Here are Round 1 tee times and TV info for the WGC-Mexico Championship beginning Thursday.
The World Golf Championships- Mexico Championship begins Thursday at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City, Mexico, and the field includes some of the world’s best golfers.
The field features eight of the top 10 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking and six of the top 10 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking.
Reigning champion Dustin Johnson returns to defend his title which he won in 2019 by five strokes over Rory McIlroy. Johnson is paired with Francesco Molinari and Abraham Ancer for the first two rounds. The group will tee off Thursday’s first round at 12:39 p.m. ET from the 10th tee.
McIlroy, also in the field, begins the week as the No. 1 ranked player in both Official World Golf Ranking and the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking. McIlroy will tee off his first round from No. 10 at 12:51 p.m. ET alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Gary Woodland.
All times listed in Eastern.
Round 1
1st tee
Tee time
Players
12:03 p.m.
Tyrrell Hatton, Scott Hend, Byeong Hun An
12:15 p.m.
Bubba Watson, Louis Oosthuizen, Ryo Ishikawa
12:27 p.m.
Corey Conners, Cameron Smith, Matt Kuchar
12:39 p.m.
Marcus Kinhult, Brendon Todd, Pablo Larrazabal
12:51 p.m.
Lanto Griffin, Graeme McDowell, Branden Grace
1:03 p.m.
Matt Wallace, Jorge Campillo, Chez Reavie
1:15 p.m.
Lucas Herbert, Tae Hee Lee, Kurt Kitayama
1:27 p.m.
Bernd Wiesberger, Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Fitzpatrick
1:39 p.m.
Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood
1:51 p.m.
Hideki Matsuyama, Marc Leishman, Justin Thomas
2:03 p.m.
Adam Scott, Carlos Ortiz, Jon Rahm
2:15 p.m.
Shane Lowry, Jordan Spieth, Sung Kang
10th tee
Tee time
Players
12:03 p.m.
Shaun Norris, Lucas Glover, Jazz Janewattananond
12:15 p.m.
Rafa Cabrera Bello, Ryan Fox, Billy Horschel
12:27 p.m.
Kevin Kisner, Xander Schauffele, Paul Casey
12:39 p.m.
Francesco Molinari, Dustin Johnson, Abraham Ancer
12:51 p.m.
Tommy Fleetwood, Gary Woodland, Rory McIlroy
1:03 p.m.
Patrick Reed, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Sungjae Im
1:15 p.m.
Collin Morikawa, Benjamin Hebert, Zach Murray
1:27 p.m.
Robert MacIntyre, Justin Harding, Charles Howell III
1:39 p.m.
Scottie Scheffler, Michael Lorenzo-Vera, Erik van Rooyen
Here are fantasy golf power rankings for the WGC-Mexico Championship.
Club de Golf Chapultepec hosts the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship for the fourth straight year and eight of the top-10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings are in attendance. All 72 members of the field will play all four rounds, barring withdrawal, at the no-cut event. Here, we break down the best fantasy golf picks for the WGC-Mexico Championship.
WGC-Mexico Championship: Fantasy Golf Top 30
Here are my top-30 fantasy golf rankings for the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec.
30. Jordan Spieth
Spieth was T-12 in 2017 and T-14 in 2018 before slipping to T-54 last year. He was coming off a great all-around performance at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am before a dismal tee-to-green display at the Genesis Invitational resulted in a T-59th-place finish.
Six weeks removed from his win at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Smith returns to Mexico following a T-6 last year. He has missed the cut in each of his last two events, but he at least gained 1.9 strokes on approach last week.
28. Danny Willett
Ignore Willett’s T-3 at “this event” in 2016, as it came at Doral Golf Resort in Florida when the tournament was known as the WGC-Cadillac Championship. He also missed the cut last week, but he won the BMW PGA Championship in September to remind people he can still compete in strong fields.
27. Rafa Cabrera Bello
RCB tied for third in 2018 and 19th last year. He had a strong T-17 showing last week after missing the cut at Pebble Beach in his 2020 North American debut.
26. Sungjae Im
Im’s missed cut last week snapped a worldwide streak of 15 straight events in which he played all four rounds dating back to the Open Championship. He’s assured four rounds this week.
25. Abraham Ancer
The top golfer in the field from Mexico, Ancer has disappointing results of a T-52 and T-39 in the last two years at this event. He’s coming off of back-to-back strong putting performances, and he has a great approach game.
24. Byeong Hun An
An has been off since a ninth-place finish at the Waste Manage Phoenix Open. Putting, like usual, was his problem, as he ranked among the best in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and SG: Around-the-Green. He’s a great scrambler and is well-equipped for the tight fairways of Chapultepec.
23. Bubba Watson
Watson picked up second- and third-place finishes in the last two years this event was held at Doral. His best showing in three years in Mexico was a T-9 in 2018. He’s coming off a rare missed cut at the Genesis, but it was almost entirely the result of a horrid and uncharacteristic putting performance.
22. Chez Reavie
Reavie is one of the best in the field on SG: Approach, and he’s good from this week’s key proximity distance of 150-175 yards. He has put together back-to-back strong performances to snap a skid of three straight missed cuts.
21. Corey Conners
Conners will make his debut in Mexico following his win at last year’s Valero Texas Open. He’s second in the field in Opportunities Gained and is an expert ball-striker.
20. Kevin Kisner
Kisner’s lone career WGC win was at the 2019 Match Play. He has finished outside the top 25 each of the last two years here following an 11th-place finish in Mexico in 2017.
19. Brandt Snedeker
Snedeker has skipped this event each of the last two years following a T-7 finish in 2017. He missed the cut at Pebble Beach and Phoenix following a third-place result at the Farmers Insurance Open. His approach game and play around the greens has remained strong.
18. Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton will play an event in North America for the first time since The Northern Trust in mid-August. He has since won the Turkish Airlines Open for his fourth career victory and he’ll return to competitive play for the first time since late November.
17. Collin Morikawa
Morikawa has made the cut in all 18 of his PGA Tour events as a professional. He’ll participate in his first WGC event this week, after his first career win came at the alternate Barracuda Championship running the same week as the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
16. Sergio Garcia
Sergio tied for sixth last year following a T-7 in 2018 and a T-12 in 2017. The 2017 Masters champion has never won a WGC event, but he has been a frequent top-10 finisher in no-cut tournaments.
15. Marc Leishman
The Farmers Insurance Open champ returned to competitive play last week and again dominated on approach, gaining 5.3 strokes. He has lost strokes putting in two of his last three events but needs just to be average for a top finish.
14. Matt Kuchar
A co-leader entering Sunday’s final round of the Genesis, Kuch finished as a co-runner-up and enters this week 24th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He hasn’t had much success in Mexico, however, finishing 50th last year and T-58 in 2018 after a T-20 debut in 2017.
13. Louis Oosthuizen
Oosthuizen has been playing very well on the European and Australasian Tours and will play in North America for the first time since the 2019 Tour Championship. He finished T-25 last year for his best result in three appearances in Mexico.
12. Patrick Reed
Reed’s best result at Chapultepec also came last year with a T-14 result. He’s an average putter on the Poa Annua surface, but his approach game has been excellent of late.
11. Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau’s debut at this event last year ended with a T-56 result. He tied for fifth last week while gaining 10.6 strokes from tee-to-green and 3.5 strokes on approach.
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10. Paul Casey
Casey tied for third here in 2019 for his best result in this event. He’s generally a poor putter on Poa Annua, but it hasn’t held him back here, and he gained 5.6 strokes on approach last week.
9. Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood was the runner-up at this event in 2017, but he slipped to T-14 and T-19 in each of the last two years, respectively. He’ll participate in his first PGA Tour event since a T-53 result at the WGC-HSBC Champions. He has since won the Nedbank Golf Challenge and finished second at both the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai and Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
8. Xander Schauffele
Schauffele improved on a T-18 result in 2018 to finish T-14 in 2019. His best putting surface has historically been Poa Annua, and he has gained strokes off the tee in seven straight measured events.
7. Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama enters the week ninth in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He has two career wins in WGC events and finished T-19 here last year in his second appearance in Mexico.
6. Webb Simpson
Simpson benefits from the elevation of Chapultepec making it play much shorter than its 7,345-yard measurement. He has finished outside the top 35 each of the last two years, but he hasn’t finished worse than T-30 in 17 stroke-play events since missing the cut at last year’s Valspar Championship.
5. Justin Thomas
Thomas has strangely missed the cut in two of his last three events, but he still has more wins (3) than missed cuts since the US Open. He has finished inside the top 10 in all three years this event has been held in Mexico.
4. Adam Scott
Scott’s lone Mexico appearance was a T-45 in 2017. He’ll return this week off his win at the Genesis Invitational. His last WGC win – the 2016 Cadillac Championship – came the week after he claimed victory at the Honda Classic.
3. Jon Rahm
Rahm tied for third in 2017, but he slipped to T-20 in 2018 and T-45 last year. He’s a great putter on Poa Annua, but he has struggled around the greens in each of his last two events.
2. Rory McIlroy
McIlroy was the runner-up last year, and he tied for seventh in 2017 but skipped the 2018 event. He’s a top scrambler and is able to escape the trouble of the tight fairways.
1. Dustin Johnson
Johnson has won this event two of the last three years since it moved to Mexico. He has six career WGC titles, including the 2017 Match Play.
Here are WGC-Mexico Championship odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets for this week’s event.
Eight of the top 10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings are in attendance for this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec near Mexico City, Mexico. Below, we’ll analyze the golf betting odds, while making our picks to win the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship.
The key stats for the 7,345-yard, par-71 Club de Golf Chapultepec are:
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Scrambling
Opportunities Gained
Bogeys Avoided
Proximity from 150-175 Yards
Par 4 Efficiency: 400-450 Yards
My model at Fantasy National looks at the most recent 24 rounds for each golfer in the field on courses shorter than 7,200 yards. It’s a more accurate depiction of Chapultepec’s length due to the elevation of nearly 1.5 miles above sea level.
McIlroy, the No. 1 golfer in the world, entered Sunday’s final round of last week’s Genesis Invitational as a co-leader but struggled to a T-5 finish with a final round of 2-over par 73. It was his worst finish in five worldwide events since a T-26 at the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
He leads this week’s stat model in Bogeys Avoided and SG: Scrambling. He was the runner-up to Dustin Johnson last year (by five strokes), and he tied for seventh in 2017.
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Adam Scott (+2000)
Scott’s win last week was his second straight victory after winning the Australian PGA Championship to conclude his 2019 season. The 2013 Masters champion has won two WGC events in his career, including the 2016 Cadillac Championship, which was the former name of this event when played in Doral, Florida. He went back-to-back that year as well, winning the WGC the week after the Honda Classic.
WGC-Mexico Championship – Tier 2
Byeong Hun An (+6600)
An has played this event two of the last three years, finishing T-48 in 2017 and T-45 last year. He enters the week ranked 40th in the world, but he hasn’t competed since a T-9 finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
He’s one of the best in the field at scrambling and from the key proximity distance. An has lost strokes putting at five straight measured events and just needs to be average with the flat stick.
Tyrrell Hatton (+6600)
Hatton is a strong value play with three straight top-20 finishes at this event in Mexico. He finished alone in 10th in 2017, tied for third in 2018 and tied for 19th last year. He enters the week well-rested, after last appearing at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in late November. He won the Turkish Airlines Open in his second-to-last event for his fourth professional win.
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WGC-Mexico Championship – Longshots
Chez Reavie (+10000)
Reavie has rebounded from a horrid stretch of three straight missed cuts to finish T-25 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and T-10 at last week’s Genesis Invitational. He doesn’t have a strong history at this event with a T-52 finish in 2018 and T-65 last year, but he enters this year’s tournament 13th in the stat model while leaning on a strong approach game.
Sebastian Munoz (+15000)
Munoz opened the Genesis Invitational 69-69 before slipping down the leaderboard over the weekend en route to a T-26 finish. The native of Colombia will make his professional debut at Chapultepec. He already has a win in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season, but only 12 members of the 72-man field have worse odds to win.
Complete odds
Player
Odds
Rory McIlroy
+600
Dustin Johnson
+700
Jon Rahm
+1000
Justin Thomas
+1000
Adam Scott
+1600
Webb Simpson
+1600
Hideki Matsuyama
+2000
Xander Schauffele
+2000
Tommy Fleetwood
+2200
Bryson DeChambeau
+2500
Louis Oosthuizen
+3300
Patrick Reed
+3300
Gary Woodland
+4000
Paul Casey
+4000
Matt Kuchar
+4000
Mark Leishman
+4000
Sergio Garcia
+4000
Collin Morikawa
+4000
Bubba Watson
+4500
Abraham Ancer
+5000
Jordan Spieth
+5000
Matthew Fitzpatrick
+5000
Shane Lowry
+5000
Sungjae Im
+5000
Brandt Snedeker
+6600
Byeong Hun An
+6600
Cameron Smith
+6600
Bernd Wiesberger
+8000
Billy Horschel
+8000
Branden Grace
+8000
Kevin Kisner
+8000
Rafa Cabrera Bello
+8000
Victor Perez
+8000
Corey Conners
+9000
Kurt Kitayama
+9000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
+10000
Danny Willett
+10000
Graeme McDowell
+10000
Kevin Na
+10000
Matthias Schwab
+10000
Robert MacIntyre
+10000
Charles Howell III
+12500
Francesco Molinari
+12500
Jason Kokrak
+12500
Lee Westwood
+12500
Brendon Todd
+12500
Lanto Griffin
+12500
Scottie Scheffler
+12500
Carlos Ortiz
+15000
Jazz Janewattananond
+15000
Lucas Glover
+15000
Lucas Herbert
+15000
Matt Wallace
+15000
Michael Lorenzo-Vera
+15000
Ryan Fox
+15000
Sebastián Muñoz
+15000
Marcus Kinhult
+20000
Benjamin Hebert
+25000
Justin Harding
+25000
Shugo Imahira
25000
Zander Lombard
+25000
Jorge Campillo
+30000
Pablo Larrazabal
+30000
Ryo Ishikawa
+30000
Scott Hend
+30000
Shaun Norris
+30000
Zach Murray
+30000
Tae Hee Lee
+50000
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Analyzing the best fantasy golf options for the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec.
Club de Golf Chapultepec hosts the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship for the fourth straight year and eight of the top-10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings are in attendance. All 72 members of the field will play all four rounds, barring withdrawal, at the no-cut event. Here, we break down the best fantasy golf picks for the WGC-Mexico Championship.
WGC-Mexico Championship: Fantasy Golf Top 30
Here are my top-30 fantasy golf rankings for the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec.
30. Jordan Spieth
Spieth was T-12 in 2017 and T-14 in 2018 before slipping to T-54 last year. He was coming off a great all-around performance at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am before a dismal tee-to-green display at the Genesis Invitational resulted in a T-59th-place finish.
29. Cameron Smith
Six weeks removed from his win at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Smith returns to Mexico following a T-6 last year. He has missed the cut in each of his last two events, but he at least gained 1.9 strokes on approach last week.
28. Danny Willett
Ignore Willett’s T-3 at “this event” in 2016, as it came at Doral Golf Resort in Florida when the tournament was known as the WGC-Cadillac Championship. He also missed the cut last week, but he won the BMW PGA Championship in September to remind people he can still compete in strong fields.
27. Rafa Cabrera Bello
RCB tied for third in 2018 and 19th last year. He had a strong T-17 showing last week after missing the cut at Pebble Beach in his 2020 North American debut.
26. Sungjae Im
Im’s missed cut last week snapped a worldwide streak of 15 straight events in which he played all four rounds dating back to the Open Championship. He’s assured four rounds this week.
25. Abraham Ancer
The top golfer in the field from Mexico, Ancer has disappointing results of a T-52 and T-39 in the last two years at this event. He’s coming off of back-to-back strong putting performances, and he has a great approach game.
24. Byeong Hun An
An has been off since a ninth-place finish at the Waste Manage Phoenix Open. Putting, like usual, was his problem, as he ranked among the best in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and SG: Around-the-Green. He’s a great scrambler and is well-equipped for the tight fairways of Chapultepec.
23. Bubba Watson
Watson picked up second- and third-place finishes in the last two years this event was held at Doral. His best showing in three years in Mexico was a T-9 in 2018. He’s coming off a rare missed cut at the Genesis, but it was almost entirely the result of a horrid and uncharacteristic putting performance.
22. Chez Reavie
Reavie is one of the best in the field on SG: Approach, and he’s good from this week’s key proximity distance of 150-175 yards. He has put together back-to-back strong performances to snap a skid of three straight missed cuts.
21. Corey Conners
Conners will make his debut in Mexico following his win at last year’s Valero Texas Open. He’s second in the field in Opportunities Gained and is an expert ball-striker.
20. Kevin Kisner
Kisner’s lone career WGC win was at the 2019 Match Play. He has finished outside the top 25 each of the last two years here following an 11th-place finish in Mexico in 2017.
19. Brandt Snedeker
Snedeker has skipped this event each of the last two years following a T-7 finish in 2017. He missed the cut at Pebble Beach and Phoenix following a third-place result at the Farmers Insurance Open. His approach game and play around the greens has remained strong.
18. Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton will play an event in North America for the first time since The Northern Trust in mid-August. He has since won the Turkish Airlines Open for his fourth career victory and he’ll return to competitive play for the first time since late November.
17. Collin Morikawa
Morikawa has made the cut in all 18 of his PGA Tour events as a professional. He’ll participate in his first WGC event this week, after his first career win came at the alternate Barracuda Championship running the same week as the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
16. Sergio Garcia
Sergio tied for sixth last year following a T-7 in 2018 and a T-12 in 2017. The 2017 Masters champion has never won a WGC event, but he has been a frequent top-10 finisher in no-cut tournaments.
15. Marc Leishman
The Farmers Insurance Open champ returned to competitive play last week and again dominated on approach, gaining 5.3 strokes. He has lost strokes putting in two of his last three events but needs just to be average for a top finish.
14. Matt Kuchar
A co-leader entering Sunday’s final round of the Genesis, Kuch finished as a co-runner-up and enters this week 24th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He hasn’t had much success in Mexico, however, finishing 50th last year and T-58 in 2018 after a T-20 debut in 2017.
13. Louis Oosthuizen
Oosthuizen has been playing very well on the European and Australasian Tours and will play in North America for the first time since the 2019 Tour Championship. He finished T-25 last year for his best result in three appearances in Mexico.
12. Patrick Reed
Reed’s best result at Chapultepec also came last year with a T-14 result. He’s an average putter on the Poa Annua surface, but his approach game has been excellent of late.
11. Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau’s debut at this event last year ended with a T-56 result. He tied for fifth last week while gaining 10.6 strokes from tee-to-green and 3.5 strokes on approach.
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10. Paul Casey
Casey tied for third here in 2019 for his best result in this event. He’s generally a poor putter on Poa Annua, but it hasn’t held him back here, and he gained 5.6 strokes on approach last week.
9. Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood was the runner-up at this event in 2017, but he slipped to T-14 and T-19 in each of the last two years, respectively. He’ll participate in his first PGA Tour event since a T-53 result at the WGC-HSBC Champions. He has since won the Nedbank Golf Challenge and finished second at both the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai and Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
8. Xander Schauffele
Schauffele improved on a T-18 result in 2018 to finish T-14 in 2019. His best putting surface has historically been Poa Annua, and he has gained strokes off the tee in seven straight measured events.
7. Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama enters the week ninth in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He has two career wins in WGC events and finished T-19 here last year in his second appearance in Mexico.
6. Webb Simpson
Simpson benefits from the elevation of Chapultepec making it play much shorter than its 7,345-yard measurement. He has finished outside the top 35 each of the last two years, but he hasn’t finished worse than T-30 in 17 stroke-play events since missing the cut at last year’s Valspar Championship.
5. Justin Thomas
Thomas has strangely missed the cut in two of his last three events, but he still has more wins (3) than missed cuts since the US Open. He has finished inside the top 10 in all three years this event has been held in Mexico.
4. Adam Scott
Scott’s lone Mexico appearance was a T-45 in 2017. He’ll return this week off his win at the Genesis Invitational. His last WGC win – the 2016 Cadillac Championship – came the week after he claimed victory at the Honda Classic.
3. Jon Rahm
Rahm tied for third in 2017, but he slipped to T-20 in 2018 and T-45 last year. He’s a great putter on Poa Annua, but he has struggled around the greens in each of his last two events.
2. Rory McIlroy
McIlroy was the runner-up last year, and he tied for seventh in 2017 but skipped the 2018 event. He’s a top scrambler and is able to escape the trouble of the tight fairways.
1. Dustin Johnson
Johnson has won this event two of the last three years since it moved to Mexico. He has six career WGC titles, including the 2017 Match Play.
Analyzing the golf betting odds to win the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship, with PGA Tour betting odds, picks, predictions and best bets.
Eight of the top 10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings are in attendance for this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec near Mexico City, Mexico. Below, we’ll analyze the golf betting odds, while making our picks to win the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship.
The key stats for the 7,345-yard, par-71 Club de Golf Chapultepec are:
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Scrambling
Opportunities Gained
Bogeys Avoided
Proximity from 150-175 Yards
Par 4 Efficiency: 400-450 Yards
My model at Fantasy National looks at the most recent 24 rounds for each golfer in the field on courses shorter than 7,200 yards. It’s a more accurate depiction of Chapultepec’s length due to the elevation of nearly 1.5 miles above sea level.
McIlroy, the No. 1 golfer in the world, entered Sunday’s final round of last week’s Genesis Invitational as a co-leader but struggled to a T-5 finish with a final round of 2-over par 73. It was his worst finish in five worldwide events since a T-26 at the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
He leads this week’s stat model in Bogeys Avoided and SG: Scrambling. He was the runner-up to Dustin Johnson last year (by five strokes), and he tied for seventh in 2017.
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Adam Scott (+2000)
Scott’s win last week was his second straight victory after winning the Australian PGA Championship to conclude his 2019 season. The 2013 Masters champion has won two WGC events in his career, including the 2016 Cadillac Championship, which was the former name of this event when played in Doral, Fla. He went back-to-back that year as well, winning the WGC the week after the Honda Classic.
WGC-Mexico Championship – Tier 2
Byeong Hun An (+6600)
An has played this event two of the last three years, finishing T-48 in 2017 and T-45 last year. He enters the week ranked 40th in the world, but he hasn’t competed since a T-9 finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
He’s one of the best in the field at scrambling and from the key proximity distance. An has lost strokes putting at five straight measured events and just needs to be average with the flat stick.
Tyrrell Hatton (+6600)
Hatton is a strong value play with three straight top-20 finishes at this event in Mexico. He finished alone in 10th in 2017, tied for third in 2018 and tied for 19th last year. He enters the week well-rested, after last appearing at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in late November. He won the Turkish Airlines Open in his second-to-last event for his fourth professional win.
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WGC-Mexico Championship – Longshots
Chez Reavie (+10000)
Reavie has rebounded from a horrid stretch of three straight missed cuts to finish T-25 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and T-10 at last week’s Genesis Invitational. He doesn’t have a strong history at this event with a T-52 finish in 2018 and T-65 last year, but he enters this year’s tournament 13th in the stat model while leaning on a strong approach game.
Sebastian Munoz (+15000)
Munoz opened the Genesis Invitational 69-69 before slipping down the leaderboard over the weekend en route to a T-26 finish. The native of Colombia will make his professional debut at Chapultepec. He already has a win in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season, but only 12 members of the 72-man field have worse odds to win.
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We break down the field of the World Golf Championships- Mexico Championship by Golfweek/Sagarins and OWGR rankings.
The World Golf Championships- Mexico Championship begins Thursday at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City, Mexico, and the field includes some of the world’s best golfers.
The field features eight of the top 10 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking and six of the top 10 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking.
Rory McIlroy, now the No. 1-ranked player in both rankings, leads the way for the second-straight week.
For the 2019-20 season, the average ranking of the winner heading into the week in which they won PGA Tour event has been 92.2 in Golfweek/Sagarins and 125.2 in the OWGR.
Adam Scott joins Aussies Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman as winners on the PGA Tour in 2020.
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Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.
Adam Scott’s resolute victory in Sunday’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club kept his home country of Australia rolling on the PGA Tour in 2020. With his first victory on the PGA Tour in nearly four years – and the 14th of his career – the 2013 Masters champion became the sixth man from Down Under to win on professionals tours around the world this year.
Last year, just two Australians registered victories around the world. Well, the men from Oz passed that the first month of 2020.
Scott joined Cameron Smith (Sony Open) and Marc Leishman (Farmers Insurance Open) as winners on the PGA Tour, while Lucas Herbert (Omega Desert Classic) and Min Woo Lee (Vic Open) earned their maiden victories on the European Tour. Wade Ormsby won the Hong Kong Open on a tour co-sanctioned by the Asian and European tours.
Scott, who got the best of rugged Riviera and won by two shots over Scott Brown, Sung Kang and Matt Kuchar and by three over world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, credits the Presidents Cup in Australia in December for spurring on his countrymen.
The Internationals nearly pulled off the upset of the Americans before falling late, 16-14, at Royal Melbourne. Scott, Smith and Leishman played on that team.
“I’ve seen it before, with some guys off the back of an incredible Presidents Cup experience where there’s pressure out on the golf course and guys really learning and elevating their games and then putting that into practice the next time they’re in a pressure situation,” Scott said Sunday. “I know I did that back in 2003, we played in December in South Africa and I remember leading the Players going into Sunday but using that pressure situation playing with Ernie (Els) in South Africa as a way to know that I can handle it, and I think some of us might have done that off the back of this Presidents Cup.
“And it’s certainly motivation for me seeing Cam and Marc win to come out and make sure I’m not the one lagging behind, so over to Jason (Day).”
Day, who has played well but is winless since 2018, won’t join his mates with a victory this week as he’s not playing the WGC-Mexico Championship. But Australia will be well represented with Scott, Smith, Leishman, Herbert and Scott Hend in the field.
While three of the top-10 players in the world are bypassing the Mexico Championship – world No. 2 Brooks Koepka, No. 6 Patrick Cantlay and No. 9 Tiger Woods – the field is still stacked.
McIlroy, No. 3 Jon Rahm, No. 4 Justin Thomas, No. 5 and defending champion Dustin Johnson, No. 7 Scott, No. 8 Webb Simpson and No. 10 Xander Schauffele are teeing it up in the second WGC event of the season.
Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen, reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry, reigning U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and Leishman make it 15 of the top 20 in the field.
Major champions Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell and Francesco Molinari are among others playing.
Scott is definitely one of the favorites this week. The last time he ended a winless drought came in 2016 when he won the Honda Classic. The following week his won the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
“I think anytime you’re coming off a drought of wins, I’ve always kind of judged myself and graded myself on winning tournaments and I’ve done that fairly consistently throughout my career, but it’s been nearly four years since I won on the PGA Tour,” he said. “This is an important step for whatever this next few years is in my career. So I think it is important, it can definitely be used for momentum.”
Tiger Woods allowed the entry deadline to pass Friday for the WGC-Mexico Championship without signing up.
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Where will Tiger play next?
That question has not yet been answered as Tiger Woods, who is currently serving as host and competitor at the 2020 Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, did not commit to next week’s World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship.
Earlier this week, during his Tuesday news conference, a reporter mentioned the WGC event in Mexico City and Woods said, “I have not answered that.”
The reporter then went ahead and directly asked Woods if he was planning to play and Woods smirked and repeated his words: “I have not answered that.”
Immediately following his second round on Friday, in which he shot a 73, Woods again deferred, saying he hadn’t had much time to think about Mexico due to all his duties as host and player this week.
Woods has 18 career WGC titles but by failing to enter by the end of Friday’s second round, Woods made it official that his chase for a 19th will not come next week at Club de Golf Chapultepec.
He finished T-10 in the event a year ago, and along the way, produced one of the most memorable shots of that tournament.
It’s unclear where exactly we will see Tiger tee it up next.
But we can make some educated guesses:
Honda Classic
The Honda, despite being a home game for Woods and the start of the Florida Swing, will be a scheduling casualty as it is doubtful he will choose to play three in a row if he then signs up for the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship, as expected. That’s too much golf for his back and knee at this stage in his career.
Arnold Palmer, the Players
Woods missed the API last year. That has been a favorite hunting ground for him and the site of eight of his 82 victories. It’s a safe bet that if the body is willing this time, he’ll be there, and the week after is The Players Championship, where Woods is a two-time champion.
Valspar
In 2018, Woods finished second at the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook. The course fits his eye, but don’t count on Woods showing up. His focus is on the Masters and he’s going to want to stay fresh and avoid overdoing it.
Dell Match Play
In 2019, Woods made his final tuneup for Augusta at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas. There’s the potential to have to play a lot of golf should Woods go far in the competition, including 36 on Saturday, so his participation here could be subject to change.
The Masters
All of this leads up to April 9, and Tiger’s defense of the green jacket. That can’t come soon enough, but there should be a respectable number of early-season starts to see Woods.