2026 PGA Tour VidantaWorld Mexico Open: Favorites, Course, and Storylines

From October 29 to November 1, 2026, the PGA Tour’s VidantaWorld Mexico Open will be held at Vidanta Vallarta on Bahía de Banderas. The four-round stroke play tournament is one of the FedExCup Fall events and offers a prize purse of $6 million. The winner will receive $1.08 million and 500 FedExCup points. The defending champion is Brian Campbell, who won in a playoff against Aldrich Potgieter in 2025. The field consists of 120 players.

Here you’ll find the tee times and live scoring for the 2026 PGA Tour Mexico Open.

The Course: Norman Course After the Redesign

The tournament will be played on the Norman Course, a Par-71 course measuring 7,337 yards (6,709 meters). The course was rerouted before the 2026 season and is 99 yards shorter than before—about 91 meters. Two new holes come from the neighboring Nayar Course. The par distribution consists of five par-3, nine par-4, and four par-5 holes.

The tournament is no longer played in February but on Halloween weekend. The course requires many shots from over 160 m, features wide Fairways, and rarely penalizes wayward shots off the Fairways. The Platinum Paspalum greens have a Stimpmeter reading of around 11. Since the first tournament in 2022, accuracy on approach shots has been one of the most important factors. The course record for a round is 61 strokes (Jon Rahm in 2023, Aldrich Potgieter in 2025). The tournament record for scoring average is 69.51 strokes, set last year.

The Top Favorites

Wyndham Clark (USA, world No. 5) has won three tournaments this season. He averages about 285 meters off the tee but hits only 58 percent of the Fairways. His Birdie-or-better rate is 25.1 percent. Tom Kim (South Korea, world No. 30) won the Genesis Scottish Open and the gold medal at the Asian Games this season. His scoring average is 69.80.

Ben Griffin (USA, world No. 28) has made 19 cuts in 25 tournaments and has an average of 70.28. Rasmus Højgaard (Denmark, world No. 78) finished fourth at the Rocket Classic. Andrew Novak (USA) has competed three times in Vallarta, making the cut all three times, with a tie for eighth place in 2024 and a scoring average of 68.75.

Álvaro Ortiz (Mexico, world No. 142) is the highest-ranked Mexican in the field. He won two tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and finished 13th in Vallarta in 2024. Max Greyserman (USA, FedExCup No. 103) did not complete the second round in 2024 due to back problems. He has nonetheless finished in second place five times at other PGA Tour events in 2024 and 2025.

Defending Champion Brian Campbell and the Tournament’s History

Brian Campbell won in 2025 with a score of −20, defeating Aldrich Potgieter in a playoff. He sank the decisive Birdie putt on the second extra hole. In 2025, he had the shortest average drive of all 180 players on the Tour. Previous winners include Jon Rahm (2022), Tony Finau (2023, −24), and Jake Knapp (2024, −19). The largest lead after 54 holes was four strokes (Knapp in 2024), and the largest lead at the finish was three strokes (Finau in 2023).

Prize Money, Points, and Sporting Significance

The total prize money is $6 million, with the winner receiving approximately 18 percent of that amount. The winner earns two years of PGA Tour status, invitations to the Players Championship and the 2027 PGA Championship, as well as a spot in the 2028 PGA Tour Championship Series. Among the 120 starters are three players from the top 50 in the world rankings and two from the top 25 in the FedExCup standings. For 75 participants, the previous week in Bermuda served as a shortened warm-up, which ended after 54 holes due to weather conditions.

Storylines and Outlook

The main question is whether Clark will continue his three-tournament winning streak in Mexico or whether Kim will confirm his form. With six players from Mexico, the tournament also enjoys a strong home-field advantage. For players outside the top 100 in the FedExCup standings, qualification for the remaining fall tournaments is on the line.

According to the latest forecast, thunderstorms are expected on Thursday, with a 47 percent chance of rain. Starting Friday, it will be sunny, with highs around 31 °C and winds blowing at 8 to 16 km/h.