Out of the Rough: World Wide Technology Championship (2025)

There are few names, if any, more notable than that of Tiger Woods when it comes to the world of golf.

With that, the PGA Tour continues on with the FedEx Cup Fall with the fifth-of-seven stops for this week’s World Wide Technology Championship at the Woods’ designed El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas.

This year marks the third consecutive season that this event has been held at El Cardonal, first being played in 2023.

This event was previously staged at El Camaleon in Mayakoba but due to the venue being added to the LIV roster for 2023, the PGA Tour made the move to the Woods’ designed El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas.

As previously mentioned, this event is the fifth-of-seven events in the FedEx Cup Fall Series and time is running out for some Tour hopefuls to secure exemption for the 2026 season and additionally, plant themselves within the rankings for invitations to Signature Events and majors.

There are 500 FedEx Cup points up for grabs for the winner.

The Field

As we enter the later part of the FedExCup Fall, the fields we see will reflect that. Fields consist of a few notable names but mostly made up of those grinding to maintain their PGA Tour cards.

This week’s field is headlined by World No. 6 and defending U.S. Open Champion J.J. Spaun who makes his first appearance since the Ryder Cup.

Fellow Team USA member Ben Griffin will be teeing it up this week along with Max Greyserman, Wyndham Clark, Nick Taylor and Michael Brennan who round off those within the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR.)

Recent Korn Ferry Tour Champion Johnny Keefer will be making his first appearance since acquiring his PGA Tour school via promotion. He’ll be joined by Emilio Gonzalez who finished fourth in the Korn Ferry Tour Points List. Gonzalez will also likely be the home favorite this week as the highest ranked Mexican within the field.

Austin Eckroat comes in as the defending champion, having topped the likes of Justin Lower and Carson Young by a stroke a season ago. He’ll be back this week to defend his title.

Erik van Rooyen won this event in 2023, the first year it was staged at El Cardonal, in an emotional victory following the death of his close friend. He too will be back this week to seek his second World Wide Technology Championship title.

The Course

El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas in Mexico plays as a par-72 at 7,452 yards on the scorecard.

As previously mentioned, this was the first golf course designed by Woods and in turn, is the first course designed by Woods to make an appearance on the PGA Tour schedule.

This course was opened in 2014 and was designed by Woods in hopes to mirror some of the courses he played in Southern California as a child.

It sits on a stunning piece of property as it is positioned atop a hill overlooking the deep-blue Pacific Ocean.

The course plays linear to the Pacific Ocean as almost every hole plays downhill towards the ocean or uphill away from it.

The land the course sits on is naturally uneven and undulating. Due to this, there won’t be many flat lies to be found on this course. The ball too can go either direction once it hits the ground.

The course is wall-to-wall Paspalum and is described to play firm and fast. However, with the course being Paspalum, which is arguably the most grippy grass golfers will see, there won’t be many opportunities for rollouts and additional distance from shots, even on downhill lies.

El Cardonal does come in at 7,452 yards on the scorecard as previously mentioned but due to the up-and-down hilly nature of the course, the distance on the scorecard is far from what it’ll actually play at.

There is a 228 foot difference in elevation from the highest point of the golf course to the lowest.

The fairways are very wide on this course as Tiger kept the typical resort guest in mind. These fairways average about 60-feet in width.

Although wide, the fairways do feature many in-play bunkers, including centerline ones, that are in the landing zones for long-bombers off the tee.

It is also important for golfers to find the correct area of the fairways to allow them to go pin hunting. If golfers find themselves on the wrong side of the fairway, they'll be forced to aim towards the fat parts of the green, well away from the pin.

Additionally, trouble can be found if a golfer is to miss the fairways. There is no rough featured here this week but instead, the fairways are flanked by the desert arroyo. Some areas, mostly on the front nine, are mostly sandy waste areas without much desert vegetation. Other areas, mainly on the back nine, are full of thick cactus bushes and other desert vegetation that could very well cause unplayable lies.

Along with the wide fairways, the greens are also very large as they average 8,300-square-feet in area.

The greens are also Pasplaum and are both very undulating and contoured which makes them very difficult to putt on.

The greenside surroundings may be the strongest line of defense this course has to offer. They are very difficult to get up-and-down from.

The greenside bunkers are boldly edged and sit well below the putting surface as well. Additionally, these greens are surrounded by short grass with mounds, hallows and collection areas.

In terms of approach shots, it is expected that 22.2-percent will come from 125-150 yards, 27.8-percent from 175-200 and 16.7-percent from 225-plus yards.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is a zero-percent chance of precipitation across all four days this week. Temperatures will be at the highest on Thursday at 86-degrees as they’ll drop to 84-degrees on Friday and ultimately 83-degrees across the weekend. Winds will begin at 11 miles-per-hour on Thursday before dropping to nine miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will bump up to ten miles-per-hour on Saturday and finish the week at 11 miles-per-hour on Sunday. Please note that this course does sit along the coast of the Pacific Ocean so coastal winds will be in play this week. In all, a perfect four days for golf.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee / Average Driving Distance

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Putting

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green

• Scrambling

• Proximity to the Hole from 125-150 Yards

• Proximity to the Hole from 175+ Yards

• Birdie or Better Percentage

Betting Chad

Kevin Yu (+2800)

It’s always a great week when I can start my betting card with Kevin Yu. He is currently fourth on Tour in SG: OTT, 11th in birdie or better percentage, 39th in average driving distance, 42nd in SG: APP, 44th in proximity to the hole from 125-150 yards, 51st in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 98th in SG: PUTT, 138th in both sand saves percentage and SG: ATG and 147th in scrambling. He’s played each of the last three events on Tour, placing 15th at the Bank of Utah Championship, 20th at the Baycurrent Classic and 11th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He played this event in 2023 at this course where he missed the cut. 

Matti Schmid (+6000)

We last saw Schmid at the Baycurrent Classic where he finished 46th. Prior to that he placed 14th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He’s played this event each of the past two seasons at El Cardonal where he missed the cut in 2024 and placed 38th in 2023. He is currently first on Tour in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 22nd in both average driving distance and birdie or better percentage, 30th in SG: PUTT, 76th in SG: OTT, 87th in SG: APP, 145th in sand saves percentage, 149th in proximity to the hole from 125-150 yards, 153rd in scrambling and 162nd in SG: ATG. If there is some hope, in his last event on the PGA Tour with strokes gained data, he gained around-the-green, although slightly. He gained 0.369 strokes around-the-green in that event. I know not a massive number, but gaining in his biggest area of weakness is massive. 

Stephan Jaeger (+7000)

This was my first click this week and I couldn’t be faster once odds dropped to grab Jaeger at 70/1. He is currently 24th on Tour in sand saves percentage, 28th in SG: ATG, 35th in proximity to the hole from 125-150 yards, 36th in birdie or better percentage, 37th in SG: PUTT, 55th in SG: APP, 60th in average driving distance, 106th in scrambling, 122nd in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards and 155th in SG: OTT. Jaeger has been losing strokes off-the-tee for awhile now, including his last two events on the FedExCup Fall. Two years ago he transformed himself from a short hitter to a long hitter on Tour. The accuracy isn’t there currently so that’s the gamble this week and that’s why the former PGA Tour winner is at 70/1. He placed 11th recently at the Bank of Utah Championship and 44th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He played this event in 2023 where he placed 45th.

Sam Ryder (+9000)

Sam Ryder has had some mild success at this venue over the past two seasons. He placed 30th here a season ago and tenth in 2023. He placed 51st at the Bank of Utah Championship, 20th at the Baycurrent Classic and 29th at the Procore Championship. He is currently ninth on Tour in SG: PUTT, 24th in scrambling, 42nd in birdie or better percentage, 44th in sand saves percentage, 45th in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 93rd in proximity to the hole from 125-150 yards, 101st in SG: APP, 109th in average driving distance, 113th in SG: ATG and 130th in SG: OTT. Good news for us is that Ryder gained over a stroke-per-round (1.110) off-the-tee in his latest outing in Utah. He also gained 0.233 strokes-per-round off-the-tee at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Good signs as he gains in his biggest area of weakness. 

Kris Ventura (+12500)

Ventura is currently 17th on Tour in average driving distance, 23rd in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 45th in SG: PUTT, 57th in birdie or better percentage, 79th in SG: OTT, 93rd in proximity to the hole from 125-150 yards, 105th in SG: APP, 111th in scrambling, 131st in SG: ATG and 142nd in sand saves percentage. He gained 0.252 strokes-per-round around-the-green in Utah in his latest outing. Another great sign. He too is in some great form, placing 11th at the Bank of Utah Championship and 21st at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He’ll be making his tournament debut this week.