The PGA Tour heads to Mexico to play the 17th edition of the World Wide Technology Championship. This will be the first time that they play El Cardonal, a Tiger Woods-designed course in Cabo San Lucas.
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I don’t think Woods had a PGA Tour event in mind when he designed this course because it appears to be resort golf at its finest. Wide fairways with (technically) no rough on the property. The greens are a generous 8,000 square feet on average, which should turn this week into a scoring bonanza.
Here are all the players who have my interest—and those who certainly don’t—this week at the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship:
Golfers I’m Definitely Playing
Ludvig Aberg ($11,200 DraftKings)
Orlando Ramirez
It’s possible that Aberg is the best player in this field, and he possesses all the required firepower to take down El Cardonal. Over the past 36 rounds, Aberg has piled up 4.93 birdies per round, the most in this field per the RickRunGood.com golf database. He nearly won in Jackson (T-2) and impressed in Las Vegas (T-13)–it’s just a matter of time before he hoists a trophy on the PGA Tour.
Akshay Bhatia ($9,200 DraftKings)
Bhatia has earned three top-25 finishes in his past seven starts, including a win at the Barracuda Championship in late July. He also might have a knack for “tropical resort golf” as five of his best seven finishes have come in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico or Mexico. He has immense upside if you’re looking to fill that void in your lineup. Viktor Hovland was viewed as the king of resort golf—until his end-of-the-year run in which he won at Muirfield Village, Olympia Fields and East Lake. Maybe Akshay is the new resort king!
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Taylor Pendrith ($8,000 DraftKings)
The skill-set of Pendrith should be well-suited for El Cardonal—the ability to bomb it off the tee and not worry so much about the direction it goes. Pendrith caught fire in Las Vegas, finishing T-3 while only gaining two strokes with the putter.
Vince Whaley ($7,500 DraftKings)
The fall has been kind to Whaley, who has posted a top-28 finish in each of his three starts. He’s been well-rounded, leaning on his ball-striking but providing significant gains with his short game, too. His distance off the tee and stellar form should be a perfect match for El Cardonal.
Ryo Ishikawa ($6,700 DraftKings)
Yoshimasa Nakano
Ishikawa punched his ticket to this event with a T-4 finish at the ZOZO Championship. That continues a stretch of solid golf across the globe, including a runner-up finish at the Japan Open Golf Championship and seven top-20 finishes over his past nine events globally.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
