This week, we get to take a journey down to Vidante Vallarta in Vallarta, Mexico for the 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. Also known as Abierto Mexicano de Golf, this is the national open golf tournament of Mexico. 

This event has been run on various tours, including the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, the Web.com Tour, and Nationwide Tour (previous names of the current developmental tour, the Korn Ferry Tour). 

It was brought to the PGA TOUR for the first time in 2022 and has occurred yearly since. This nearly 7,500-yard, Par 71 course features a $7,000,000 purse and awards 500 FedExCup points.

 

 

 

Mexico Open at VidantaWorld 2025: Daily Fantasy Golf Picks & Projections

While this event has been run in some capacity since 1944, this is only the fourth installment on the PGA Tour. 

Previous winners Jon Rahm, Tony Finau, and 2024 Champion Jake Knapp all posted scored between -17 and -24. Given the relatively new nature of this event, let us dive into Vidanta Vallarta.

 

 

 

Vidanta Vallarta: Course Breakdown This Week

Vidanta Vallarta, as previously mentioned, plays just under 7,500 yards and is right around sea level, so no major advantages or changes need to be made to account for elevation. It features Paspalum grass throughout the course, which is known for being a slower and stickier grass comparatively. 

Given its location in Puerto Vallarta, the wind is a feature of this course, given its location to the Pacific coastline. As a Greg Norman-designed course, it’s very player-friendly though changes have been made to make this a “tougher” course for the tour. 

When breaking down the holes at the course, we see 5 Par 3’s, 9 Par 4’s, and 4 Par 5’s. The Par 3’s are longer than we’ve recently seen, with all 5 playing between 170 and 226 yards. The Par 4’s play both on the long and short side, with the shortest coming in at 297 yards, and the longest coming in at 520 yards. The Par 5’s play between 550 and 640 yards. On the front nine, we see only one of the Par 5’s and 2 of the Par 3’s.

Given the distance of the course, it should be no surprise that this course heavily favors long drivers and players who are effective on approach shots over 200 yards. As a result, both stats will see an uptick in value in my model this week. Looking at the historical play at the course, it’s clear that these stats become of major value to us. 

While in 2024 distance was “less” important off the tee, over 60 percent of approach shots occurred from 175 yards or more out. Play around the green is less impactful, as evidenced by Jake Knapp losing shots in this area in 2024. All three winners here show this as the lowest factor towards success, as this was the lowest statistic in terms of strokes gained for all 3. 

Outside of the previously mentioned key stats, other stats of importance still come into play. Birdies or Better Gained, Bogey or Worse Avoidance, and Par 3 scoring between 175-200 all see major jumps compared to the tour average. 

Additionally, while I previously mentioned the short game is of less importance, we still must consider playing out of the sand. While the green complexes are very straightforward, the sand is the “protector” of the course, given the wide-open fairways. 

 

 

 

Mexico Open at VidantaWorld 2025 Field: Golf DFS

This week's Mexico Open field will feature 132 players. This field will be the weakest we have seen yet in terms of star value, as the highest-ranked player in the field will be Aaron Rai, who currently sits at 29th in the OWGR. 

Only 26 of the players currently rank within the top 100 players as well. 2024 Winner Jake Knapp will return to defend his crown, but he will be one of only 10 players in the field who have played this event in all three of its iterations on the PGA Tour. 

For those who have played multiple events here, there does seem to be some historical correlation to success, but Vidanta Vallarta ranks near the bottom of the tour in this metric. Additionally, given the depth of the field in terms of lower-ranked players, we don’t have as much data as usual to sift through. Something to keep in mind this week.

 

 

 

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PGA Best Bets & Predictions: 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld (6-8 Overall, +3.1 Units)

  • Sami Valimaki: Top 40 (+185)
  • Patrick Rodgers: Top 10 (+225) 
  • Mexico Open One and Done Picks: Kurt Kitayama (high-ranked) Jesper Svennson (low-ranked)

 

 

 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: Top Tier

Patrick Rodgers ($11,300 FanDuel/$9,5 DraftKings)

In an interesting week with no major names, Rodgers is one of the clear favorites to win this week. For one, Rodgers is historically successful here, with finishes of 10th, T10th, and T6th in his three starts here. When breaking down the stats, it’s easy to see why. 

Rodgers has consistently been one of the better drivers of the golf ball. In 2025 through 17 rounds, he currently sits amongst tour leaders in Total Driving, Driving Distance, and Driving Accuracy which shows a big part of why he’s been so successful here. Additionally, his approach game is highly underrated. He’s above tour average in GIR percentage and Proximity and even when he misses the green, he sits at 38th in scrambling and scrambling from the rough. 

While he does have some concerns related to his approach from 200+ yards and in his Sand Save statistics (which I mentioned are important here), these issues have not held him back here in the past. He’s also in good current form, coming off a T3rd finish at The Genesis and a T22 finish at Pebble Beach. Rodgers is one of the few higher-end players who I’m intrigued in this week.

Kurt Kitayama ($11,400 FanDuel/$10,200 DraftKings)

Kitayama is another intriguing option at the high end of cost this week. In his one previous start here in 2022, he finished T2nd just one shot behind eventual winner Jon Rahm and tied with 2023 winner Tony Finau. 

Kitayama finds his way to the top of my model largely through (you guessed it) his ability with the driver. He’s currently 13th on tour in SG: Off The Tee, 11th in Driving Distance, and 40th in Total Driving. Typically his issues off the tee are related to his accuracy, but the open fairways this week make that a non-issue for me. 

He ranks in the top third of the field in approach from over 200 yards, and in the top half of the field in Sand Save percentage. Kitayama is looking for his 2nd win on tour, and this might just be the week he gets there.

Stephen Jaeger ($10,800 FanDuel/$9,600 DraftKings)

Jaeger is another guy who has had historical success here, with no finish here worse than T18th, culminating in a T3rd finish here last year. He ranks above tour average in Driving Distance and Accuracy, as well as Sand Save % and is near the top of the field in Birdie or Better Percentage. 

Additionally, he’s our top scorer on Par 4’s this year in the field and given the high importance of those holes this week, he should be in line for a great start. He typically has struggled to finish, but his lowest rounds at Vidanta Vallarta have always come on the weekend. I love Jaeger’s upside this week.

 

 

 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: MID-TIER

Jake Knapp ($10,000 FanDuel/$8,600 DraftKings)

To probably no one's surprise, Knapp is a prime candidate to repeat as champion here. While his driver has been an issue this year, this is a course where he can truly just let it eat. He has top 10 club head speed on tour, and there’s a reason this was the breakout course for him. 

He’s a top 30 player in the world in approaches from 175 and up and is one of the better Par 5 scorers in the field and is above tour average in Par 3 scoring. If he can take advantage of these holes this week, we might just see him repeat.

Niklas Norgaard ($10,300 FanDuel/$8,400 DraftKings)

Norgaard is a DP World Tour member who will be playing in just his 2nd PGA TOUR start of the year this week. While we don’t have quite the stat pool to pull from for him as we do others, we can still draw some conclusions about him. He hits the ball far, even though he doesn’t always know where it’s going off the tee. 

The approach data we have for him suggest he’s very good from the distances we like. For example, Scottie Scheffler’s 12th on tour in proximity on approach shots from 225-250 yards with an average of 37 feet 8 inches. Norgaard comes in at 23 feet 4 inches. He’s going to be a bit of a wild card this week, but that’s precisely why I have interest in him. Let’s have some fun here and let the man grip it and rip it.

 

 

 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: VALUE TIER

Chris Gotterup ($8,900 FanDuel/$7,400 DraftKings)

Tell me if you’ve read this already. He hits the ball very far, even if he doesn’t always know where it will land. He currently ranks 2nd in 2025 in Driving Distance on all drives, 4th in club head speed, and shockingly 14th in GIR percentage. Gotterup played here last year and ended up withdrawing 

Rico Hoey ($9,000 FanDuel/$7,200 DraftKings)

Hoey has been one of the most effective players off the tee this year, currently sitting 2nd in Total Driving and 29th in SG: Off The Tee. He also fits the approach buckets well, sitting at 55th on tour and in the top 10 percent of our field this week on all approach shots over 200 yards. 

His putter has been by far his biggest hold up this year, as he sits dead last in SG: Putting this year. If his putter is even slightly better than usual this week, his game is set up for success in this field.

Aldrich Potgieter ($8,900 FanDuel/$7,300 DraftKings)

Aldrich is a bit of an anomaly for me this week. His approach numbers are abysmal, as he’s dead last on tour in approach to green. He doesn’t score well, and doesn’t avoid bogeys well. However, he’s 2nd on tour in SG: Off The Tee, and top third in SG: Putting, both of which put him near the top of our field. 

Additionally, he’s 23rd in Sand Save %, which means he can handle the difficult aspects of this course. He’s going to be risky as his bad tournaments are bad. But the upside he’s shown on the KFT, and at this T15th finish at the Farmers Insurance Open give me hope that he may be a low-rostered player this week who has solid upside for those with many lineups. 

Jesper Svennson ($9,200 FanDuel/$7,600 DraftKings)

While his results this year have been up and down, statistically speaking Svennson is one of the most well-rounded players in this field. He ranks in the top half of the tour in each of our major statistics this week and leads the field this week in Birdie or Better Percentage. 

Additionally, he’s in the top 15 in the field in Driving Distance, is pretty solid on the overall approach, and is 24th in putting average. He’s solid out of the sand, and all around should be in a great spot to return value on this price.

 

 

 

PGA DFS Picks This Week (Cheat Sheet)

Player Pool