With the PGA Tour's Florida swing beginning next week, many of the top golfers are bypassing the 2024 Mexico Open, which takes place this week at Vidanta Vallarta, starting at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. Thus, you may have to do a bit more research to find Mexico Open 2024 fantasy golf picks, with many in the field not necessarily having name recognition. The favorites are Tony Finau (+700), Nicolai Hojgaard (+1400) and Taylor Pendrith (+1800), but one also shouldn't ignore past performance when constructing a 2024 Mexico Open fantasy golf strategy.
Emiliano Grillo finished fifth at this tournament a year ago and isn't that far removed from winning the Charles Schwab last year. He, along with Hojgaard, are also the only two golfers competing this week who rank in the top five in both World Ranking and FedEx Cup standings. Grillo is among a handful of overlooked players who could be winning components to a 2024 Mexico Open fantasy golf lineup. Before considering any 2024 Mexico Open fantasy golf picks, you have to see the Mexico Open fantasy golf rankings from SportsLine handicapper Eric Cohen.
Cohen is an avid golf bettor who correctly predicted the pre-tournament outright winner of the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic (Rickie Fowler +1400), 2023 PGA Championship (Brooks Koepka +2000), 2023 Honda Classic (Chris Kirk +3500), 2022 Open Championship (Cameron Smith +2200), 2022 U.S. Open (Matt Fitzpatrick +2500) and 2022 Phoenix Open (Scottie Scheffler's first career victory at +2800).
Cohen is a contributor to SportsLine's YouTube shows including "Early Edge" and is the host of "The Early Wedge" golf show. Anyone who has followed Cohen's predictions has made positive gains on their golf picks.
Now, Cohen has ranked his top golfers for the 2024 Mexico Open. Cohen's picks are only available at SportsLine.
2024 Mexico Open expert picks
One player Cohen is getting behind for his fantasy picks is Maverick McNealy. He was a top-60 player in the world in February 2023 before a shoulder injury affected his game and caused McNealy to plummet in the rankings. He took a competitive leave from June to Nov. 2023 before fulfilling a Major Medical Extension with a 37th-place finish at this year's Farmers Insurance Open. Another top-40 finish followed the next week before McNealy then placed sixth at the Phoenix Open. Cohen's banking on the form that McNealy has displayed post-injury to keep him competitive this week, and a consistent all-around game should do just that.
McNealy ranks in the top quartile of the PGA Tour in strokes gained: total, scoring average (adjusted) and strokes gained: putting. The last of those should really come in handy this week as McNealy's putter should excel on the slow greens that have little undulation. He ranks seventh on tour in overall putting average (1.566) and ranks second among those in this week's field. McNealy is undoubtedly playing with lots of confidence and momentum with last year's injury behind him, so Cohen loves him for 2024 Mexico Open fantasy golf lineups, despite McNealy having +4500 odds.
On the other hand, the golf expert is shockingly fading Thorbjorn Olesen, who has the seventh-shortest odds at +2800. The Dane has collected 15 professional wins, including in his last event on the DP World Tour. However, none of those victories have come on the PGA Tour, and he hasn't really been close in recent starts. Over his last 11 PGA Tour starts, which date back to 2019, Olesen has notched just one top-25 finish, and it was finishing in 25th place
Olesen's game just hasn't been able to keep pace against the sport's elite. Last season across four PGA Tour starts, his driving accuracy percentage was 40.74%, while his greens in regulation percentage came in at 57.64%. Had he played enough rounds to qualify, his driving accuracy percentage would have ranked third-worst on tour, while his GIR percentage would have tied for fourth-worst. With no previous experience at Vidanta Vallarta, Olesen is a name Cohen is fading this week. See all of Cohen's Mexico Open picks at SportsLine.
How to set 2024 Mexico Open fantasy golf lineups
For this week, Cohen is backing several underdogs in his 2024 Mexico Open fantasy golf picks, including one massive longshot who comes in at 175-1. Cohen notes that this player has had previous success at this course and nearly won an elevated event just last year. See who it is, and get all of Cohen's fantasy golf picks, at SportsLine.
Who wins Mexico Open 2024, and who are the top players to target for your Mexico Open fantasy golf picks? Visit SportsLine now to get Eric Cohen's fantasy golf rankings, all from the fantasy expert who has called six outright winners since 2022, and find out.
