The Rundown: 2023 Mexico Open

Next on the schedule, we have the 2023 Mexico Open at Vidanta.

Last year is the only time this tournament has 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 was 1 under last year. Twenty-three golfers finished the tournament at ten under par or better.

This year’s field doesn’t seem to be any stronger than last year’s. In fact, it’s basically the same as last year as Jon Rahm and Tony Finau are the only two golfers from the top 50 of the World Golf Ranking in attendance.

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.

Elite ball-strikers can excel at the Mexico Open.

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.

Scoring well on the Par 5s is a must for anyone looking to contend this week. The par 5s play as some of the easiest holes on the course.

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.

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