World Wide Technology Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 50/1 to 66/1

• 66/167.00 Sam Ryder looks suited to this test

• 66/167.00 Harry Hall makes lots of birdies

• 50/151.00 Davis Riley should enjoy Tiger's course

Weather forecast for Thursday

This week's oceanside track - the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal at Diamante - can get windy but that's not the case on FRL day with the forecast suggesting the gentlest of breezes at 4mph.

Apart from that it's warm (high 70s, low 80s), overcast and there's no sign of any rain. That's consistent throughout the day so neither wave has any sort of advantage.

Back Sam Ryder @ 66/167.00

A resort course with no rough, wide fairways and big greens should promote excellents scoring and calm conditions add to the feeling that we'll see some low rounds on day one.

That suggests checking the Birdie Average charts for 2023 is a good idea and it leads us to Sam Ryder.

Only three players in the field make more birdies per round than the American and he's 20th among all players on the PGA Tour in the Birdie or Better standings.

Ryder was the first-round leader by the coast at Torrey Pines earlier this year while he's been 13th or better after 18 holes in three of his last four tournaments so has been starting well.

This week's track is new but it's no bad thing that Ryder was third after day one on the old one, El Camaleon, in 2022 and 10th following the first round in 2019 given that both have paspalum putting surfaces.

He's also twice a runner-up at the Corales Puntacana and has a third at the Puerto Rico Open, two more paspalum events played near the ocean.

There's plenty there to suggest Ryder can go low from his 12.27 (local) tee time.

Back Harry Hall @ 66/167.00

Scroll down the various birdie standings and Harry Hall's name pops up lots of times.

He's 15th for Birdie or Better Conversion, 25th for both Birdie Average and Par 5 Birdie or Better Leaders (there are four on this course) and 26th for Par Breakers.

The Englishman has some paspalum form too having finished seventh in Puerto Rico and 25th at the Corales Puntacana back in March.

As for fast starts, Hall was the first-round leader at Colonial in May thanks to a sparkling 62 while a 66 put him third after the opening lap of September's Fortinet Championship.

Wind a little further back and he was second after day one at Pebble Beach, another seaside tournament.

He's in good nick after 26th at the Shriners followed by 21st in the ZOZO last time so Hall is worthy of a punt in this market. He tees off early in the morning at 06.36.

Back Davis Riley @ 50/151.00

Davis Riley has finished fifth (Mexico Open) and 21st (this event) on his last two trips to Mexico.

Both were good performances but it's not a surprise he performed better at Vidanta Vallarta, a longer course that suits him better than El Camaleon.

Riley was also eighth on paspalum at the 2020 Great Exuma Classic in the Bahamas, the same year he won the Panama Championship. In other words he's done well in warm countries outside of the United States.

In terms of current form, he was 28th in Las Vegas last month and closed with a 66 at the ZOZO for 31st .

As for fast starts, in his last 10 tournaments he was first-round leader at Memorial and second after 18 holes by the sea at the Scottish Open.

Riley hits his opening tee shot at 07.09.

Now read Steve Rawlings on the World Wide Technology Championship