Sport
Mexico Open preview: Rahm on course to continue dominance
The PGA Tour takes to Mexico this week as Jon Rahm looks to defend his title and continue his impeccable form this year. Tony Finau looks the likeliest to put up a fight in an American dominated field.
We preview the action below.
Rahm set to defend his title
Jon Rahm has been the standout player in world golf this year, with four tournament wins under his belt already including a Masters victory at Augusta National earlier this month which made him the only European to player to have won both The Masters and US Open.
Jon Rahm is the reigning champion at Vidanta Vallarta having won the tournament with a score of 17-under par. The Spaniard is the favourite to defend his title at 13/5 and his form certainly doesn’t suggest any reason why he shouldn’t be towards the very top of the leaderboard come the end of the week.
Vidanta Vallarta is certainly not a short course at 7,456 yards which will play right into Rahm’s hands with an average driving distance of over 310 yards, the 14th best on the tour. With all factors playing into the reigning Masters champion’s hands he will be looking to assert his dominance as early as possible and the Spaniard is 10/1 to be leading after the first round.
Check out the latest golf betting odds at William Hill
Tony Finau back for more
Tony Finau narrowly missed out on victory last year finishing 16-under, one shot behind Rahm. Having shot a first round 71 last year it is unsurprising that Finau is out at 20/1 to lead after the first round, but he can never be counted out, as shown last year when he shot a final round 63.
The American improved with every round last year shooting scoring 71, 68, 66 and 63 last year and will hope to continue that improvement. Finau is a worthy second favourite at 8/1 and with three of his five PGA Tour wins being within the past year he doesn’t lack momentum coming into this.
Finau, nicknamed ‘Big Tone’ on the tour, shouldn’t struggle with the length of the course with his driving average of just over 300 yards more than enough to tackle this test. Ranking first on the tour for strokes gained on his approaches to the green, if he can keep his driver steady, he has every chance of causing Rahm problems at the top of the leaderboard.
Brandon Wu an enticing outsider
The 26-year-old American has been a notable youngster since 2020 when he secured his first professional win at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship aged just 23.
Wu achieved his best ever PGA Tour finish at this event last year as he was tied for second with fellow American’s Tony Finau and Kurt Kitayama, making it a surprise that he is such a big outsider at 50/1.
Wu had a relatively lowkey start to last year’s tournament as he was three under after two rounds and is unlikely to fly out of the blocks this year at 60/1 to be the first round leader. However, similar to Finau, Wu shot up the leaderboard in the final two rounds as he scored a combined -13 to finish 16-under par.
While he isn’t an obvious contender to be making the headlines throughout the week, the young American is certainly one to keep an eye on.
