For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we head south of the border for the 2023 Mexico Open.

1. ICYMI: 16-year-old took low am at Chevron

Golf Channel’s Colby Powell…”Eila Galitsky closed her first start at a major championship the same way she began, with a 2-under 70 that left her as the lowest amateur on the leaderboard at the Chevron Championship.”

• …”The 16-year-old earned her way into the Chevron by winning the Asia-Pacific Women’s Amateur by five shots over Korea’s Minsol Kim. That victory will also get Galitsky into the AIG Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship later this year.”

2. Leaving with an injury vs. leaving with a trophy

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Last year, Hardy departed New Orleans with an injured left wrist heavily wrapped. On Sunday, that same hand was helping partner Davis Riley lift a PGA Tour trophy for the first time as winners of the Zurich Classic.”

• “I was actually in the hospital probably at this point last year,” Hardy said, “so it’s a lot better place to be at here.”

• “Hardy had made just five of 13 cuts with no top-25s as a PGA Tour rookie when he arrived at TPC Louisiana for last year’s event, in which he teamed up with Curtis Thompson. On the fourth hole of his final round, Hardy hit a wedge shot and felt a pop in his wrist. He played on to a T-21 finish, but by the next morning his wrist had swelled.”

• “An MRI at a nearby hospital revealed an ECU tendon subluxation and torn subsheath. Hardy didn’t need surgery, but he did go 30 days without hitting a ball and missed five weeks of action.”

3. Chevron champion Lilia Vu’s incredible family saga

Kent Paisley at Golf Digest…“The journey started two generations prior, with her maternal grandfather, Dinh Du, getting his family out of war-torn Vietnam. For months in 1982, seven years after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, he hid away in the countryside to slowly build a boat. He risked his life making the craft to give his family a chance to escape. Then, one night, he told everyone it was time to go.

• “My dad said that we need to get out of Vietnam to get a better life,” Vu’s mom, Kieu Thuy, said on Sunday. “We chose America, and luckily, we did it.”

• “Du built a boat for 54 people. As the craft took off, people from the shore swam to climb on aboard. Du turned no one away, ending up with 82 souls searching for a new life. Hope started to fade as the boat leaked two days into the journey. Du fired off flares hoping for anyone to help them.”

• “Fortunately, the USS Brewton, a United States Navy warship, saw Du’s flares. They rescued everyone on the boat.”

4. Tom Watson’s grow the game initiative

Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski…”Watson, 73, can’t turn back the clock and erase carts and buggies, but he can recreate, to some degree, the process by which he was introduced to the game. That is the inspiration for the introduction of Watson Links, a golf mentoring program that gives junior golfers ages 10 to 18 free access to select courses in Watson’s hometown of Kansas City, Mo., accompanied by an adult player who can teach in-play fundamentals, short-game techniques, strategy and etiquette.”

• “We finally came to the realization that what these kids need is not just a place to play but somebody to play with who can share their knowledge of the game while they are on a golf course,” the eight-time major winner said. “That’s how you get them interested, turn them into golfers, right? That’s how I grew up. I grew up with my father taking me on the golf course when I was 6 years old. We’d go play three holes. And I’d hang around with his friends. At a young age I had all these players who were passionate about golf helping me to understand what it was all about.”

• “After a modest trial rollout last year, Watson Links is set for its first full summer, offering at this writing 900 free nine-hole rounds staring May 1. That does not include the complimentary rounds for the mentors, who must undergo an extensive vetting process before being approved to fill out a foursome. Tee times are paid for via course donations and the support of Watson’s charitable foundation.”

5. Michael Kim’s slow play proposal

6. Florida Gators win SEC men’s title

Kevin Broackway for the Gainseville Sun…“It came down to the 18th hole, but the Florida Gators men’s golf team got a clutch putt from John DuBois to upset Vanderbilt and win the 2023 SEC Championship at the Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simon’s Island, Ga.

• “It was Florida’s first SEC men’s golf title since 2011 and first under head coach J.C. Deacon, who was hired in 2014.”

• “I’m so proud of the culture we have and the family we’re building,” Deacon said. “This is definitely for the Gator Nation.”

7. Last week’s winners WD from Mexico Open

Reuters Report…”Nick Hardy and Davis Riley withdrew from this week’s PGA Tour stop, the Mexico Open at Vidanta, on Monday after winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday.”

• “No reason was given for the withdrawals.”

• “It marks the first time since last November that a PGA Tour winner withdrew from an event he was scheduled to play the following week, Golfweek reported.”