The Mexico Open has made its mark on professional golf for nearly 80 years, serving as Mexico’s national championship.
Recently, it has been a Challenge Tour, Web.com (Korn Ferry) Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamérica event. But now, in 2022, it will be a stop on the PGA Tour calendar for the first time ever — taking the WGC-Mexico Championship’s place.
Here’s what you need to know about the Tour’s newest event:
The field
Jon Rahm highlights the field of 144, but with Daniel Berger withdrawing Monday, Tony Finau and Mexico’s own Abraham Ancer are the only other two in the world’s top 25 playing this week.
Kevin Na, Patrick Reed, Cameron Tringale, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Sebastian Munoz and Matt Jones round out the world’s top 75 who will tee it up in Mexico, while Gary Woodland, Anirban Lahiri, Carlos Ortiz and Chris Kirk are the only other players in the OWGR’s top 100 in the field.
But with the winner walking away with 500 FedExCup points and $1,314,000 from the $7.3 million purse, a victory this week could be life-changing.
Full-field scores from Mexico Open at Vidanta
The two Bens
The two — and only — Bens in the field this week are both stories to keep an eye on.
First, let’s start with Ben Martin, the 2014 Shriners Hospitals Open winner. Last month at the Corales Puntacana Championship, the 34-year-old held the lead after each of the first three rounds, but with his Tour status hanging by a thread, he lost the lead late on Sunday and missed a short putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff.
Afterward, he had one of the most emotional press conferences you’ll ever see. Though he’s played three times since (hasn’t fared better than top 50), the world No. 337 will have a chance to avenge that defeat on another tropical course.
- More than 7 years since he last won on TOUR
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 28, 2022
- Leader after 18, 36 and 54 holes this week
- Lost the lead on the back nine Sunday
- Missed a short putt on 18 to force a playoff
Heartbreak for Ben Martin @CoralesChamp 💔 pic.twitter.com/MkM5W2x2xf
Now, Ben Griffin. Less than a year ago, the 25-year-old retired from golf and became a mortgage loan officer following five consecutive missed cuts on the Latinoamérica tour.
But after several months off, the former UNC All-American was invited to play as a member guest at Highland Springs Country Club and then a few weeks later, club members paid for him to play the Price Cutter Charity Championship’s Monday qualifier. He got in the event, with his grandfather, who had recently passed, looking over him, he said. He then inked an endorsement deal and was all-in again on his professional golf career.
That move is paying off. He earned KFT status at Q-School and is now on the verge of notching Tour status as he’s currently sixth on the KFT points list.
Hometown heroes
Last season, Ancer and Carlos Ortiz became the first Mexicans to win on Tour since Victor Regalado at the 1978 Quad Cities Open. Earlier this season, Ortiz, whose 31st birthday was Sunday, rallied for a runner-up finish at Mayakoba. He would love to give the home crowd another strong showing despite having not made a cut since February.
But Ortiz’s little brother, Alvaro (pictured above), who won this tournament in 2021 as a Latinoamérica event, will look to steal the spotlight.
Alvaro, who’s playing on the KFT this year, has seven career Tour starts but has missed five cuts. He, however, won the 2019 Latin America Amateur Championship (runner-up in ’17 and ’18) and earned an invitation to the ’19 Masters, where he placed T-36, one shot behind Viktor Hovland, who won low-am honors.
“It’s a dream come true that we get to play here that we’ve been coming for, man, I don’t know how long —since I have a memory, we’ve been coming here to Puerto Vallarta,” Alvaro said. “It’s going to be an awesome week. We have our families. We don’t get to be together often, so that just makes it a little more special, too.”
Other Mexicans in the field include Armando Favela, Roberto Díaz, Santiago De La Fuente, Manuel Inman, Jose Cristobal Islas, Jose Antonio Safa and Isidro Benitez — bringing the field’s total to 10, a Tour record.
“Having an event like this creates opportunities for other Mexican players,” Ancer said. “The lessons you learn in an event like this are priceless.”
History class
The Mexico Open boasts an abundance of illustrious past champions, including Stewart Cink, Jay Haas, Fred Funk, Billy Casper, Ben Crenshaw and Lee Trevino.
Roberto De Vicenzo, the 1967 Open winner, claimed the Mexico Open three times.
But the only player to have more Mexico Open wins than De Vicenzo is American Al Espinosa, who, starting in 1944, won the tournament’s first four editions.
Espinosa was a multiple-time Tour winner and a three-time Ryder Cupper, but he’s best known for his defeats. At the 1927 PGA Championship, he lost to Walter Hagen in the match-play semifinals after missing a 3-footer to win and then three-putting on the first bonus hole. He also was the runner-up at the ’28 PGA.
At the 1929 U.S. Open, Bobby Jones carded a final-round 79 but sank a 12-foot putt on the final green to tie Espinosa. Jones would then win in a 36-hole playoff by 23 strokes.
The course
The event will be held at Vidanta Vallarta for the first time. The Greg Norman design sits on the Banderas Bay in Nuevo Vallarta on Mexico’s Pacific coast. It will play as a “bombers paradise” — 7,456 yards long with wide fairways and no penalty in the rough. The Paspalum grass course was transformed from a par 73 to a 71 for the tournament and was also lengthened by roughly 200 yards from its original design, while 51 bunkers were added, bringing its total to 106.