Vidanta Vallarta is a little pedacito de paraíso and is hosting the Mexico Open for the third year running. Nestled between the West Coast and Florida swings on the PGA Tour schedule, many of the world’s top golfers opt to pitter around at home instead of enjoying the wonderful amenities of subtropical resort golf. No bother, this week is for opportunists.
The golfers on Tour with more talent than name recognition are the stars this week. Only defending champion Tony Finau has a name that casual golf fans are absolutely familiar with. I’m here to tell you that plenty of golfers competing south of the border will establish that sort of popularity very soon. Their time to shine is now. It is our time to out-leverage the field in DFS by jumping ahead of the curve.
PGA DFS: The Mexico Open at Vidanta (2024)
(Salaries courtesy of DraftKings)
Vidanta Vallarta plays long, at nearly 7,500 yards at sea level. The weather is hardly an issue unless you forget sunscreen. The par-71 layout was designed by Greg Norman and is among the easier courses to score on, despite having a handful of very challenging holes to navigate.
Key metrics that I have in my weighted statistical model are very focused on ball-striking and taking advantage of scoring opportunities. Eleven of the 18 holes have a distinct average distance on approach, between 175-200 yards. Putting on these slower Paspalum surfaces is included but carries less fanfare than bogey avoidance and recent form (past 24 rounds).
The easy part this week is avoiding chalk bombs, as in the popular golfers to whom we want to limit our exposure. Most of my favorite players outside the high-priced tier are sporting depressed rostership estimates. I trust my stat model. If it’s on point this week, there is a ton of money to win. A taco is a love letter to my stomach delivered in a masa envelope. Vámanos.
High-Priced ($9,000 & Above)
- Chalk Plays: Nicolai Hojgaard, Stephan Jaeger, Taylor Pendrith
- Chalk Fades: Tony Finau, Thomas Detry, Mark Hubbard
- Leverage Plays: Emiliano Grillo, Erik Van Rooyen, Ryo Hisatsune
Mid-Priced ($7,600 to $8,900)
- Chalk Plays: Jake Knapp, Cameron Champ, Michael Kim, Alejandro Tosti, Nate Lashley
- Chalk Fades: Davis Thompson, Doug Ghim, Maverick McNealy, SH Kim, Jhonattan Vegas
- Leverage Plays: Austin Eckroat, Justin Suh, Vincent Norrman
Value-Priced ($7,500 & Below)
- Chalk Plays: Joseph Bramlett, Carl Yuan
- Chalk Fades: Carson Young, Sam Stephens
- Leverage Plays: Chris Gotterup, Scott Stallings, Dylan Wu, Sami Valimaki, Garrick Higgo, Ben Kohles, Erik Barnes, Padraig Harrington
