The PGA Championship is just a month away, and the post-Masters golf daily fantasy build-up continues this week at the Mexico Open at Vidanta. 

This tournament has been played annually since 1944, but it was held as a PGA Tour event for the first time last year and produced one fine-looking leaderboard and golf betting week at Vidanta Vallarta. Jon Rahm beat out a group of chasers, including Tony Finau, to win by a shot. 

Rahm had gone nearly a full calendar year without a win to that point, but he’s been a rocket ship ever since with six wins – none larger than career major win No. 2 at the Masters earlier this month. 

The Spaniard is the overwhelming betting favorite at +260 odds, similar to the short lines we used to see on Tiger Woods in his prime. Finau is also back in action and going off at second on the board at +800. 

Rahm’s ownership numbers for fantasy purposes will be astronomical, but it’s justified for the returning champ in the form of his life against a field that doesn’t have a whole lot of pop top to bottom. 

2023 Mexico Open

Course Location: Vallarta, Mexico

Course: Vidanta Vallarta: 7,456 yards, Par 71. Greens: Paspalum

Past Winners

• 2022 – Jon Rahm, 267 (-17)

2023 Mexico Open DFS Picks By Price

12K-9K Range 

Jon Rahm, $12,000: There’s an argument to be made for fading Rahm in the big jackpot tournaments, hoping he somehow ejects and takes a massive chunk of entrants with him. But he’s an absolute must-own in cash games and other formats, and it’s still hard to leave him out of the big prize tourneys. 

The man has won four of his last 10 starts, and he finally had some time off to celebrate the Masters win after a T-15 finish at the RBC Heritage. He’s -300 for a top-10 this week and that tells you just how much of an advantage he has over the rest of the field. 

Nicolai Hojgaard, $9,500: This 22-year-old Danish prodigy has serious game, as the price this week indicates. This is a course that should favor the bomb-and-gouge crowd, with some serious length and not much trouble off the fairways. 

That fits Hojgaard for sure. He bombs it with the driver, the irons are above-average and he’s on a nice run with five top-15s and four top-10s in his last nine starts – including a solo second at the Corales Puntacana Championship. We highly recommend ponying up for Hojgaard at an event that could launch his career. 

9K-8K Range

Beau Hossler, $8,800: If we’re being completely honest, paying nearly 9K for Beau Hossler in a DFS lineup is an almost unspeakable proposition most weeks. This ain’t most weeks! 

Hossler can hit it plenty far with the driver, he just has a hard time landing it anywhere near the short stuff. That’s fine at this golf course and his distance will be a big advantage. He’s also an above-average short game player and a good week with the irons could have him in the hunt.

Alex Smalley, $8,400: Smalley has missed four of the last six cuts, and he doesn’t have a top-25 finish since January. Having said that, this should be a nice bounce-back week for the 26-year-old Duke alum. He’s definitely capable of competing at this level, finishing T-4 in Houston and T-5 at the RSM in back-to-back weeks earlier this season. 

That put him in good standing for the FedEx Cup, but he’s slipping in points and needs a big result to feel comfortable. This course looks like a great fit for the game, and he missed three consecutive cuts before a T-6 finish here last year. A T-2 at the Corales Puntacana Championship last year suggests he loves playing paspalum grass greens, so he could be a sneaky play this week. 

8K-7K Range

Nate Lashley, $7,700: Lashley often seems to elevate his game at sleepier tournaments like this – especially when it comes to the tropical locations. He’s gone T-3 and T-7 the last two years at the Puerto Rico Open, T-15 at the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship and T-11 at the 2022 Mexico Open. The common theme is paspalum (and weaker fields), so this is definitely a course fit even if the playing style doesn’t suggest it. 

And while the results haven’t been great, the Strokes Gained Approach numbers have been trending up for three straight starts and he was T-31 at the RBC Heritage two weeks ago. Lashley is a great play in this price range, and likely not a popular one.

Charley Hoffman, $7,200: Hoffman’s best playing days are certainly behind him, but at age 46 he can still surprise. He logged a highly-impressive T-14 against an elite field at the Waste Management Open, and he’s coming off back-to-back solid results with a T-22 at the Valero Texas Open and T-19 last week in New Orleans. 

He’s still averaging nearly 300 yards off the tee, and he can get away with a few foul balls this week. The irons aren’t bad either and these are grippy greens, which should help a shaky putter. Hoffman is worth a go this week in the low $7,000s. 

7K and Below

Matthias Schwab, $6,900: Getting into the bargain bin of all bargain bins now, and Schwab is a guy that immediately sticks out. He too has seen consistently strong results in tropical locals on these greens surfaces, most recently with a T-8 in Puntacana. 

He was also T-9 at the Zurich, which doesn’t really translate to stroke play but can’t hurt as far as the confidence boost goes. He’s currently firmly on the FedEx bubble as far as keeping his Tour card, and this is a massive week for the 28-year-old Austrian. He knows he needs another big result and this seems like the tourney to do it. 

Brent Grant, $6,800: At this price range, with this type of field, you’re just looking for a glimmer of hope. Grant has it. He’s a masher off the tee and actually keeps it pretty straight most of the time. 

The short game can be a big struggle, but these greens should be some of the most receptive on tour and drastically cut down on the number of tricky up-and-downs for a player like Grant. He finished T-8 last month in the Dominican Republic and the game seems to be coming around with three top-25 finishes this season. Another one here would go a long way. 

2023 Mexico Open, Date & TV

When: Thursday-Sunday, April 27-30

Where: Vidanta Vallarta, Vallarta, Mexico

TV: Golf Channel, CBS