• Hot putting the key to success

• Consider Bank of Utah Championship and Mexico Open form

• Read my Abu Dhabi Championship preview here

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Tournament History

Fred Funk won the inaugural edition of the World Wide Technology Championship (initially called the Mayakoba Golf Classic) as recently as 2007.

The first six editions of the event were played in February as an opposite field event to the now defunct WGC Match Play before it switched to this November slot in the schedule 12 years ago.

The first 16 editions of the World Wide Technology Championship were held at El Camaleón Golf Course in Playa del Carmen but the PGA Tour decided to end its relationship with Mayakoba after El Camaleón was used on the LIV Golf Tour for the first time two years ago so the event was moved to a brand-new venue- the Tiger Woods designed El Cardonal Golf Course within the Diamante Cabo San Lucas resort.

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Venue

El Cardonal Golf Course, Diamante Cabo San Lucas resort, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

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Course Details

Par 72, 7,452
Scoring average in 2024 - 70.26

El Cardonal at Diamante is Tiger Woods' first design and it opened as recently as 2014.

The course was inspired by the old-style Southern Californian layouts Tiger grew up playing and the designer had this to say about his first design prior to the 2023 renewal.

"El Cardonal is going to remind people of the old-style California courses.

"I set up the golf strategy to make golfers think and make choices. Regardless of your handicap, there are going to be different ways to play every hole. Angles of approach are going to be very important and will dictate the type of shots you should consider. I love this kind of golf."

Starting and finishing with a par five, El Cardonal is a standard par 72 layout (36-36) with four long holes and four short ones and water is in play on just one hole.

The bunkers have a traditional look while natural, irregular contours have been preserved on the generous fairways, which average 60 yards in width.

The entire layout is Platinum paspalum which is the same grass used at the Norman Signature Course at Vidanta Vallarta - the host course for the Mexico Open.

The much bigger than average greens were set at 11.5 on the Stimpmeter on the first occasion the event was played here two years ago and with no rough to contend with, the pros tore the place apart.

The field averaged more than three strokes under-par, only four holes averaged over-par for the week, and Erik Van Rooyen won with a total of 27-under-par, but it played slightly tougher last year.

With modest winds predicted for the week, the greens were reduced to 11 on the Stimp, eight holes averaged over-par for the week, the course averaged less than two strokes under-par and Austin Eckroat won in 24-under-par.

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Weather Forecast 

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TV Coverage        

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 20:00 on Thursday.

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Last Eight Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2024 - Austin Eckroat -24 42.041/1
2023 - Erik Van Rooyen -27 80.079/1
2022 - Russell Henley -24 55.054/1
2021 - Viktor Hovland -24 21.020/1
2020 - Viktor Hovland -20 28.027/1
2019 - Brendon Todd -20 110.0109/1
2018 - Matt Kuchar -22 85.084/1
2017 - Patton Kizzire -19 85.084/1

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The tale of the last two years

Given we've only been here twice previously, it's well worth looking back at how the last two editions have panned out at El Cardonal.

Neither length not accuracy have been particularly vital off the tee in either edition.

As many as three of the top-four in the Driving Distance stats finished inside the top 12 last year but the winner, Eckroat, ranked only 55^th for DD and Justin Suh, who ranked fourth, was the only player in the top-14 to rank inside the top-15 for Driving Distance in 2023 so it can't hardly be described as a bomber's paradise.

The two players to finish tied for second last year, Justin Lower and Carson Young, ranked tied 10^th for Driving Accuracy last year but Eckroat only ranked 31^st and the first six home in 2023 ranked T27th, T27th, T44th, T44th, T4th and 65^th for Driving Accuracy.

Although Eckroat only ranked 16^th for Greens In regulation, the five men ranked inside the top five for GIR all finished inside the top 12 12 months ago and the top-two in the GIR stats two years ago, Justin Suh and Ryan Palmer, both finished inside the top six, so that appears to be a stat to consider but as you'd expect with what is basically a birdie-fest, Putting Average has been the key stat in each of the last two years.

The first four home last year ranked fourth, 11^th, 22^nd and first for Putting Average and the front three in 2023 ranked second, first and fourth for that stat.

Although the scoring has been very low over the last two years, it isn't an entirely defenceless layout.

Stephan Jaegar and Ludvig Aberg were trading at single figures at halfway two years ago, but they demonstrated on Saturday, with rounds of +3 and level par, that this is a tough place if you're slightly off your game.

The fairways are ridiculously wide but as Matt Kuchar demonstrated on Saturday two years ago, one bad drive can be catastrophic.

The Floridian veteran was matched at a low of just 1.222/9 before he recorded a quadruple-bogey eight at the par four 15^th in round three!

Although huge, finding the right spots on the greens is essential, and as the players get more familiar with the course, the more accurate iron players may well prosper over the hot putters in future, especially if the conditions are trickier.

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Will the Bubble Boys Figure Again?

As was the case over the last two years, this is the fifth of seven FedEx Cup Fall Series on the PGA Tour, so time is running out for anyone outside the crucial top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings.

There's an incentive to finish between 51^st and 60^th at the end of the series as that earns you a spot in to both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational next year.

They're both Signature Events with juicy purses but with just three events to go, the big focus will be on who can finish the series inside the top 100 to secure their playing privileges for next year.

After this week, the Tour takes in the Bermuda Championship before signing off with the RSM Classic and anyone outside the top 100 after that event will lose their cards for next season, so the pressure is on.

Over the first two years, players finishing inside the top 125 kept their cards and the first course winner, Van Rooyen began, was sitting on number 125 in the FedEx Cup Standings.

Having won the Cognizant Classic in March, Eckroat was safe but the two men beaten by a stroke by him, Justin Lower and Carson young, had been sitting 95^th and 113^th and Joe Highsmith, who finished fifth, had begun the week sitting at 125^th in the Standings so that's definitely something to consider in an event were clues are few and far between.

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Two tournaments that should provide clues

Form at the Mexico Open over the last four years may well be worth examining closely and the recent Bank of Utah Championship may provide a few pointers too.

As highlighted in the course notes above, El Cardonal has the exact same strain of paspalum as that laid down at the Norman Signature Course, which has hosted the last four editions of the Mexico Open - and like El Cardonal, the Norman Signature Course has plenty of space of the tee.

In addition to the Mexico Open, both the Puerto Rico Open and the Corales Puntacana Championship are staged on paspalum tracks and form at this event's previous venue, El Camaleón, can't be readily dismissed either as that too is a paspalum course, but for more recent form that may hold up nicely, check out the Bank of Utah Championship, won by Matt McCarty in 23-under-par last year and by Michael Brenan in -22 two weeks ago.

Although that venue is bentgrass and not paspalum, it's equally generous off the tee and just like this tournament, the first two editions of the Bank of Utah have effectively been putting contests.

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Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2024 - Austin Eckroat - tied fourth, trailing by one 8.88/1
2023 - Erik Van Rooyen - solo third, trailing by one 5.14/1

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In-Play Tactics

Eckroat was inside the top five places all week last year and although Van Rooyen sat tied for 28^th and six off the lead after round one, he was inside the top five at halfway and like Eckroat, he was trailing by just a stroke after round three.

Being up with the pace in a low scoring event is nearly always essential, especially in benign conditions, but we witnessed plenty of drama two years ago and it's clearly a venue where all sorts can happen.

As already stated, Kuchar was matched at long odds-on as early as Saturday before one poor drive led to four dropped shots in one hole and having been matched at as high as 50.049/1 after a slow start on Sunday, Van Rooyen, who was still two behind Kuchar with three holes to play in round four, shot a remarkable eight-under-par 28 on the back-nine to win by a stroke.

We have very little to go on but it's perhaps worth mention that two players were tied for the lead after 54 holes two years ago and that three were tied at the top last year but none of them kicked on for the win.

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Brilliant Brennan can go back-to-back

It was impossible not to be impressed with the way Michael Brennan cruised to victory at the Bank of Utah Championship two weeks ago and he looks nicely priced to double up here in Mexico at a venue that looks sure to suit.

After a successful year on the PGA Tour Americas Tour, where he won three events during August and September, the 23-year-old bolted up around the Black Desert Resort course by four strokes two weeks ago in what was just his third start on the PGA Tour.

Brennan arrives in Mexico with current form figures reading 1-51-1-1-5-4-1 so he's clearly in the form of his life and although winning back-to-back tournaments is tough, he's already done it this year, claiming both the CRMC Championship and the ATB Cassic.

Those two victories came with a week off in-between so the fact that there was no event on the PGA Tour last week looks like a plus and I was more than happy to chance Brennan at 33/134.00.

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