2023 Mexico Open: Preview, props, best bets

The PGA Tour returns to Mexico for this week's Mexico Open at Vidanta, which begins Thursday in Vallarta.

Jon Rahm is set to defend his title at Vidanta Vallarta, where he won by a shot last year over Tony Finau, Brandon Wu and Kurt Kitayama. Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks and best bets to win.

MEXICO OPEN AT VIDANTA

Location: Vallarta, Mexico, April 27-30

Course: Vidanta Vallarta (Par 71, 7,456 yards)

Purse: $7.7 million ($1.386 million)

Defending Champions: Jon Rahm

FedEx Cup leader: Rahm

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)

Streaming on ESPN+: Thursday-Friday, 8:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

Twitter: @MexicoOpenGolf

PROP PICKS

Nico Echavarria to Finish Top 20 (+600 at BetMGM): Echavarria enters the week ranked 284th in the world despite claiming his first PGA Tour victory in Puerto Rico in March. That's because the 28-year-old has struggled in strong full-field events, including missed cuts at The Players, Valspar and RBC. With only three top-50 players in this week's field, we like the young Colombian's chances of cashing in a decent payday. He did post a T12 at the Sony and a T28 at the Valero against modest fields this year.

Jon Rahm to Win Tournament Group (-105 at DraftKings): As the heavy pre-tournament favorite against a soft field, it's difficult to find enticing props involving Rahm. We found one with a tournament group including Tony Finau (+250), Wyndham Clark (+550), Patrick Rodgers (+700) and Maverick McNealy (+900). Rahm has already won on this course and is motivated to keep separation between him and Scottie Scheffler atop the world rankings.

Nicolai Hojgaard Top Nordic Finisher (+165 at PointsBet): The 122nd-ranked Dane has shorter odds than No. 50 Alex Noren (+220) for good reason. While Noren finished T15 at the Valero Texas Open, he also has four missed cuts in his past seven starts. Meanwhile, Hojgaard has taken advantage of his past two PGA Tour starts with a solo second at Corales and a T28 at the Valero. That followed four top-15s in his past five starts on the DP World Tour, which has contributed to Hojgaard being BetMGM's second-biggest liability to win this week. Others in the Nordic prop at PointsBet are Vincent Norrman (+350), Henrik Norlander (+650), Jonas Blixt (+1600) and Richard Johnson (+4000).

2023 Prop Picks Record: 19-23-1

BEST BETS

Jon Rahm (+250 at BetMGM) is attempting to successfully defend a PGA Tour title for the first time in his seventh attempt. He was forced to withdraw while holding a six-shot lead after three rounds at the 2021 Memorial. Rahm is coming off a T15 at the RBC Heritage following his Masters title. He leads the field with 16.7 percent of the money backing the Spaniard to win and is second with 8.7 percent of the total tickets.

Tony Finau (+750) tied for second behind Rahm last year and went on to win three of his next 15 starts. He is third in the field, with 7.2 percent of the tickets at BetMGM backing Finau to win.

Wyndham Clark (+1800) has yet to win on the PGA Tour, but still enters the Mexico Open with the third-shortest odds and is the sportsbook's third-biggest liability this week while drawing 11.0 percent of the outright winner money. That speaks to the overall strength of the field, although Clark has posted three top-10s while making all nine cuts so far in 2023.

Gary Woodland (+2500) is BetMGM's biggest liability this week, having drawn the most winning tickets at 11.7 percent while being second with 11.6 percent of the money backing the former U.S. Open champion to win. Woodland enters 80th in the world but has shown signs of returning to form, including a T14 at the Masters.

Brandon Wu (+5500) carded a final-round 63 to finish T2 last year, and earned his second career runner-up on tour at this year's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Matt Wallace (+6600) is coming off a missed cut at the RBC, but he did win the Corales Puntacana Championship last month following at T7 at the Valspar.

NOTES

Rahm, who has four wins in 10 starts in 2023, is seeking to become the first player to win five times in a season since Justin Thomas in 2016-17. He has already become only the second player to reach $13 million in earnings in a single season.

There are seven players from Mexico in the field, led by Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, who will be making his 34th career PGA Tour start. Four will be making their tour debuts.

No. 1 Rahm, No. 16 Finau and No. 50 Noren are the only top 50 players in the field.

Sebastian Vazquez (2016), Austin Smotherman (2018) and Alvaro Ortiz (2021) are in the field and won the event when it was sanctioned by PGA Tour Latinoamerica.