The PGA Tour is on the back half of the fall swing as the players head to El Camaleon Golf Club for the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. El Camaleon is a Greg Norman course with receptive Paspalum greens, and Viktor Hovland dominated the last two years with a combo of elite approaches and putting.
This event will have a full field of 135 golfers and the regular cut after Friday of top 65 and ties. In the field this week are 13 of the world’s top 50 players, with Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland all in attendance.
Don’t forget to check out the Stokastic PGA DFS projections, which has both scoring data, and PGA DFS ownership projections. Stokastic PGA DFS projections come out on Monday and will be updated throughout the week. This week has a field that will be tough to wade through given the lack of elite talent so using the Stokastic Model will be even more important than usual.
PGA DFS Picks: 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba
It’s worth noting last week’s setup for Bermuda and this week’s have a lot in common. There were a lot of surprising names in the mix last week but the highest-ranked player in the field ended up winning in the end. Seamus Power put an end to a three-year run that saw players win at 66-1 or longer in the odds. Power’s odds were still available at 25-1 in places last week, which seems massive in hindsight considering he was the only player in the OWGR top 50 in the field last week.
These are settings where elite short iron play and putting can dominate. In 2019, Brendon Todd ran the table and won both these events, and last year Danny Lee finished second and seventh in consecutive weeks. High finishers at Bermuda who are in the field this week as well include Power, Denny McCarthy, Thomas Detry and Patrick Rodgers.
Here’s a list of the other notable players in the field for the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba field this week:
- Scottie Scheffler (first event since losing the #1 player in world ranking)
- Viktor Hovland (two-time defending Mayakoba Champion)
- Collin Morikawa (Has not won on the PGA Tour since the 2021 Open Championship)
- Tony Finau (Hasn’t made a fall start, finished 45th here last season on his first visit)
- Jason Day (8th and 11th in his last two fall starts)
- Aaron Wise (6th in his last fall start, 36 in OWGR his highest ever rank)
It’s a much better field than last week’s, with 13 players from the top 50 in the OWGR in attendance. That includes the No. 2 player in the world in Scottie Scheffler, who will be making his first start this week since losing the number one player ranking. This will be his second visit to the venue, and he finished fourth here last season. This will be the first career start at Mayakoba for Collin Morikawa whose best finish this fall is a 29th at the CJ Cup. Jason Day will be looking to continue his roll after posting top-12 finishes in his last two outings. Day has gained over 4.0 strokes on approach in his last two starts but has only played in this event once over the last five years.
World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba Past Winners
2021: Viktor Hovland (16-1)
- Lead-in: 18/44/5 (had played in two fall series events, top five at Tour Championship)
2020: Viktor Hovland (20-1)
- Lead-in: 15/47/12 (had played in three fall series events with two top-15 finishes)
2019: Brendon Todd (80-1)
- Lead-in: win/28/MC (had played in five fall events prior, won week prior n Bermuda)
This event has given us a unique blend of talent and winners. The top of the board has hit the past two seasons, with Hovland winning in consecutive years. Hovland didn’t play much last fall prior to his win in Mexico but he did finish 5th at the Tour Championship and clearly had some good confidence still brewing from that. Todd had played a lot prior to his win; in fact, he’d made a start at every fall event that year. 2018 Patton Kizzire followed a similar game plan to Todd’s in that he played in a bunch of the fall events leading up to this week and was another mid t0 upper tier winner in terms of his odds.
Want to see who is trending as a strong play early? Check out Stokastic’s PGA DFS projections, which will be updated on Monday and throughout the week.
World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba Course Preview
El Camaleon — Riviera Maya, Mexico
Greens: Paspalum
Designer: Greg Norman
Similar Courses:
Waialae (Sony Open), Cocoa Beach (Puerto Rico Open), TPC San Antonio (also Greg Norman design), Port Royal GC (Bermuda)
This will be the second week in a row that the players will be visiting a shorter resort style course. El Camaleon is a Greg Norman designed venue on the coast of Mayakoba. Despite the venue being seaside the course rarely gets wind around this time of year although rain can often swing by for a few hours and soften up the course. That was exactly what happened last season when Viktor Hovland won at 23 under par.
Setup wise, Mayakoba is another Par 71 venue that plays as a standard setup (three par 5’s and four par 3’s) but is again very short by PGA standards. While it’s a 150 to 200 yards longer than last week, El Camaleon barely stretches over 7,000 total yards making it extremely short by PGA standards. When the weather is down at this venue, it truly becomes a pitch and putt for the players. Rough is nearly nonexistent, and save for random hazards, getting in trouble off the tee here is tough. There’s also no reason to take driver on many holes as the greens are receptive and easy to hold. Green in regulation percentages will go through the roof this week, and Hovland in his 2020 win hit over 84% of the greens for the week.
Past Winners and Stats
2021 — Viktor Hovland (23 under par)
Stats: Scrambling – 6th/Driving Distance – 20th/Putts Per GIR – 13th/Greens in Reg – 11th
2021 — Viktor Hovland (15 under par)
Stats: Scrambling – 113th/Driving Distance – 19th/Putts Per GIR – 4th/Greens in Reg – 1st
2021 — Brendon Todd (21 under par)
Stats: Scrambling – 6th/Driving Distance – 121st/Putts Per GIR – 9th/Greens in Reg – 3rd
There are no strokes gained stats for this week, but being steady on those short to medium approaches and staying away from having to scramble too often has been a huge part of the last three winners’ game plans. Hovland and Todd but ranked top three in greens in regulation, but Todd gained more strokes around the green and Hovland had a clear distance advantage. The two men both scrambled well for the weeks of their win, but they likely didn’t need to scramble much simply due to them finding a bunch of greens.
World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba Recent Form Watch
Strokes Gained on Approach (Last 50 Rounds)
- Russell Henley
- Collin Morikawa
- Scottie Scheffler
- Tom Hoge
- Mark Hubbard
Strokes Gained Tee to Green (Last 50 Rounds)
- Tony Finau
- Scottie Scheffler
- Russell Henley
- Collin Morikawa
- Brian Harman
Top Five Strokes Gained Total (Last Six Events)
- Tom Hoge
- Taylor Montgomery
- Andrew Putnam
- Maverick McNealy
- Hayden Buckley
World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba Weather Forecast
Thursday a.m.: 75-80 F, winds 5-10 mph/60-80% chance of precipitation
Thursday p.m.: 83 F, winds 10 mph/80% chance of precipitation
Friday a.m.: 78-80 F, winds 5-10 mph/chance of precipitation 50%
Friday p.m.: 85 F, winds 8-10 mph/chance of precipitation 30-35%
The weather this week looks a little angry at the start but does fade away Saturday and Sunday. There will be some rain and more wind than usual early week but nothing too substantial from a wind perspective. It’s always hard to tell how stiff the breeze will be off a coastal course anyways but once the wind dies down expect players to go crazy in how they attack the course.
World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba Early Betting Leans
Alex Noren | BetMGM Outright
This has typically been a great spot for veterans to run the table when their putters start sinking numerous bombs. There are not many putters better than Noren on the PGA Tour at the moment and he has now played four times this fall and has accumulated two runner-up finishes over his last seven combined starts. On top of being an elite putter who had gained over a stroke putting in seven straight PGA events prior to the CJ Cup, Noren has played and won at a variety of different venues throughout his career. He’s showing some form right now and looks like a solid veteran pick from the mid-tier section, both as an outright and top-10 play. Look to him as the kind of veteran whose putter alone could dominate on this style of course.
Thanks for reading to the end of this article! If you appreciate this free content and want to see more of it every day, you can help us out by sharing this article on social media!
