displaying the form required to win again in the near future.

Chez Reavie +7500 is one of the more accurate players on tour from off the tee and while he isn’t the longest his lack of distance should not play a factor at this event.

Chez has a 26th,14th, and 4th in his last three starts at El Camaleon and while he missed the cut in his last event he finished in the top 30 at the Masters the week before that, so perhaps the missed cut can be excused in his last start.

Reavie is 15th in the field with his approaches over the last three months and if he can find his putter this week is well worth backing at the longer odds.

I’ll finish the card with Doug Ghim +12500 who comes into the Mayakoba Golf Classic displaying as good of form as anybody. Ghim has four top 25’s in his last five starts and added another top 20 at the RSM classic two weeks ago.

dark. Next. Mayakoba Golf Classic: Why Justin Thomas Will Contend

Ghim is 3rd in the field with his approaches over the last month and over the last three months ranks inside the top 10 in approach and top 30 in strokes gained: tee to green.

Mayakoba Golf Classic Card

Abraham Ancer +2200

Marc Leishman +5500

Patton Kizzire +7000

Chez Reavie +7500

Doug Ghim +12500

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