The PGA TOUR season resumes this week after a one-week hiatus with the World Wide Technology Championship. For the second-straight year, this event will be played at El Cardonal at Diamante (par 72, 7,452 yards, paspalum greens) in Cabo San Lucas. Erik Van Rooyen won last year’s World Wide Technology Championship at a tournament-record -27, which was two shots clear of the field. This week’s field consists of 120 golfers and there will be a standard top-65 and ties cut following the first 36 holes.
El Cardonal was designed by Tiger Woods and is very scoreable track, which is evident from Van Rooyen’s low -27 winning number at this par 72 last season. El Cardonal is a beautiful coastal venue with wide fairways, massive greens and no trees or rough on the grounds. Being long isn’t necessary at El Cardonal—only one of the top-14 finishers last season finished the event top-10 in driving distance—and to succeed at this susceptible track, you need to catch fire with both your irons and putter. During his convincing two-shot victory at El Cardonal last season, Van Rooyen finished the tournament 13th in GIR and third in PPR.
With this course home to paspalum greens, seeking players who own positive putting splits on this rare type of grass is a sharp move, while targeting golfers who are efficient on 450-500-yard par fours is also wise—six of the 10 par fours at El Cardonal fall in this range. During his win at this par 72 a year ago, Van Rooyen finished the week fourth in 450-500-yard par-4 efficiency.
Below, I have featured four of my favorite DraftKings bargain plays for the World Wide Technology Championship, that all are priced under $7.5K.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $200K Sand Trap Special [$50K to 1st]
Joe Highsmith ($7,400) – Highsmith is one of the best values available this week. The 24-year-old is having an excellent fall, finishing T13th, T55th, T6th and T16th, in that order. This great run has moved Highsmith up 51 spots in the world golf rankings to a career-best No. 192—plus, he has gained strokes on approach in three of these past four starts.
Additionally, when we compare this field’s last 24 rounds, Highsmith ranks fifth in BOB% and sixth in 450-500-yard par-4 efficiency, setting him up perfectly for his first attempt at El Cardonal. On the DraftKings Sportsbook, Highsmith carries +6500 odds to win this weekend, which are the best odds of all the golfers priced under $7.5K for DFS purposes.
Nate Lashley ($7,400) – Lashley finished T10th at El Cardonal last year. The veteran has a true knack for flourishing at birdie fests with wins at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and Corales Puntacana Championship on his resume, both in which he finished at -20 or lower. Lashley’s current form is also encouraging, with him making five of his last six cuts, with his most recent result being a T16 at the ZOZO Championship two weeks ago.
Lashley gained strokes with both his irons and putter during that finish, and he has the potential for his second straight top-20 finish this weekend.
Nick Hardy ($7,300) – Expect a strong bounce back performance from Hardy after he missed the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open in his last start. Hardy still gained strokes on approach for the 12th consecutive start despite being sent home early from TPC Summerlin. Heading into this event, he had made nine of his previous 10 cuts, most notably with a T8 at the Black Desert Championship last month. That event delivered very low scoring conditions, similar to what Hardy will see at El Cardonal this week. When the 28-year-old teed it up at this par 72 last year, he finished T23rd.
Justin Suh ($7,200) – Suh has a ton of merit at this cheap price tag. The veteran has made six of his last eight cuts and is coming off a T46th at the Shriners Children’s Open, in which Suh gained a season-high 4.6 strokes on approach. The 27-year-old ranks 11th in SGP when we compare this field’s last 24 rounds and was sensational at El Cardonal last year, finishing T4th. Suh led the field in GIR and birdies during that near win, and while we can’t expect this type of result again, Suh has top-25 upside.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $200K Sand Trap Special [$50K to 1st]
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is Hunta512) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
