The PGA Tour heads south of the dangerous U.S. border this week for the Mexico Open. On the tour’s 2025 schedule, the Mexico stop fills the calendar between the West Coast and Florida swings.
The long-running national championship of Mexico will feature an extremely weak field in 2025, where not a single player is ranked inside the world top 25.
Despite the weakness of the OWGR due to the banning of LIV golf tournaments, the field features just four players inside the top 50, including Aaron Rai (No. 29), Akshay Bhatia (30), Rasmus Hojgaard (43) and Stephan Jaeger (50).
World No. 97 Jake Knapp returns to defend his maiden PGA Tour title.
As we do each week, here’s a roundup of information and data to get you prepped for a week of PGA Tour golf south of the border.
This week’s Primer is powered by Taylormade Golf.
PGA Tour Skinny
Tournament: Mexico Open
Title Sponsor: VidantaWorld
PGA Tour Debut: 2022
PGA Tour Week: 8th (of 34)
Dates: Feb. 20-23, 2025
Where: Vallarta, Mexico
Course: Vidanta Vallarta
Distance: Par 71, 7456 yards
Architect: Greg Norman (2015)
Format: 72-holes, stroke play
Purse: $7,000,000
Winning Share: $1,260,000
Defending Champion: Jake Knapp
How to Follow the Mexico Open
TELEVISION: Thu-Fri: 4-7 p.m. (GOLF); Sat-Sun: 1-3 p.m. (GOLF), 3-6 p.m. (NBC)
PGA TOUR LIVE: Thu-Fri: 9:15 a.m.-7 p.m. (ESPN+); Sat-Sun: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Watch on ESPN+
PGA TOUR RADIO: Thu-Fri: 1-7 p.m.; Sat-Sun: 1-6 p.m.
(PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio)
LINKS: Web | Instagram | X | Facebook
Mexico Open History
The roots of the Mexico Open date back to 1944 with PGA Tour pro Al Espinosa taking the first four editions. The famed Chapultepec course hosted fourteen of the tournament’s first 16 editions.
From 1944 through 2002 it was called the Mexican Open and was not associated with any tour. In 2003, it became part of the Tour de las Américas – the principal pro golf tour throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, superseded by PGA Tour Latinoamérica.
From 2008 through 2012 it was part of the PGA Tour’s major developmental tour (Nationwide and Web). In 2013 it became part of the PGA Tour Latinoamérica, formerly known as the aforementioned Tour de las Américas.
The Mexican-American Espinosa holds the record for the most Mexico Open wins with four. He’s followed by Argentinian legend Roberto De Vicenzo, who won three titles in a five-year span (1951, 1953, 1955).
Then world No. 1 Jon Rahm won the reboot edition in 2022.
Lee Trevino is the tournament’s most iconic champion. The “Merry Mex” is a two-time winner (1973, 1975) and the only player in history to win the national open championship of the United States (US Open), Canada (Canadian Open), Britain (British Open), and Mexico (Mexico Open).
Other two-time winners include Americans Tony Holguin (1949-50), Tony Lema (1961-62) and Stewart Cink (1996, 1999).
Ernesto Pérez Acosta (1970, 1976) is the only Mexican native to win multiple titles.
The new version of the Mexico Open also has bloodlines to the WGC-Mexico Championship as this was the tournament it replaced on the PGA Tour schedule. It was also initially retitled to the Mexico Championship, before deciding to take ownership of the Mexico Open’s history.
It’s also being managed and sponsored by Grupo Salinas, which ran the three editions of the WGC stop in Mexico at Chapultepec.
History: Tournament Names
- Mexico Open at VidantaWorld (2025)
- Mexico Open (2022-24)
- Abierto Mexicano de Golf (2018-21)
- Mexico Open (2015-16)
- TransAmerican Power Products CRV Mexico Open (2014)
- Abierto Mexicano de Golf (2013)
- Mexico Open (2011-12)
- Mexico Open Bicentenary (2010)
- Mexico Open (2008-09)
- Abierto Mexicano Corona (2005-06)
- Mexican Open (1944-2003)
Mexico Open Field
Easily the weakest field of 2025 will tee it up at Vidanta Vallarta for the Mexico Open’s fourth edition on the PGA Tour.
Leading the way is Jake Knapp, who enters as the defending champion. The 30-year-old American enters off a T17 finish at last week’s Genesis Invitational – his best result of 2025.
Other familiar names include Aaron Rai, Akshay Bhatia, Rasmus Hojgaard and Emiliano Grillo.
Top-5 Betting Favorites
1. Akshay Bhatia (14-1)
2. Rasmus Hojgaard (18-1)
3. Stephan Jaeger (20-1)
3. Kurt Kitayama (22-1)
5. Patrick Rodgers (25-1)
5. Taylor Moore (25-1)
Full Field: Rank & Odds
Mexico Open . Vidanta Vallarta . Vallarta, Mexico . Feb 20-23, 2025
Joel Cook contributed to this preview.
Credits: PGA Tour Media, OWGR, Bovada, Getty Images, Wikipedia
