2024 Mexico Open fantasy golf rankings, picks, strategy: Back Maverick McNealy, fade Thorbjorn Olesen

May 17, 2019; Bethpage, NY, USA; Bubba Watson plays his shot from the sixth tee during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Bethpage State Park – Black Course.

After a star-studded field at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles, this week’s PGA Tour event in Mexico isn’t as top-heavy. The 2024 Mexico Open begins on Thursday at Vidanta Vallarta, with No. 24 Tony Finau the only top 25 participant, according to the Official World Golf Ranking. However, that allows for some undervalued options for Mexico Open 2024 fantasy lineups as Finau (+750) is the only golfer with odds shorter than 15-1.

Rounding out the top five, per the latest 2024 Mexico Open odds, are Nicolai Hojgaard (+1600), Taylor Pendrith (+1800), Stephen Jaeger (+2200) and Emiliano Grillo (+2200). Just last week saw Hideki Matsuyama claim the Genesis, despite being a massive +8000 longshot entering the tournament, so no one can truly be ignored when it comes time to setting a Mexico Open 2024 fantasy strategy. Before you consider your 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’s shot par or better in 16 of 18 rounds in 2024, including each of his last seven. McNealy is coming off a sixth-place finish at the Phoenix Open, which boosted his ranking 56 spots per OWGR. Last season, McNealy was off to a blazing start, with six top 25s over his first eight starts, before a shoulder injury at Pebble Beach derailed his season as he didn’t finish with another top 25 over his last 14 tournaments.

McNealy’s showing at Phoenix indicates he’s closer to his prior form, and his metrics back that up. McNealy ranks in the top 50 on the PGA Tour in the strokes gained categories: around-the-green, putting and total. When you consider how diluted the 2024 Mexico Open field is, those rankings stack up with anyone teeing off this week. Given, McNealy’s strong start to the year, Cohen likes his value in PGA fantasy lineups, saying, “His game is consistency across the board, as he showed at TPC Scottsdale (T6), where he gained strokes in all major categories. I would not be surprised to see the former Stanford superstar take another large step forward this week.”

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.