This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
World Wide Technology Championship
Course: El Cardonal at Diamante (7,452 yards, par 72)
Purse: $8,200,000
Winner: $1,476,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
After a week off, the FedExCup Fall returns for the first of three straight events to close 2023 and determine status for 2024. The PGA Tour makes another stop in Mexico in the fall, but this time it will be at a new venue. The first 16 years of the World Wide Technology Championship took place at El Camaleon Golf Course at Mayakoba, but with that venue striking a deal to host the opening event of the 2023 LIV Golf League season, the PGA Tour unsurprisingly decided to find a new venue. They landed on El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, which was the first design for 15-time major champion Tiger Woods back in 2014. It is also the first Woods' design course to host a PGA Tour event.
This is one of the better fields of the fall with 22 of the Top 100 players in the OWGR set to tee it up. It is led by No. 17 Cameron Young who makes his first start since the BMW Championship 10 weeks ago. Lucas Glover will also make his fall debut and is the highest ranked player in the FedExCup after his two victories late last season. Ludvig Aberg will tee it up once again and will look to stay hot and get into the Top 50 in the OWGR, which would earn him a spot at the 2024 Masters. 2023 fall winners Sahith Theegala and Luke List will also be in the field, but Russell Henley will not defend his World Wide Technology Championship title.
Mayakoba was a resort course that that always led to a ton of birdies. In fact the last 10 years had not seen a winner post worse than 17-under-par with at least 20-under being the number in the last five events. Woods likely did not have PGA Tour players in mind when he designed El Cardonal, so expect to see a lot of red numbers this week as well on this wide open course. The winds have been known to gust in Los Cabos, but the forecast this week looks about as good as you could ask for. It will be sunny in the upper-80s and winds that should only average in the 5-10 mph range. Viktor Hovland and Russell Henley's tournament record score-to-par of 23-under set the last two years could be in danger.
Recent Champions
All at El Camaleon at Mayakoba
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)
2014 - Charley Hoffman (-17)
2013 - Harris English (-21)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- SG: Putting
- Driving Distance
- Par-5 Scoring
Champion's Profile
El Cardonal is dramatic. From the views to the hole layouts, this is going to be a different type of test than many players are used to. For starters there is no rough. There is only paspalum grass and sand/native areas. While the area is very dry, paspalum fairways typically don't created a lot of roll out on the tee shots. Combine that with the massive width of some of these fairways and this course is primed for bombers to have success. The greens are also the second-largest on the PGA Tour by average square feet, trailing only Kapalua. Fairways and greens in regulation stats will be pretty useless this week, while SG: Approach/Proximity and SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving distance will tell a lot more of the story.
The large greens also places an increased emphasis on putting, while taking away some opportunities to gain (or lose) strokes around-the-greens. Unfamiliar greens typically favor ball-strikers, but given the size and the opportunity to gain strokes I'm going to avoid the types of players who consistently give strokes away with the putter. El Cardonal features four par-5s, all of which are reachable by medium/long hitters. Par-5 scoring will definitely be a key to contending, especially considering the course has some lengthy par-3s and par-4s.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Ludvig Aberg ($12,000)
Arguably the most talented player in the field, Aberg has been cooking the last few months with five straight top-15 finishes, not including a solid performance at the Ryder Cup. Aberg has already established himself less than six months after turning pro as one of the best drivers in the world and has gained 19.24 strokes on approach in his last four tournaments. He has also been a pretty steady putter, which isn't always the case for elite ball-strikers.
Sahith Theegala ($11,600)
The knock on Theegala is that he has a tendency to spray it all over the place, but fortunately these massive fairways will play to his benefit. Theegala is in a strong stretch of golf going T13-T15-1st-T19 over his last four starts. The Pepperdine product is a birdie machine that has really improved with the putter. Theegala ranks 15th in SG: Putting and fifth in putts per GIR. If he gets some solid iron play, win No. 2 could be on the horizon for the 25-year-old.
Beau Hossler ($10,900)
There's a solid case to be made that Hossler has been the best player of the fall. He has teed it up in all four events and has gone T30-T28-T7-T2. He is certainly trending towards that first career PGA Tour win. Hossler has always been an elite putter, but now he has added the distance and started to tighten up the iron play. The Texas alum has gained on approach in six of his last nine starts.
The Middle Tier
Davis Thompson ($9,800)
Thompson started his rookie season off very strong, but he went through several months of struggles. That has turned around lately with top-35 finishes in six of his last seven starts. This is a really great spot for Thompson, who can pound it off the tee and has now gained on approach in four straight starts. We talked about the importance of taking advantage of the par-5s at El Cardonal and Thompson is fifth best this season in Par-5 scoring.
Chesson Hadley ($9,000)
Hadley had a stretch earlier this season where he missed six out of seven cuts. Since then he has gone 9-for-10 with a pair of top-seven finishes, including in his last start in Vegas. Hadley makes a lot of birdies thanks to his stellar iron play and putting. The veteran ranks 39th in SG: Approach and 29th in SG: Putting. Hadley's biggest weakness has been the short game, but massive greens should lead to a lot fewer opportunities for chipping and pitching.
Sam Ryder ($8,900)
You'd be hard pressed to find a better player in the field with a stronger performance on approach and with the putter this season than Ryder. He ranks 26th in SG: Approach and 12th in SG: Putting. It's a big reason why Ryder is 12th in total birdies this season and has made seven cuts in a row. The 33-year-old does lose a lot of shots off-the-tee, but his ability to stick in on approach and get red hot on the greens is enough for me to take a shot on him at under $9K.
Longer Shots with Value
Matti Schmid ($8,500)
I don't think many people would guess that Schmid has been the sixth-longest driver on the PGA Tour this year. That will certainly be a weapon for him at El Cardonal. The 25-year-old comes in fresh off a runner-up at the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters and a T26 the week prior in Vegas when he closed with an eight-under 63. As we talked about with Hadley, bigger greens will help hide his biggest weakness.
Troy Merritt ($8,400)
Merritt certainly won't win any awards for his consistency, but when he is on he usually finishes pretty high up there. The last few months, however, have been much better for the veteran going 7-for-9 with four top-20 finishes, including a pair of top-10s in the fall. Merritt ranked sixth in SG: Putting at the Sanderson Farms Championship and ninth in SG: Tee-to-Green at the Fortinet Championship. He seems to always do well at these resort courses as evidence by the T3 at Mayakoba last year.
Kelly Kraft ($7,600)
It's been a pretty rough season for Kraft, but he has shown up in the fall so far going T25-T16-T23 in three events. Over the last two in particular Kraft is gaining 1.74 strokes per round on approach. I know it's only two events but for reference Scottie Scheffler leads that stat at 1.19 strokes per round this year. Combine that with a putter that has gained strokes in five of his last seven events and Kraft has a lot of value this week way down the board.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
With course history not an option to consider this week, we have to rely more on recent form and profile. While I think the fit is there with Young ($11,900) and Glover ($11,300), I don't feel good about selecting any players who haven't made a competitive start since August, especially given their hefty salaries this week. I think the relatively weak top and bottom end of the salary board make for a really deep middle-tier range. There's a lot of players in there who I think have either shown form lately or who can really pound the ball and take advantage of this wide open setup. Taylor Pendrith ($9,600), Cameron Champ ($9,600), and Chris Gotterup ($9,400) all come to mind who I didn't mention above. With the expected high volume of birdies and eagles, any 6-for-6 lineup is likely to cash this week.
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