Jon Rahm Heavily Favored in TOUR’s First Puerto Vallarta Trip

2022 Mexico Open Odds

Odds via BetMGM.

Vedanta Vallarta hosts the first ever Mexico Open this week on the PGA TOUR, with a few of golf’s best looking to regain form with the summer around the corner.

Headlining the field is world No. 2 Jon Rahm, who hasn’t won since last year’s US Open. With another major (the PGA Championship) quickly approaching, this could provide the Spaniard a great opportunity to start finding his elite form against.

Saying Rahm has struggled in 2022 might be a bit harsh. He has not missed a cutie nine starts this year, and he’s finished in the top 20 six times. Rahm’s last start was at the Masters, where he finished T27 and was never in contention.

Also in the field are Ryder Cup winners Daniel Berger and Tony Finau, both of whom have struggled (compared to their lofty standards) so far in 2022. Both players were in the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) at the end of 2021, but Berger is now 24th and Finau 25th.

A lot of eyes this week will be on the Mexican pair of Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz. Ancer finally got his first PGA TOUR win last August at the FedEx St. Jude, while Ortiz won the 2020 Houston Open.

Ortiz especially needs to find his form. He ended 2021 as the 56th-ranked player in the OWGR but finds himself 87th entering the week. Ortiz has missed his last four cuts – the Arnold Palmer Invitational, PLAYERS, Valspar and RBC Heritage.

One player who will consider himself “in form” is probably Kevin Na, who finished T14 at the Masters and T26 the next week at the RBC Heritage. Prior to that, he advanced to the Round of 16 at the WGC-Dell Match Play in late March.

The Course

Obviously, there is no historical data to go off in the buildup to the Mexico Open. We do know a couple things, though.

Vedanta Vallarta plays 7,456 yards as a par-71, which means it’s longer than average compared to other tracks regularly seen on the PGA TOUR.

One thing players should be able to expect this week is a lot of fairway to land in. Unlike recent stops throughout Florida, it won’t be as difficult for players to find the short grass off the tee.