The TOUR continues its paradise swing at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba at El Cameleon Golf Course in Mayakoba. The course is a par 71, measuring 7,017 and the greens will be paspalum this week.
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STRATEGY
A few big names headline the 132-man field in Mexico this week, including Brooks Koepka (+2500, $10,000), Tony Finau (+2000, $10,600), Will Zalatoris (+4500, $9,100), Abraham Ancer (+1600, $10,700) and Rickie Fowler (+5000, $8,600). Past winners here include Patton Kizzire (+13000, $6,800), Matt Kuchar (+10000, $7,200), Brendon Todd (+8000, $7,100) and Viktor Hovland (+1600, $10,900). Others like Russell Knox (+10000, $7,300) and C.T Pan (+9000, $7,300) have also done well, which gives us a certain profile of golfer who can do well here.
Accurate drivers who don’t necessarily hit it far Off-the-Tee seem to find success at this resort course. The rough isn’t thick, so it’s not entirely imperative to keep it in the fairway. Still, with mangroves, a myriad of bunkers and holes that run alongside the oceanfront, golfers will need to prioritize accuracy over distance. The conditions have been soft in recent years, and we should expect low scores on a resort course like El Cameleon with a pair of short par 4s and par 5s. Past winning scores have read 20-under the previous two years and 22-under in 2019.
This week, the strategy is to roster ball-strikers who can play in coastal conditions, and one angle you can take is rostering golfers who’ve done well at the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club in Hawaii. This tournament and the Sony Open have seen a lot of similar leaderboards.
Aaron Wise (+3000 to Win, $9,600 on DraftKings)
It’s going to feel weird backing Wise at this number with other big names around him like Koepka, so I like him a little more in DFS than the outright market. Still, over the previous 24 rounds, he ranks 38th in SG: Off-the-Tee, ninth in opportunities gained, 31st in putting and first in birdies. A third-place finish at the 2019 Bermuda as well as a top 10 and runner-up here last season is a great indication he plays well on these short, coastal courses. A switch to the long putter at THE NORTHERN TRUST in August has proven successful so far, with Wise finishing three of four tournaments gaining strokes with the flat stick since the move. Patrick Reed (+3500, $9,500) is also a consideration. A 6-under on Sunday last week shot him up 15 spots in the final round to finish runner-up. His current form hasn’t been great, but his outright number feels like a value this week.
Joaquin Niemann (+4500 to Win, $7,800 on DraftKings)
Niemann is one of the premier drivers of the ball and has played well on coastal courses and in windy conditions like The Plantation Course at Kapalua and the Sony Open, both in Hawaii. He’s gained 3.8 strokes total in his 11 rounds on really slow greens and ranks ninth in SG: Total on similar courses like Coco Beach (Puerto Rico Open), Corales GC (Corales Punatacana) and Waialae CC (Sony Open).
Russell Knox (+10000 to Win, $7,300 on DraftKings)
Let’s keep on backing Knox on these courses until he wins one. After another solid performance last week, finishing T12 at the Bermuda Championship, Knox continues to knock on the door in paradise, and at his price, he’s well worth consideration. It’s a stronger field than last week, but Knox is a good wind player and knows how to putt on these slow, paspalum greens. I’d also be interested in backing Lucas Herbert (+900; $7,500) for a top 10. Golfers who play well on the coastal course roto tend to play well on most of these tracks, and Herbert just won in Bermuda last week. The conditions were tough, so he might be a little fatigued, but we saw Brendon Todd win the Bermuda and Mayakoba back-to-back in 2019.
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