After a week off, the PGA Tour heads back from Japan and into Mexico this week for the latest staging of the World Wide Technology Championship, the latest event of the fall where players compete for levels of playing rights for next season.
Russell Henley wouldn’t have had to worry about his playing rights when he won this last year and he doesn’t in the future so he has chosen not to head across the border to attempt to defend the title so we are guaranteed a different winner.
Recent Winners
2022 – Russell Henley
2021 – Viktor Hovland
2020 – Viktor Hovland
2019 – Brendon Todd
2018 – Matt Kuchar
2017 – Patton Kizzire
2016 – Pat Perez
2015 – Graeme McDowell
2014 – Charley Hoffman
2013 – Harris English
The Course
We are off to a new course for the tournament this week. We are at the El Cardonal Golf Course in Diamante. This is a track which has been designed by Tiger Woods and is the first course created by him which opened up to the world. The track is set in desert surroundings and has a fair bit of elevation change to it. All of the holes are said to have different ways of playing it so it will be interesting to see which profile suits this track the best.
The course is a par 72 which measures 7,363 yards but with the rare air of the Mexican altitude it won’t play anything like as long as that. The fairways are said to be wide and the greens are large so you get the feeling that this is going to be a second shot track with pinpoint iron play and a good touch with the putter, pretty much the two things that the creator was renowned for. This feels like a course where the wind will determine how hard it plays. It isn’t expected to be anything out of the ordinary this week.
The Field
We are at the time of the year where the elite golfers are either having a break or in some cases are preparing for the final levels of the DP World Tour season later this month so it has to be said this isn’t the strongest field assembled for a PGA Tour event. The headline acts in the field are the new kid on the block I Ludvig Aberg who will hope to break his duck on this side of the pond, and the Fortinet champion Sahith Theegala who could be ideally suited to this place.
Cameron Young has seen his stock fall a little over the duration of 2023 and he will be out to make waves here while Lucas Glover will look to add to the two wins that he picked up during the summer. Beau Hossler, Emiliano Grillo, Akshay Bhatia, JJ Spaun, Thomas Detry and Stephan Jaeger are some of the other players who will look to take advantage of a weaker than usual field to pick up either their first win at this level or another one to add to their collection.
Market Leaders
Ludvig Aberg has had a breakthrough second half of 2023, one which has seen him become a winner on the DP World Tour and be a key part in the winning Ryder Cup side in September. He hasn’t yet won on the PGA Tour though, although he went very close at the Sanderson Farms Championship when he lost out in a bumper playoff. The Swede is 9/1 to win the title this week and given he has no previous course disadvantage of contend with he feels like a worthy favourite.
Cameron Young sits higher in the world ranking than his 2023 on the PGA Tour would suggest. He didn’t make it through to East Lake last season and hasn’t played since the BMW Championship so that is a concern for anyone looking at backing him as a 12/1 second favourite. The other thing would be that if there is a weak part of the Young game it is with the putter and his strong part, the tee to green game, isn’t likely to be as paramount here as in other places. He isn’t for me.
Sahith Theegala could be a dangerous customer in the coming weeks and months now that he has got off the mark on the PGA Tour. I’ve always thought the fall time of year would serve him well because the events are played on largely bare courses which reward aggressive golf and he is one of the best exponents of that sort of golf that there is out there. He is 14/1 to win the tournament this week and if the wind stays down he could be the one to beat.
Stephan Jaeger and Beau Hossler are the only other players in the field who are shorter than 30/1 to win this tournament. Both can be taken at 28/1 on the best prices. Jaeger has a solid all-around game and is good throughout the bag but he might lack the exceptional skills in one of them to get him over the line. Hossler is knocking at the door and arguably should have won the Zozo and comes in here in decent form.
Main Bets
I’ll go with a couple of main bets this week. Beau Hossler probably should have got closer to Collin Morikawa at the ZOZO Championship but there is nobody of that level of player in this field and I think he has the credentials to go one better here. The exposed nature of this track shouldn’t be an issue. Hossler is a former runner up in the Houston Open and last year he held the 54 hole lead at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am so he has form on exposed setups. The one thing which might go against him is maybe a lack of length but the altitude might account for that. Hossler was second at the ZOZO and T7 at the Shriners prior to that and looks a big runner here.
Cameron Champ has been on my radar throughout the fall so far and while I haven’t collected with him yet I’m not ready to completely give up on him while we are on wide open exposed golf courses which require little in the way of accuracy off the tee. Champ has a good record in the other Mexico Although I haven’t cashed with him, Champ has top 20 finishes in the Sanderson Farms and the Shriners courtesy of improved play on the greens so the fact he has the freedom to let it fly here should make him very dangerous if that improvement on the putting surfaces remain. In addition to his profile, he still needs another good week or two to secure playing rights for the future so he is well worth supporting here.
Outsiders
I’ll take a chance on a couple at decent prices with the first of those being on Brandon Wu who is a pretty obvious pick when you consider that he seems to love Mexico having finished in the top three in both years of the Mexico Open at Vidanta. In addition to that he was second at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier in the year so the wind and exposed nature of golf course and indeed the altitude isn’t going to be something that worries him. He hasn’t had the best of fall events so far but at the Sanderson Farms he opened with a 65 and closed out the St Jude, the only playoff event he reached with a weekend of 67 and 66 around TPC Southwind. If he has that game with him here he could be a big price.
My last bet comes in the form of Lanto Griffin, a player who has won the Houston Open so can handle whatever breeze comes his way and can perform on open courses. He is a decent enough hitter of the ball so he should be able to take advantage of the lack of rough and wide open expanses around here. The form of Griffin hasn’t been fantastic for a while hence his price but he went well enough at the Sanderson Farms for a T28 and then opened the Shriners with a 64 and a 66 in eventually finishing T13 so there are signs that he is coming back into form. I’ll pay to see if he can get back towards his best in a field which he should be more than competitive in.
Tips
Back B.Hossler to win World Wide Technology Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
Back C.Champ to win World Wide Technology Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
Back B.Wu to win World Wide Technology Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 71.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back L.Griffin to win World Wide Technology Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 111.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
