Puerto Rico Open 2024: Course and current form stats

• Long course, generous fairways, strong coastal winds

• With the Big Cats away, Rasmus could play

• Lashley has strong course history

Tournament and Course Notes

• It's the first double-header of the PGA Tour year, with tournaments in Florida and Puerto Rico. While the elite of world golf tee-up at the so-called 'Signature Event' in Orlando, the lesser lights of the Tour compete for considerably less money in the Caribbean;

• First staged as a PGA Tour event in 2008, the Puerto Rico Open takes place at Grand Reserve Country Club, which used to be known as Coco Beach. It was designed by Tom Kite, and located on the north-east coastline of this stunning Caribbean island, approximately 15 miles from the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan;

• Heavily influenced by coastal breezes, which sweep in from the Atlantic Ocean, Grand Reserve is a low-lying layout where water comes into play on 13 holes;

• Fairways are reasonably generous, with areas of dense vegetation dotted around the course. Longer than the average PGA Tour layout, Grand Reserve certainly encourages players to launch into their tee shots. It is one of just a few Tour venues to have fairways and greens laid with Paspalum grass;

• All previous tournaments have been staged in either February or March. The total prize money in Puerto Rico will be $4m, compared to the $20m on offer this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

Good Current Form

Punters need to be aware that a number of those listed among the entries, could still qualify for the more lucrative event at Bay Hill.

Two of those golfers are Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Robert MacIntyre whose fate will be decided at PGA National.

If both grab a late entry to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, then Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard will become the lowest-ranked golfer teeing-up in the Caribbean.

Rasmus missed the cut at PGA National by a single shot, but has otherwise had a consistent start to the year on the DP World Tour.

Another European who has made a steady start to 2024 is Jorge Campillo.

The Spaniard is sampling life on the PGA Tour, having travelled across the North Atlantic after finishing fifth in Qatar.

With this week's tournament in Puerto Rico boasting a less-than-mediocre field, the opportunities are certainly there for a number of 'run-of-the-mill' players.

Good Course Form

Three players whose course form is better than the majority of their fellow competitors, are Michael Kim, Nate Lashley and Brandon Wu.

Kim's best performance this year was a tie-for-sixth at The American Express event in Palm Springs, having finished fifth here 12 months ago.

Lashley's three appearances at this week's venue have all yielded top-eight finishes.

He stood on the podium here last year, and also finished third at windy Torrey Pines six weeks' ago.

As for Wu, he is a two-time top-10 finisher at Grand Reserve.

Latest betting for next month's Masters Tournament

Stroke Averages

Lowest Six At Grand Reserve (2017-23)
Average .... (Rounds)
68.63: Chris Stroud (8)
68.63: Brandon Wu (8)
68.86: Ryan Brehm (14)
68.92: Nate Lashley (12)
69.00: Vince Whaley (8)
69.44: Brice Garnett (16)
Min. No. of Rounds = 8
Only those entered this week are included in table

Note: There was no tournament in 2018 because of damage inflicted to the course by Hurricane Maria six months earlier.

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

Please Note: Due to technical issues we are unable to list performance data for 'Week 9' on 'Current Form' table. Apologies and hopefully back to normal next week.