Whether this is your first time reading, or you’re a Tour Vet, the First Cut should have something for you. In this “First Cut,” we’ll cover a wide variety of topics in a short amount of time! Ultimately this article should serve as a guide for the week and what’s to come.
Here’s what you can expect to see in the article:
- Tournament Intro
- Course Preview= By the Numbers, Course Guide
- DFS-Preview- Sweat-sheet/Contest Preview
- Statistical & Player Preview
Tournament Intro: WGC-Mexico
Twice a year now I get to play this song on repeat, it’s a sweet tune.
This version, however, won’t be spent on a lovely beachfront resort, rather just outside of Mexico City, northwest of the city to be more precise, at a course called Club de Golf Chapultepec. Before we get into the course though, let’s learn about the tournament.
- The WGC – Mexico Championship is a no-cut stroke play event played over 72 holes. Since 2010 the field is determined by the below qualifications
- The Top 50 players from the Official World Golf Rankings (one week and two weeks prior to event)
- Golfers from member tours’ money lists or orders of merit (from last complete season)
- Top 30 PGA Tour FedEx Cup list (also top 10 from one week before theevent)
- The Top 20 European Tour (also top 10 from two weeks before the event)
- Two each from Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, and Sunshine Tour
This Week’s Course(s): Club de Golf Chapultepec
Golfers that may have played last week at Riviera, that also features the same unique combination of Kikuyu + Poa grass, could be in for a little bit of an edge this week. The course is played at 7,382 feet above sea level at this course. Because of this, the course will play closer to 6,500 yards in “adjusted yardage”. This course has very narrow alleyways off the tees and requires balls to be a lot straighter. Riviera’s design has some room to work the ball off the tee on a lot of the holes, while that won’t be the case this week.
Scoring Averages and yearly rank:
- 70.348- -.652
- 31/50
Course Numbers:
- Par 71, 7,300 yards
Course Commentary:
The three par 5’s all play well over 550 yards, but again the adjusted yardages playing so high above sea level should make all of them reachable. Last year, There was five 2agles made on Hole 6, the first par 5, three on hole 11, and eight on hole 15. Beyond that golfers will look for other good scoring opportunities on the first hole, 11th hole, and 12th.
Last years #s:
- Winning Score: -16
- Top 5 Score- -13
- Cut Number- N/A
- Easiest Hole: 15th hole
- hardest Hole: 12thhole
- Best Chance at Streaks: 1,2,3 9,10,11
DFS Sweatsheet & Scorecard
DFS Preview:
A full preview on the best contests offered in the industry this week.
DraftKings/FanDuel/Yahoo: The Big prize Pools continue…
Player & Statistical Preview:
Player Preview:
This space will merely highlight the golfers competing and their OWGR. For full-field regular events we’ll list out the top 25 ranked golfers by OWGR:
This Weeks top 25:
We are only missing Rose and Day from the top 30. All of the rest of them are set to make the trip to Mexico.
Statistical Preview:
The PGA Tour has a set of “statistics” that measure golfers performances vs. each other/the rest of the field. Here is the information on “Strokes Gained” from the winners of the WGC- Mexico from the last two years.
Commentary:
We’ve only got two years of data on the winners here, but DJ and Phil each got it done a bit differently. DJ had a superb week with his irons, while Phil made every putt he looked at. Hard to put a handicap on what exactly you need here, but with both Mickelson and DJ gaining less than a half stroke off the tee, it would seem that the yardage change due to elevation takes some of the advantage away from the bombers.
For now, that’s all. I’ll be updating the article the more info we get! Around 5:00 PM EST will be the next one.
Until then,
Cheers! As always message me on Twitter or in the Slack Channel if you have any questions.
