The First Look: Puerto Rico Open

It’s a big week to earn some valuable early-season FedExCup points with the PGA TOUR returning to Rio Grande for the Puerto Rico Open – the 17th playing of the event.

The Puerto Rico Open will once again boast a field with proven winners, up-and-comers looking for a breakthrough and plenty of international flavor.

Here’s everything you need to know as the TOUR returns to Rio Grande for the first Additional Event of the 2025 season.

FIELD NOTES: Brice Garnett looks to become the first player to go back-to-back at the Puerto Rico Open as he returns to action after last year’s playoff triumph … Popular YouTube content creator Wesley Bryan will make his third TOUR start of 2025; he missed the cut at The American Express but rebounded with a T25 at the Farmers Insurance Open. Bryan, winner of the 2017 RBC Heritage, finished No. 128 on the 2024 FedExCup Fall standings … Former PGA TOUR University No. 1 Michael Thorbjornsen will make his sixth start of the season. He comes into the week off his best result of 2025 at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches (T39) … Karl Vilips will make his third start in a row to kick-start his maiden PGA TOUR campaign after battling through injury in recent months. He’s made two straight cuts, including a T39 at last week’s Cognizant Classic … England’s Matt Wallace, who won the 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship in a similar island setting, will try his hand in Puerto Rico … PGA TOUR rookies in the field include Mason Andersen, Ricky Castillo, Will Chandler, Taylor Dickson, Steven Fisk, Matthew Riedel and more.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Blades Brown is back in action on the PGA TOUR. Brown, who announced he was turning pro earlier this year as a 17-year-old (he turns 18 on May 21) will make his third TOUR start this season. He missed the cut at The American Express, but he finished T34 at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld … Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen is set to make his PGA TOUR debut. Neergaard-Petersen won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour last year to earn an automatic promotion to the DP World Tour. There hasn’t been much of an adjustment for him so far, however, as he’s notched three top-10s in the last six starts, including a runner-up at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in February … Santiago de la Fuente made his debut as a pro at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld where he finished T65. He’s back in action this week in Puerto Rico … Justin Hastings made his TOUR debut at this event in 2024, and he's fresh off a T13 at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld last month. The native of the Cayman Islands is a senior at the University of San Diego and won the 2025 Latin America Amateur Championship, earning his way into the Masters. He was named to the 2023 PING All-West Region and 2022-23 All-Mountain West teams … Other sponsor invites include University of Louisville alum Max Kennedy, DP World Tour member Matthew Jordan who has finished T10 in each of the last two Open Championships, Puerto Rico’s Gustavo Rangel (a junior at Loyola University Maryland), College of Charleston’s Kieron van Wyk, University of Minnesota alum Ben Warian (who made his PGA TOUR debut at the 2024 3M Open), Arizona State sophomore Connor Williams, plus Brett White, Angel Ayora, Kelvin Hernandez, Chris Nido and Reinaldo Simoni … Major champion Jason Dufner rounds out the sponsor invites.

SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: The Puerto Rico Open is played opposite the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard … The next Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the RBC Heritage in mid-April. The Aon Next 10 for the RBC Heritage is comprised of the top 10 players on the current-year FedExCup standings, not otherwise exempt, through the Masters Tournament. The Aon Swing 5 standings for the RBC Heritage is comprised of the top five players on the FedExCup, not otherwise exempt, across the Puerto Rico Open, Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open and Valero Texas Open.

COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: With his win at the Cognizant Classic, Joe Highsmith made a tremendous leap in the standings from No. 123 all the way to No. 10. Highsmith entered the Cognizant on the strength of a T17 at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld … Scottie Scheffler was bumped from No. 10 to No. 12, but the remainder of the TOUR TOP 10 remained unchanged, save for some minor shuffling … Hideki Matsuyama and Sepp Straka switched spots, with Straka moving to No. 2 and Matsuyama moving to No. 3 … J.J. Spaun, who finished T2 at PGA National, jumped from No. 36 to No. 11 and just barely outside the top 10. He trails Highsmith by just 19 points.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 300 FedExCup points.

COURSE: Grand Reserve Golf Club (Championship Course), par 72, 7,506 yards. The Tom Kite design stretches along the Grand Reserve beachfront peninsula and is a lengthy beast. They’ve swapped the nines for 2025 with now the front nine having two par 5s that measure longer than 600 yards.

72-HOLE RECORD: 267, Chesson Hadley (2014), Nico Echavarria (2023).

18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Jhonattan Vegas (Round 4, 2020)

LAST TIME: Brice Garnett defeated Erik Barnes on the fourth playoff hole to claim his second PGA TOUR title. Garnett closed with a 3-under 69 in the final round, including back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14. Barnes saved par on the 72nd hole to stay at 19-under and head into a playoff with Garnett. Garnett missed a 12-foot birdie for the win on the first playoff hole and then when Barnes missed a 12-footer of his own on the fourth playoff hole, the title was Garnett’s. Victor Perez, Hayden Springer and Jimmy Stanger finished tied for third at 18-under, one back of Garnett and Barnes.

How to follow (all times ET)

Television

• Thursday-Friday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Saturday-Sunday: 2:30-5:30 p.m. (Golf Channel)