The FedEx Cup Fall resumes this week with the World Wide Technology Championship at El Cardonal at Diamante (par 72, 7,452 yards, paspalum greens) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This is the third straight year that the World Wide Technology Championship has been played at El Cardonal and at this event last year, Austin Eckroat (-24) won by one shot. There are 120 golfers competing this week and a standard top-65 and ties cut after the first two rounds.
El Cardonal was designed by Tiger Woods and is a beautiful coastal track that features no rough, wide fairways, massive greens, 48 bunkers and water in play on just one hole. While this tree-less course is susceptible to strong wind gusts, El Cardonal is a very easy course for PGA TOUR players, yielding winning numbers of -27 and -24 since making its PGA TOUR debut two years ago.
With El Cardonal featuring the widest fairways of any PGA TOUR venue and zero rough, driving stats aren’t overly relevant at this track and like most easy courses, contending at El Cardonal comes down to your iron play and putting. Both of the winners at this track have finished the week top-13 in GIR and top-three in PPR. El Cardonal features paspalum greens, which isn’t a common type of green and seeking out players who are efficient on this type of putting surfaces is a smart move this week. Lastly, scoring on the par fours is most vital among the holes at El Cardonal and six of the 10 par fours fall between 450-500 yards, so finding players who perform well on this length of hole is a wise strategy as well.
Below, I have featured three of my favorite DraftKings bargain plays for the World Wide Technology Championship, which all cost less than $7.5K.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $150K Sand Trap Special [$50K to 1st]
Top DraftKings PGA TOUR DFS Bargain Plays for the World Wide Technology Championship
Sam Ryder ($7,400) – Ryder has been great at El Cardonal, finishing T-10 and T-30 at this venue. The veteran has an 8-under 64 on his resume at El Cardonal and Ryder enters this week as the maker of six of his last seven cuts, with four top-30 finishes during this stretch. Ryder has been incredible with his flat stick this season, ranking ninth in SGP and he also ranks 24th in par four performance.
A third straight top-30 finish at El Cardonal is a strong possibility for Ryder this weekend and he is a no-brainer at only $7,400.
Justin Lower ($7,200) – After finishing T-23 in his debut at El Cardonal, Lower finished runner-up to Eckroat by one stroke at this venue last year. Lower tied his career-low with a 9-under 63 that week and he ranks third in strokes gained per round at El Cardonal among the players in this field that have competed at the par 72 more than once. Now, Lower returns to El Cardonal fresh off a third-place finish at the Bank of Utah Championship two weeks ago.
The 36-year-old gained strokes across the board at the Black Desert Resort and he shot 68 or better in all four of his rounds. If Lower can carry this momentum over to El Cardonal, he could contend at this track for the second year in a row and that type of upside is by no means reflected in his cheap $7,200 salary.
Eric Cole ($7,200) – Cole has advanced to the weekend in six of his last seven starts, including a T-9 at the Sanderson Farms Championship at the beginning of October. Cole has gained strokes on approach and with his putter in back-to-back events, and he has a long history of thriving in the fall, as he ranks ninth in strokes gained per round when we analyze this field’s results at fall events.
The 37-year-old has never competed at El Cardonal before, but Cole should have a successful debut at this venue, given his excellent form and love for paspalum grass. Impressively, Cole ranks first in strokes gained per round when we compare this field’s histories at courses with paspalum greens.
Carson Young ($7,000) – Young missed the cut at the Bank of Utah Championship two weeks ago, but that is only his fourth missed cut in his last 12 starts. Young has produced four top-30 finishes during this time and El Cardonal is the perfect place for him to bounce back after the missed cut in Utah in his last start.
Young has flourished at El Cardonal, finishing T-9 and runner-up at the track the last two years. During that runner-up last season, Young set the course record at El Cardonal with an 11-under 61 in the second round, which is his career-low on the PGA TOUR by two strokes. Young is gaining an outstanding 2.75 strokes per round at El Cardonal and he is an awesome value play at only $7,000 that could get slept on with a missed cut in his most recent start.
