WGC-Mexico Championship: PGA Tour Golf Odds and Predictions

WGC-Mexico Championship Background

Technically, the four major championships on the PGA Tour – the Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and British Open – are separate entities but are co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and European Tour, as are the four annual World Golf Championship events. The WGC tournaments began in 1999 as a way of getting the top players together more often outside of the Grand Slam tournaments.

However, now both the PGA Tour and European Tour might be in jeopardy of losing their biggest stars with a British-based group trying to launch the Premier Golf League that would be limited to the top 48 players in the world playing in just 18 tournaments a year but each with a gigantic purse.

The WGC-Mexico Championship has had a few names and locations over the years. It moved from Donald Trump’s Doral Resort in the Miami area to the Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City starting in 2017. Tour officials swear politics had nothing to do with the move – many are skeptical — but due to the loss of Cadillac as the primary sponsor in Doral.

The field here is limited to 72 players (can be fewer) and there are a few ways to qualify, including being in the Top 50 of the world rankings both two weeks and the week before this tournament. It’s a typical 72-hole stroke event but no cut. Club de Golf Chapultepec is at altitude and plays to par 71 at about 7,340 yards.

A few big names are choosing to skip this week, though, including Tiger Woods. He has won this event a record seven times but never in Mexico.

WGC-Mexico Championship Betting Favourites

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is the +600 favourite. He was a runner-up to Dustin Johnson (+700) last year and also has a seventh-place finish in Mexico. McIlroy was T5 Sunday in Los Angeles at the Genesis Invitational. Johnson has won this event three times, twice since it moved to Mexico. He finished at 21-under 263 in 2019, five up on McIlroy.

Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas are each +1000 with Webb Simpson +1600 and Adam Scott +1800. Scott won in L.A. on Sunday and won this tournament the final year it was held at Doral. Rahm has a best finish of third in Mexico. Thomas has been Top 10 in this event each of the past three years. Simpson hasn’t contended in two trips to Mexico.

Canadian Golfer Odds

Canada’s Mike Weir won this tournament in 2000 when it was called the WGC-American Express Championship and played in November in Spain. Corey Conners makes his debut here and is +12500. He missed the cut in L.A. A few other Canadians are playing this weekend’s opposite-field event in Puerto Rico.

WGC-Mexico Championship Predictions

Take Johnson and Sergio Garcia for Top 10s, but the winner at +4000 is Paul Casey. He has improved in Mexico every year, topped by a third in 2019.