Finally a win that was yearned for! The 9th event on the 2025 PGA Tour has been a bit of a curveball for the PGA Tour. The Mexico Open had several big names missing from the roster. With no player from the top 20 featuring in the tournament, there was the possibility for a new face to win their first-ever PGA Tour trophy. And it did come to that.

After 4 rounds of grueling golf, Aldrich Potgieter and Brian Campbell were tied for the lead at 20 under par. It had to be decided through a playoff. The two candidates couldn’t be any more different. At just 20, South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter has been making waves. He won the Amateur Championship at 17, the second youngest ever, and at 19 years, 133 days, became the youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history with his Bahamas Abaco Classic victory

If Potgieter is a prodigy in the making, Campbell has been on the fringes. The University of Illinois grad has been moving in and out of the PGA Tour and is yet to register a win in either the PGA Tour or the Korn Ferry Tour. He has had 187 PGA-sanctioned starts! The playoffs were straightforward, with the 18th hole setting the stage for a tense showdown. Both players carded pars in the first round, but the second round brought all the drama.

Campbell’s shot was seemingly heading out of bounds before it struck a tree and ended up staying in bounds. This stroke of luck was what he needed as he 1-putted the hole to oust Potgieter and win his first-ever PGA Tour trophy. With the victory, he has also earned full membership on the Tour for the next 2 years while also being granted an exemption for the upcoming Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Course.

A lucky stroke goes hand-in-hand with the effort you put in, but not everyone was pleased with what happened. Chief among them were ‘No Laying Up’ podcast hosts DJ Piehowski and Todd Schuster aka Tron Carter.

Fans criticize the poor play at the Mexico Open

Without top players like Scheffler, Schauffele, McIlroy, Aberg, and so on, the controversial quality of golf is on display at Vallarta, Mexico. Tron Carter and the event crowd were particularly miffed about this. “This playoff feels like watching the shootout at the end of a member guest. Benjamin Salinas hosting the VidantaWorld Jamboree. And they’re unable to get everyone around 18 green under control. Hot Carls, squirters, barkies. It’s so sick.”

DJ Piehowski couldn’t resist a quirky jab at the chaotic Mexico Open playoff. Instead of rewarding the winner with a Masters invite, he joked that Augusta should leave a spot empty as a tribute to the wild finish. “Augusta should leave a spot in the field empty in memory of this playoff,” he said.

Even the fans were disappointed. One netizen felt that the invite for Brian Campbell should be revoked by the Masters because golf has been having a rough ride. “The Mexico Open was one of the worst professional golf tournaments I’ve ever seen. Some of the poorest play in recent memory. The Masters should renounce the automatic invite to Brian Campbell,” read the comment.

Disbelief  defined one fan’s reaction to the results of the Mexico Open.“I can’t believe this tournament gets an exemption to the Masters.” Brian Campbell had only played in 5 PGA Tour events in the last 7 years. He made the cut at 2 and missed the cut in three events but never finished above the 50th position. One fan couldn’t believe it when Brian Campbell’s Vidanta Vallarta win secured him a Masters spot, reacting with a shocked, “Brian Campbell is going to the Masters hahahahaha!” What do you think of the 2025 Mexico Open? Do you think it is unfair that the winner gets to play at the Masters? Or do you think Campbell deserves his spot?