World Wide Technology Championship
Course: El Cardonal at Diamante (7,452 yards, par 72)
Purse: $6,000,000
Winner: $1,080,000 and 500 FedExCup Fall Points
Tournament Preview
We are getting close to the finish line of the FedExCup Fall season and everyone is trying to put themselves in the best position for the 2026 PGA Tour campaign. These next three weeks are a true make-or-break time for a lot of players hopeful to retain full playing status next year. After the World Wide Technology Championship this week, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship (Nov. 13-16) and the RSM Classic (Nov. 20-23), the top 100 in the FedExCup Fall Standings will be fully exempt for 2026. Positions No. 101-125 will be playing off conditional status next year.
This week marks the 19th edition of the World Wide Technology Championship. This event has been a staple of the fall PGA Tour schedule throughout the years. It was held for a long time at the El Camaleon Golf Course in Mayakoba, but when the course decided the host a LIV Golf event in 2023, the PGA Tour decided to move its fall event in Mexico elsewhere. This will be the third straight year that the World Wide Technology Championship will be held at the Tiger Woods designed El Cardonal at Diamante. It is located on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas and features some dramatic topography. Erik van Rooyen shot 27-under-par over 72 holes to set the tournament record en route to his victory at El Cardonal back in 2023. Last year Austin Eckroat picked up his second win of 2024 when he outlasted the field by one stroke.
The field this year features two 2025 Ryder Cup players in J.J. Spaun and Ben Griffin. Both players have put together career seasons and will be looking to close out 2025 on a high note. Four other top 50 ranked players will also tee it up this week in Max Greyserman (31st), Wyndham Clark (33rd), Nick Taylor (41st) and new PGA Tour member Michael Brennan (42nd). Brennan shocked the golf world a couple weeks ago when he won the Bank of Utah Championship in convincing fashion on a sponsors exemption. Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Johnny Keefer is on a sponsors exemption this week and is nearing the top 50 in the OWGR which will would secure him a spot in the 2026 Masters.
While the weather around much of the country has started to dip in recent weeks, the players who signed up to play this week in Los Cabos will be in for quite the treat. The weather will be perfect with plenty of sunshine and daytime temperatures topping out in the mid-80s. Winds are expected to average around 10 mph, but the effect could be a little larger than that with El Cardonal located near the coastline and all the elevation changes. Nevertheless, scoring is still expected to be very good and players will need to be in attack mode starting Thursday morning if they are going to be the last man standing Sunday afternoon.
Recent Champions
2024 - Austin Eckroat (-24)
2023 - Erik van Rooyen (-27)
2022 - Russell Henley (-23)
2021 - Viktor Hovland (-23)
2020 - Viktor Hovland (-20)
2019 - Brendon Todd (-20)
2018 - Matt Kuchar (-22)
2017 - Patton Kizzire (-19)
2016 - Pat Perez (-21)
2015 - Graeme McDowell (-18)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/Proximity
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
- SG: Putting/Three-Putt Avoidance
- Par-5 Scoring/Birdie or Better Percentage
Champion's Profile
El Cardonal features the widest fairways on the PGA Tour and the second-largest greens on average. Some of the old school statistics like driving accuracy and greens in regulation percentage will not be all that helpful this week. The wide fairways will give the bombers plenty of room to rip driver and should give them an advantage over the shorter hitters. That said, players will also need to be dialed in on approach to give themselves quality looks for birdies. El Cardonal had the third-highest three-putt percentage on the PGA Tour in 2024 outside the majors.
This course has a nice variety of holes that should test every club in a players bag throughout the round. Like many other resort courses, El Cardonal is blanketed with paspalum. That is typically one of the favorite surfaces amongst players because the ball often sits up in the fairways and makes it easier to strike the ball cleanly on both full shots and chips around these large putting surfaces. The greens also run very smoothly at around 11.5 on the stimpmeter. Given all the elevation changes and angles, El Cardonal favors a creative type of player who can pull off a lot of different shots with their irons and wedges. Kapalua is going to be the closest comparison we can find on the PGA Tour to this venue.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
J.J. Spaun ($12,000)
Spaun has been one of the top ball-strikers on the PGA Tour this year ranking eighth in SG: Tee-to-Green. He has gained off the tee in 14 straight starts and sits fifth in SG: Approach. Spaun has played the last two years at El Cardonal and also has a T5 finish a couple years ago at Kapalua. He comes into this event having finished inside the top-25 in seven of his last eight starts. The putting is solid enough to get the job done.
Ben Griffin ($11,900)
Griffin is statistically the best player in the field. He ranks eighth on DataGolf and fifth in SG: Total on the PGA Tour in 2025. Griffin is 56th-or-better in every strokes gained category led by sitting 18th in SG: Putting. Prior to a T32 a couple weeks ago in India, Griffin had finished top-12 in five straight starts. He's collected a pair of top-25s the last two years at El Cardonal. He was also T4 earlier this year at the Mexico Open.
Garrick Higgo ($11,100)
I'm getting on the Higgo train here because you just can't ignore what he's done this fall. He's gone T7-2nd-T4 in his last three starts, and on top of that also finished T6 last year at El Cardonal. The 26-year-old is one of the longest hitters in the field and will be able to let loose on these wide fairways. Higgo has also putted extremely well over his last several starts. He won earlier this year on another resort course in Punta Cana.
The Middle Tier
Pierceson Coody ($10,300)
Coody will be returning to the PGA Tour full-time in 2026 after splitting time on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025. No matter where Coody has teed it up, he's been in the mix more often than not. He has 13 finishes of T16-or-better this year, three of which have come in his last three starts, including a T3 at the Bank of Utah Championship. Coody's combination of being a long-hitter and a top putter make him an attractive option at El Cardonal.
Johnny Keefer ($9,900)
Keefer is coming off an incredible season on the Korn Ferry Tour that saw him win twice and rack up 13 top-15 finishes. The 24-year-old has all the looks of a future star on the PGA Tour. Keefer ranked fourth in total driving, 15th in GIR percentage, second in scrambling, seventh in putts per round and first in par-5 scoring average on the KFT this past season. El Cardonal should be a great place for him to gain some confidence before a big rookie season in 2026.
Matt Kuchar ($9,700)
Kuchar is not the long-hitter that some of these other players are, but he's proven that he thrives in this type of test. The veteran has an outstanding record over the years on a similar test in Kapalua and also finished T2 at El Cardonal back in 2023. Kuchar comes in playing well having finished top-20 in three of his last four starts. He ranks 18th in proximity, fourth in scrambling, 14th in SG: Putting and third in par-4 scoring average this season.
The Long Shots
Patrick Fishburn ($8,900)
Fishburn had made eight straight cuts before failing to make the weekend last time out in Utah. During that stretch he also logged a trio of top-20 finishes. Fishburn had a very slow start to the year, but over these last few months he's been consistently gaining strokes across the board. He should be up for the test at El Cardonal considering he finished T12 last year at this venue.
Greyson Sigg ($8,300)
There's a lot of dart throws in this range, but Sigg has proven to be reliable over the last couple months with finishes of T19-T21-T15 over his last three starts. His iron play has been really strong recently as he led the field in SG: Approach at the Bank of Utah Championship and was second in that category at the Procore Championship. Sigg is going to give himself plenty of quality looks for birdies in this shootout.
Trey Mullinax ($8,000)
In a shallow field like this, when you get down this far sometimes it's better to look a traits than results. I like the makeup of Mullinax for El Cardonal. He ranks ninth in driving distance this season and 33rd in birdie average. Mullinax also leads the PGA Tour in approaches inside of 100 yards and is 14th in approaches from 150-175 yards. He's made his last four cuts, which not many down this far can say.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
This is a pretty simple week as far as strategy goes at the top of your lineup. Start with either J.J. Spaun or Ben Griffin then go from there. You can't go wrong with either player and both of them are miles better than the third-best player in this field in strokes gained or DataGolf rankings. That will give you roughly $9,600/player for your final five golfers.
Typically in shootouts the thought process is to find really strong iron players and putters. Given the openness off the tee, if you can also get the added bonus of power that makes it even better. A good tie-breaker if you're deciding between a few different players is their history the last two years on this course, or at some other resort courses like Kapalua, Vidanta Vallarta or Corales. The last course the PGA Tour visited at Black Desert is also a solid comp given the wide fairways there.
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