The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits Vidanta Vallarta for the 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. Designed by Greg Norman, Vidanta Vallarta has hosted the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld since it was elevated to a PGA Tour event in 2022. This year, the course will play as a Par 71, 7,436 yard layout.
To find success this week, long hitters will have a distinct advantage. Tipping out at nearly 7,500 yards, Vidanta Vallarta plays as one of the beefiest, non-major courses on the schedule. With wide fairways and receptive greens, low scoring will undoubtedly be first and foremost this week, with each of the last three winners finishing at -17 or better. With plenty of bunkers and water hazards spread all over the course, players will have to do a great job of avoiding the bountiful hazards if they want a chance to bring home the victory. Vidanta Vallarta features paspalum fairways, rough and greens, which can be tricky at times due to the stickiness of the grass. The greens will be more receptive though because of that, although putting can be tricky for the exact same reason. The player who manages to find that balance will quickly become the favorite to win. Finally, certain players just play better south of the border. These tropical courses set up perfectly for certain players, for whatever reason. Will the favorites put on a clinic this week? Will the tropical ringers rise to the forefront? Will we have a first-time winner in this event? Or will a wily veteran close the door on their career with one final win?
The field for this year’s Mexico Open at VidantaWorld isn’t the strongest by any means, but still features plenty of studs and plenty of up-and-comers, including Akshay Bhatia, Stephen Jaeger, Kurt Kitayama, Aaron Rai and Patrick Rodgers, as well as Ryan Fox, Andrew Putnam, Greyson Sigg, Alex Smalley and Matt Wallace, just to name a few.
The Mexico Open at VidantaWorld was first held in 1944 and played off and on throughout the years, before becoming a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in 2022. Al Espinosa has won this event the most times, taking home the Mexico Open victory four times in his career. Roberto Di Vicenzo won this tournament three times, while Ernesto Perez Acosta, Stewart Cink, Tony Holguin, Tony Lema and Lee Trevino are also multiple-time winners. Since becoming an official tour event in 2022, the following players have won the tournament: Jon Rahm, Tony Finau and Jake Knapp.
Last year’s edition was won by Jake Knapp, who held off Sami Välmäki by two strokes to pick up his maiden PGA Tour victory. Stephen Jaeger, Justin Lower and C. T. Pan all finished T-3, five strokes back.
Player to Fade:
Thriston Lawrence really came onto American radars late last year thanks to a fourth place finish at The Open Championship and a T-2 finish at the BMW PGA Championship, among other quality finishes. Unfortunately for Lawrence, he’s been on the struggle bus the last couple of months, missing the cut in all three of his worldwide starts this season, as well as boasting four straight missed cuts dating back to last season. Lawrence finished a combined +16 at the Farmers Insurance Open and WM Phoenix Open, and is losing strokes in all six of the major Strokes Gained categories. Most glaring is Lawrence’s ball striking, as he has hit just 52.78% of his greens and 46.43% of his fairways. Lawrence might be ranked inside the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he certainly isn’t playing like it. Despite Lawrence’s pedigree last season, he just isn’t primed to make a run this week. Book Lawrence for a missed cut and an early flight home.
Dark Horse:
I have never written about this gentleman before, but I have a good reason for doing so now. Jeremy Paul is in the midst of his rookie season of the PGA Tour. He’s made two of three cuts so far, with a best finish of T-45 coming in his very first tour start at the Sony Open in Hawaii. What excites me most about Paul’s chances this week are his stats. Paul ranks 25th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, as well as 6th in Driving Distance and 18th in Greens in Regulation Percentage, all of which are stats that will typically lead to success at Vidanta Vallarta. The area of Paul’s game that scares me is his putting, as he currently ranks 132nd in Strokes Gained: Putting on tour. The winning score has typically hovered around -20 over the last three years, which means a player needs to be holing putts on a very gettable resort course to stay in the hunt. But with a weaker field and easier than usual greens, I’ve just got a feeling that Paul has a chance to show why he belongs on tour. Give me Jeremy Paul for his first career top 25 this week!
Top 10:
The 30th ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, Akshay Bhatia has just been lurking in the shadows all season. Four starts, four made cuts and four top 35 finishes, including a season-best T-9 last week at The Genesis Invitational. Bhatia’s game is pretty solid through the bag, gaining strokes in five of the six major Strokes Gained categories, including ranking 12th this season in Strokes Gained: Putting. Bhatia isn’t super long off the tee, but he is accurate, ranking inside the top 50 on tour in both Driving Accuracy Percentage and Greens in Regulation Percentage. Bhatia also has past success in this event, which only strengthens his odds this week. Bhatia finish in fourth place in his lone start in this event in 2023. If not for a very pedestrian 70 in the final round that year, he may have very well found victory with a few more putts made. The battle for the victory most definitely runs through Bhatia this week, who I predict will have a strong showing and log a second straight top 10 finish, both in this event and on the season.
Winner:
A winner for the first time last fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Kevin Yu has gotten off to a slow start in 2025, missing the cut in two of his first four starts, but has righted the ship with back-to-back top 20 finishes at the WM Phoenix Open and The Genesis Invitational. Yu struggles with the short game, ranking outside the top 130 on tour in both Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and Putting. On the flip side, Yu is a solid ball striker, ranking 11th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and 22nd in Greens in Regulation Percentage. Yu is making his debut in this event, but has found success at other tropical courses and at longer courses, having previously logged top 10 finishes at the Butterfield Bermudan Championship, the Puerto Rico Open and the Farmers Insurance Open. Yu isn’t the sexiest pick of the litter this week, but my gut has been gravitating to him all week. We are taking Kevin Yu to pick up his second career PGA Tour victory at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld!
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