Mexico Open at Vidanta First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 45/1 to 60/1

• 45/146.00 Jake Knapp won here last year and has been starting strongly

• 55/156.00 Erik Van Rooyen loves a fast start in Mexico

• 60/161.00 Thorbjorn Olesen gets ticks for FRL form and Paspalum prowess

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Weather forecast for Thursday

It's a flat calm start and pretty much stays that way with 6mph winds in the early afternoon representing a very lowly peak.

Temperatures really soar after lunch and will be in the early 90s for the afternoon wave.

In the three previous editions here, 63 has held the outright day one lead twice (one a.m starter and one p.m. starter) while in 2022 there was a six-way tie for top spot, five of those shooting their 64s in the morning.

With no weather bias, we should feel free to pick from any part of the tee-time sheet.

Jake Knapp @ 45/146.00

Keeping it simple is never a bad idea, with so many variables to think about in golf, and a FRL punt on Jake Knapp is as straightforward as it comes.

The Californian is the defending champion here after a breakthrough success 12 months ago and, ahead of his defence, he's been making fast starts and playing well.

Knapp was second after 18 holes at Pebble Beach, 11th on the first-round leaderboard in Phoenix and seventh following last Thursday's action at Torrey Pines.

Last year he shot middle rounds of 64-63 here and, as noted, those are the scores that have been required to win the FRL market at Vidanta Vallarta.

Knapp tees off at 12:43pm local from the first.

Erik Van Rooyen @ 55/156.00

Again, it doesn't take any thinking outside the box to get Erik Van Rooyen on board. The South African's biggest selling point? He loves a fast start in Mexico.

In his last four appearances in the country, EVR has first-round positions of 2-28-1-4. The '1' and the '2' came on this course so he has to be on the shortlist again.

Van Rooyen, who won the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship - the PGA Tour's other event in Mexico - hasn't done much in terms of results this season but he's still made a couple of good starts.

He opened with 67s at both the Farmers Insurance Open and Pebble Beach and they were good enough for eighth and 15th after 18 holes.

Van Rooyen heads off at 1:05pm local from the first.

Thorbjorn Olesen @ 60/161.00

It's been a good couple of weeks for players from Northwestern Europe with Belgium's Thomas Detry winning in Phoenix and Ludvig Aberg capturing The Genesis Invitational.

So how about adding a Dane. There are actually a few worthy contenders in the field but the one I like for this market is Thorbjorn Olesen.

Olesen is a strong Thursday player. In his last eight events he's been a FRL at the Open de France, second after day one in the Abu Dhabi Championship and third following the opening lap of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

He's also got an excellent record on Paspalum and in this event last year the former Ryder Cup star was seventh after day one thanks to a 66.

Ninth at halfway, he slipped back on the weekend but this is the kind of course Olesen enjoys and I'm happy to take him at 60s for another fast start from his 2pm tee-time (10th).

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