BACK in 2007, when the PGA Tour first ventured south of the border to play at El Camaleon, the golf world was a very different place. The resort’s course is designed by Greg Norman, for example, and at that time he was best known for somehow contriving to win only two major championships rather than conspiring to set up a rival circuit.
The tournament was then played early in the year as an opposite field event to a World Golf Championship tournament. Many might have expected that it would be the Mexican event which would be struggling for breath a decade and a half later. Instead it it is the WGC which has more or less become extinct.
In contrast, this visit to the Riviera Maya ocean front has grown in stature. A move to the Fall helped that process, but it is the quality of the resort and the course which has guaranteed improving fields. The former is popular with families and the latter sneaks between jungle, mangroves, canals and even caves as well as running alongside the sea.
It’s a fun track and one that gives everyone in the field a chance. For a long while it was considered an ideal opportunity for veterans, specifically ones who had a neat tee-to-green game, could negotiate the sea breezes and were not fazed by the grainy Paspalum grass on the greens. But in the last two years Viktor Hovland has won back-to-back, proving that big-hitters can succeed as well.
The Norwegian is back this week in search of a hat trick but Scottie Scheffler, deposed as the World No. 1 two weeks ago by Rory McIlroy, is the favourite. They both have obvious claims but we’ll look elsewhere for the winner.
Tony Finau
You can’t really say that Scheffler is out of form, but it’s now over six months since he last won and he’s limped home in three of his last five starts. Hovland’s win drought extends back to January and Collin Morikawa, who is the third favourite, hasn’t lifted a trophy since the end of last year.
Tony Finau had his own rough patch either side of New Year but he’s been in fine fettle since finishing runner-up at the Mexico Open in May. He added another second place in the Canadian Open in June and then landed back-to-back victories at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic in July. He closed the season with a 64 at East Lake and now opens the new campaign on a course he has enjoyed in the past.
He thrashed a 65 to tie the first round lead on debut in 2014 and added another 65 to finish seventh. He’s also landed a win on Paspalum grass when claiming the Puerto Rico Open in 2016 (and he was second in the 2020 Saudi International on the same putting surface).
Joel Dahmen
I’m not entirely sure that the market is giving Joel Dahmen enough credit this week because although he has no top 10 in his last three starts he’s not been very far away at all. He was 13th at the Sanderson Farms Championship, 37th in the Shriners Children’s Open and 16th in the Zozo Championship but every time he was just one round from getting involved.
He’s also got plenty of experience playing at El Camaleon, making the cut in all five of his starts and breaking 70 in all but three of his 20 laps. He has a best finish of sixth in 2019 and has been top 10 at some stage in both of the last two editions.
The clincher is his fine record at Corales in the Dominican Republic. He’s finished top 20 in all four of his competed starts there and was the winner in 2021. Like this week’s test, it has Paspalum on the green.
Adam Svensson – Each Way and First Round Leader
At first glance the Canadian Adam Svensson doesn’t offer much in the way of hope this week. He missed the cut on debut here in 2019 and was 45th last year – but he carded a 65 to ensure he made the cut and another 65 on Sunday.
It’s also true that his best golf has tended to come on tests like this week. Back in 2015 he won the Web.com Q School at the breezy PGA National in Florida. Some 18 months later he finished sixth at Corales on Paspalum and early in 2018 he won at The Abaco Club in the Bahamas – more Paspalum and breezy resort golf.
Two wins on the second tier in 2021 helped him graduate to the PGA Tour and the first of those was yet again on a resort layout near the sea – at The Landings Club in Georgia. He spent all week in the top 10 at January’s Sony Open at Waialae which is another good pointer for this week. He’s made 14 of his last 15 cuts and this week’s test gives him a great chance of getting in contention.
