This week marks a valuable opportunity to earn precious, early season FedExCup points as the PGA TOUR heads to Rio Grande for the Puerto Rico Open – the 18th playing of the event.

The Puerto Rico Open boasts 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 2026 season.

FIELD NOTES: Michael Brennan, who sits inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings, heads to Puerto Rico as the highest-ranked golfer in the field. Brennan, who claimed his first victory at the Bank of Utah Championship in just his third start on the TOUR, has made 2-of-4 cuts this season. ... Two-time TOUR winner Nick Dunlap will make his first start at Grand Reserve Golf Club and his first on TOUR since withdrawing from The American Express in January after an injury caused him to pull out after the second round. ... European Ryder Cup star Rasmus Højgaard will make his second start in Puerto Rico. His brother Nicolai earned a spot in the Arnold Palmer Invitational thanks to a strong finish at PGA National, which moved him into the Aon Swing 5. ... Three PGA TOUR University alums, Luke Clanton, Gordon Sargent and David Ford, will all make the trip to the Caribbean as they continue their journeys in professional 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 career starts on TOUR, with his best finish a tie for 45th at the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship while still an amateur. ... Blades Brown makes back-to-back starts on TOUR and looks to rebound from a missed cut at the Cognizant Classic. Brown has made three cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour so far this season, with his best result – a T17 – coming at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club. … John Daly II, son of major champion John Daly, will make his PGA TOUR debut in Puerto Rico on a sponsor exemption. … AJGA stand-out Miles Russell makes his fifth start on TOUR, looking to make the weekend for the first time. The 17-year-old holds the record for the youngest player to make a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour. … Other sponsor exemptions feature college golf stars including BYU’s Kihei Akina, UNC’s Carson Bertagnole and Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik. Puerto Ricans Chris Nido, Reinaldo Simoni and 17-year-old Evan Pena are in the field. Fred Biondi, Chase Sienkiewicz, Kieron van Wyk and Yanhan Zhou round out the sponsor exemptions.

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 April (April 13-19). 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 (Monday, April 13). 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.

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 swapped the nines for 2025 and will do so again in 2026, with the front nine 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 break out of an unexpected duel with Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, and the Aussie played his best golf down the stretch Sunday for an 8-under 64 to earn his first PGA TOUR victory in just his fourth career start and third start as a TOUR member. Neergaard-Petersen mounted a spirited charge, making birdie on six straight holes to start the back nine and closing with a 63. The Dane briefly took the lead when Vilips made a bogey on the 12th with a wedge from the fairway, but Vilips quickly recovered. He birdied the next three holes, held position the rest of the way and dropped a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a three-shot victory.

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)