Puerto Vallarta is gearing up for the México Open, a PGA Tour event that will be played on the Vidanta Vallarta Course from Feb. 22 to 25.
A purse of US $8.1 million will be paid out, and the winner will receive 500 FedEx Cup points in addition to the top prize of $1.5 million. Next week’s field is expected to include 144 players from around the world.
While the tournament isn’t a marquee event on the PGA Tour, it is the only PGA tournament of the week, so it will draw the interest of golf fans around the world. Broadcast coverage in the U.S. will be on NBC, ESPN+ and the Golf Channel.
The México Open, now in its third edition, is known for giving opportunities to Latin American players. A total of 31 golfers from the region, including six amateurs, have competed in the tournament since it began in 2022.
This year’s México Open will have at least eight Mexican golfers participating including Rodolfo Cazaubón, 34, from Tampico, Tamaulipas and Sebastián Vázquez, 33, from Mexico City. Though there are zero PGA Tour wins among them, Cazaubón has won four PGA Tour Latinoamérica events and was the PGA Tour Latinoamérica Player of the Year in 2015.
Vázquez, who finished in a tie for 55th and shot two rounds of 67, was the Mexican Amateur Champion in 2011 and 2012.
“It was a magical week, knowing that I can be among the best,” Vázquez said in an interview with the newspaper Crónica this week. As for this year, “I hope we celebrate on Sunday [Feb. 25] and it will be a tournament that changes my life … I have been fortunate to be the best in our country, but it is not enough. I always want to be better.”
Last year’s Mexico Open was won by American Tony Finau, who shot 66 or less each round to earn the $1.39 million championship check.
In the 2022 event, Spaniard Jon Rahm beat Finau by one stroke to pocket $1.31 million. Rahm is one of the sport’s best players, with two titles in two majors (2021 U.S. Open and 2023 Master’s) to his name.
Rahm is now part of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, which opened its 2024 season in Mexico earlier this month.
The course at the Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta resort is a par 71 and it was designed by all-time great Greg Norman. The Mexico Open is not to be confused with the Mexican Open, a professional men’s tennis tournament that will return to Acapulco next week despite major damage caused to the stadium by Hurricane Otis.
With reports from Crónica, Esto and Travel Dreams
