Ricky Castillo Wins the Puerto Rico Open for a First PGA TOUR Title

Ricky Castillo was supposed to be at Bay Hill this week. Eleven FedExCup points kept Castillo out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, so Castillo went to Puerto Rico instead and left with a first PGA TOUR title.

Castillo closed with a bogey-free 5-under 67 at Grand Reserve on Sunday to finish at 17-under 271 and win the 2026 Puerto Rico Open by one shot over Chandler Blanchet. Eighteen-year-old Blades Brown, who held the lead with six holes to play, finished alone in third after one hole undid the whole afternoon.

"I felt like I wanted to be in Bay Hill and I decided to just come out here and play this and ended up winning, so it all works out in the end. Yeah, surreal week," Castillo said, per the AP.

The Chip That Changed the Day

Castillo started Sunday with a one-shot lead and a crowded rearview mirror, with four players one back and a stack more within three. The opening holes were about patience. Then came the sixth, a par 5, where Castillo chipped in for eagle and took control of the board again.

That shot mattered because the rest of the round was a test of nerve rather than fireworks. Castillo did not make a bogey all day, and did not make one all weekend, a remarkable stat on a Saturday that was the windiest of the week and a Sunday with a title on the line. Four rounds, scores of 68, 68, 68 and 67, and no number that ever put Castillo in a hole.

Brown's Brutal 13th

For a while, it looked like history was coming. Brown, trying to become the youngest PGA TOUR winner in 95 years, was leading by one with six to go.

Then came the 455-yard 13th. The tee shot found a fairway bunker. The approach drifted right and into the water. After the drop, Brown went aggressive with a wedge, the ball ran over the green, and a 7-foot putt to limit the damage slid by. Triple bogey.

The AP noted the echo of The American Express in January, when Brown played alongside Scottie Scheffler in the final group and found water on the fifth for a double bogey. Sunday's mistake was more expensive. Brown was four back after the 14th.

To Brown's credit, the round did not unravel further. Brown birdied the 18th for a 69 to finish solo third at 14 under. That is Brown's first top-10 on the PGA TOUR, and it earns a spot in the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook, a field Brown was already headed to on a sponsor exemption. The kid is 18. This will not be the last Sunday with a chance.

How Castillo Closed

While Brown was taking a triple, Castillo was doing the opposite. Castillo rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on the 13th, then pitched over the mounds and chipped close for another birdie at the 14th. In the span of two holes, the tournament swung from Brown's to Castillo's.

From there, it was a matter of not giving anything back. Castillo parred in, including a closing par on the 72nd hole, and it was enough.

"It's really cool to put into words to be able to win my first event," Castillo said.

Blanchet's Bounce-Back

The runner-up deserves a real paragraph. Blanchet blew a four-shot lead on Saturday with a 74, the kind of day that can bury a rookie. Instead, Blanchet came back with a bogey-free 67 on Sunday, capped with a birdie at the last, to finish alone in second at 16 under. Blanchet arrived with five straight missed cuts and leaves Puerto Rico with the most birdies in the field, 24 of them, per Golf Today.

Davis Thompson shot 69 to take fourth at 13 under. Paul Peterson (66), Luke Clanton (68) and Matti Schmid (71) tied for fifth at 12 under. John Parry, who started in the final group, shot 72 and tied for eighth with Gordon Sargent and others at 11 under.

Daly II's Week Ends at Home Base

John Daly II started three shots back and turned in 34. The back nine was rougher, with five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch on the way to a 74. Daly II finished at 7 under in a first PGA TOUR start and heads back to Arkansas to chase an NCAA title.

"I learned that you've got to put four rounds together and it's not easy out here," Daly II said. "But very happy, not mad at all. Just a great day, great week."

Fellow amateur Kihei Akina finished T16 at 10 under, tied with Rafael Campos, whose closing 67 gave the home crowd a top-20 finish to cheer.

What the Win Buys

The payoff is substantial. Castillo takes home $720,000 and 300 FedExCup points, a TOUR exemption, and a spot in the PGA Championship, the first major of Castillo's professional career. Castillo was already exempt for THE PLAYERS Championship next week at TPC Sawgrass.

There is a program milestone here too. The Florida Gators say it is the 100th PGA TOUR win by a former Gator, and it comes from a member of the 2023 NCAA championship team.

The Bay Hill snub turned into a trophy, a major start and a two-year runway. Not a bad consolation prize.

Catch up on the week in our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps. Final scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's final-round story (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (final-round recap and leaderboard), AP, Florida Gators, Field Level Media, Golf Today. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.