The First Look: Puerto Rico Open

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Karl Vilips captures first PGA TOUR win at Puerto Rico

Written by Staff

This week marks a beneficial alternative to earn valuable, early season FedExCup factors because the PGA TOUR heads to Rio Grande for the Puerto Rico Open – the 18th enjoying of the occasion.

The Puerto Rico Open boasts a discipline with confirmed winners, up-and-comers in search of a breakthrough and loads of worldwide taste. Here’s every little thing it is advisable know because the TOUR returns to Rio Grande for the primary Additional Event of the 2026 season.

FIELD NOTES: Michael Brennanwho sits inside the highest 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings, heads to Puerto Rico because the highest-ranked golfer within the discipline. Brennan, who claimed his first victory on the Bank of Utah Championship in simply his third begin on the TOUR, has made 3-of-5 cuts this season. …Two-time TOUR winner Nick Dunlap will make his first begin at Grand Reserve Golf Club. Dunlap returned to the TOUR after withdrawing from The American Express in January with a missed minimize on the Cognizant Classic. …European Ryder Cup star Rasmus Hojgaard will make his second begin in Puerto Rico. His brother Nicolai earned a spot within the Arnold Palmer Invitational because of a robust end at PGA National, which moved him into the Aon Swing 5. … Three PGA TOUR University alums, Luke Clanton, Gordon Sargent and David Fordwill all make the journey to the Caribbean as they proceed their journeys in skilled golf.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Former Oklahoma State standout Eugenio Chacarra will make his

return to the PGA TOUR next week after accepting a sponsor exemption into the Puerto Rico Open. Chacarra, 25, has made seven profession begins on TOUR, together with his greatest end a tie for forty fifth on the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship whereas nonetheless an novice. … Blades Brown makes back-to-back begins on TOUR and appears to rebound from a missed minimize on the Cognizant Classic. Brown has made three cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour thus far this season, together with his greatest consequence – a T17 – coming at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club. … John Daly IIson of main champion John Daly, will make his PGA TOUR debut in Puerto Rico on a sponsor exemption. …AJGA stand-out Miles Russell makes his fifth begin on TOUR, seeking to make the weekend for the primary time. The 17-year-old holds the document for the youngest participant to make a minimize on the Korn Ferry Tour. …Other sponsor exemptions characteristic school golf stars together with BYU’s Kihei AkinaUNC’s Carson Bertagnole and Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik. Puerto Ricans Chris Nido, Reinaldo Simoni and 17-year-old Evan Pena are within the discipline. Fred Biondi, Chase Sienkiewicz, Kieron van Wyk and Yanhan Zhou spherical out the sponsor exemptions.

SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: The Puerto Rico Open is performed reverse the Arnold Palmer Invitational introduced by Mastercard. …The subsequent Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the RBC Heritage in April (April 13-19). The Aon Next 10 for the RBC Heritage is comprised of the highest 10 gamers on the current-year FedExCup standings, not in any other case exempt, by the Masters Tournament (Monday, April 13). The Aon Swing 5 standings for the RBC Heritage is comprised of the highest 5 gamers on the FedExCup, not in any other case exempt, throughout the Puerto Rico Open, Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open and Valero Texas Open.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 300 FedExCup factors.

COURSE: Grand Reserve Golf Club (Championship Course), par 72, 7,506 yards. The Tom Kite design stretches alongside the Grand Reserve beachfront peninsula and is a prolonged beast. They swapped the nines for 2025 and can achieve this once more in 2026, with the entrance 9 having two par 5s that measure 600 yards or longer.

72-HOLE RECORD: 262, Karl Vilips (2025)

18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Kevin Roy (Round 1, 2025), Jhonattan Vegas (Round 4, 2020)

LAST TIME: Australia’s Karl Vilips ran off three straight birdies to interrupt out of an surprising duel with Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, and the Aussie performed his greatest golf down the stretch Sunday for an 8-under 64 to earn his first PGA TOUR victory in simply his fourth profession begin and third begin as a TOUR member. Neergaard-Petersen mounted a spirited cost, making birdie on six straight holes to start out the again 9 and shutting with a 63. The Dane briefly took the lead when Vilips made a bogey on the twelfth with a wedge from the green, however Vilips shortly recovered. He birdied the following three holes, held place the remainder of the best way and dropped a 6-foot birdie putt on the ultimate gap for a three-shot victory.