The PGA TOUR stays in Mexico this week for the World Wide Technology Championship at El Cardonal at Diamante (par 72, 7,452 yards, paspalum greens) in Cabo San Lucas. This is the fourth year in a row El Cardonal has hosted the World Wide Technology Championship. At this event a year ago, Ben Griffin (-29) won by two strokes. The field comprises 120 golfers, and a top-65 and ties cut after the first two rounds.
Tiger Woods designed El Cardonal, the first Woods course to host a PGA TOUR event. El Cardonal is an easy, tropical course that features wide fairways, no rough, big greens, 48 bunkers and water in play on just one hole. With no rough to worry about, navigating this course off the tee isn’t challenging, and players of any length can succeed.
Like most scorable tracks, the key to winning at El Cardonal is performing well with both your irons and putter. All three winners at this par 72 finished the event top-five in PPR and top-13 in GIR. You also need to score well on the 10 par-fours, as all three victors at El Cardonal finished the tournament top-five in par-four performance.
Let’s dive into three of my favorite DraftKings bargain plays for the World Wide Technology Championship, all costing less than $7.5K.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $120K Sand Trap [$25K to 1st]
Top DraftKings DFS Bargain Plays for the World Wide Technology Championship
Taylor Moore ($7,400)
Moore withdrew from last week’s VidantaWorld Mexico Open before the first round for an undisclosed reason, but he is back in action for this week’s World Wide Technology Championship. While not knowing why he withdrew is slightly worrisome, Moore checks many boxes this week. He should also come with low ownership after the withdrawal.
Moore finished T21 at El Cardonal last year. He has improved in each of his last three starts entering this week, finishing T45, T41 and, most recently, T3 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship two weeks ago. That week, Moore gained a season-high 5.7 strokes on approach at Port Royal GC, which ranked fourth for the event. If the 33-year-old can even somewhat replicate this ball-striking performance at El Cardonal, a top-15 finish could be in the cards.
Garrick Higgo ($7,100)
After missing three consecutive cuts, Higgo got back on track at the VidantaWorld Mexico Open this past week. He finished T29, including an opening round 7-under 64. Higgo will look to build on his strong run of form at El Cardonal, where he has flourished in the past — finishing T6 and T4 in his two starts.
Higgo caught fire at this course last year, shooting a career-low 11-under 61 in the third round. He ranks third in this field in strokes gained per round at El Cardonal. Higgo also won last year’s Corales Puntacana Championship, a noteworthy win on the paspalum greens at Corales Golf Club, the same type of putting surface featured at El Cardonal. Higgo has a true knack for paspalum, and him adding another high finish to his El Cardonal resume is a possibility this week.
Joel Dahmen ($6,700)
Dahmen has finished T14 and T40 in his two starts at El Cardonal, and the veteran seems to love competing in Mexico. Dahmen has finished inside the top-25 in six of nine starts in Mexico, and he ranks sixth in this field in strokes gained per round at Mexico-based venues.
Dahmen finished T34 at Vidanta Vallarta last week, marking his ninth made cut in his last 12 starts. Dahmen ranks 25th in SG APP this season, and he brings top-30 upside at El Cardonal this week.
