PGA DFS Core Plays: World Wide Technology Championship
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS picks at various salary ranges for this week’s tournament. Who should you be building lineups around? Find out below!
After a week off, the PGA TOUR is back in our lives. While the fields in these fall events leave much to be desired, at least we have a golf tournament to break down. I’m not going to lie- I was missing my golf sweat last weekend. We head to Mexico for the World Wide Technology Championship. This event was held at El Cardonal at Diamante for the very first time last year. Erik Van Rooyen ran away from the field and won with a winning score of 27 under par. It played as the third easiest course all year.
The course is a Par 72 that measures just under 7,500 yards. There are four par fives on the course and a drivable par four. The course’s most unique characteristic is the width of the fairways. They are between 60 and 70 yards wide on most holes. For reference, the average on the PGA TOUR is around 30-35 yards wide. The field hit these fairways at a ridiculous clip (91%) last season. If everyone is hitting fairways, it certainly gives an advantage to those who have distance.
Noto’s PGA Model Download & Video for the World Wide Technology Championship (link coming soon)
I’ve added an upside metric to my PGA DFS model this week, which you can download and customize as a premium member. The model also features a strength of field metric that most models fail to incorporate. I’ve always thought this was one of the biggest flaws in golf projections. You have to factor in the quality of fields that golfers are competing against, especially now with all of the Signature Events on the schedule.
Let’s get back to this week’s course. If golfers do stray too far offline, they will find themselves in bunkers or rocky areas because there is no rough on the course. The greens here are also massive (8,300 square feet on average) and very easy to hit. This is due to a combination of the size of the greens and the fact that golfers are hitting their approach shots from the fairway. We saw the field hit these greens at an 83% clip last season. This lessens the importance of around the green play.
The way I see it, driving accuracy and strokes gained around the green have very little value this week. When everyone is hitting fairways and greens, players who rely on accuracy and a strong short game won’t be able to utilize their strengths as much as usual. I’m focusing my attention on strokes gained off the tee (and/or driving distance), strokes gained approach, birdie or better percentage, strokes gained putting, and 3-putt avoidance.
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PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Core Plays for the World Wide Technology Championship
Field Size:
- 120 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties
Weather Forecasts
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El Cardonal at Diamante
- Location: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
- Par 72 — 7,452 yards
- Recent winners: Erik Van Rooyen (-27)
- Difficulty: 2023 (56th)
- Green type: paspalum
- Green size: 8,300 square feet
- Fairway width: 65 yards
- Missed fairway penalty: high (but very few miss)
- Holes with water hazards: 1
- 2023 tournament averages:
- - Driving Accuracy: 91% (TOUR average: 59%)
- - Driving Distance: 303 yards (TOUR average: 293)
- - Greens in Regulation: 83% (TOUR average: 66%)
Event and Course Notes
- Located in the beautiful Cabo San Lucas, gorgeous views
- This course was designed by Tiger Woods and made its debut on TOUR last year
- This is a resort course and was the third easiest of 58 courses on TOUR last year
- The fairways are massive and the greens are huge
- 91% driving accuracy, 83% greens in regulation rates last year
- There is no rough on the property; errant tee shots find bunkers or rocky areas
- Plenty of undulations and elevation changes
- Greens are slow and feature paspalum grass
- No ShotLink data from last year’s tournament
- Name of the game is making birdies — routinely hit it close and/or make putts
Core Plays
Ben Griffin
DraftKings: $9,900 / pOWN%: 14%
FanDuel: $11,100 / pOWN%: 16%
Strokes Gained Off the Tee: 71
Strokes Gained Approach: 16
Strokes Gained Putting: 14
Birdie or Better %: 31
Bogey Avoidance: 9
Griffin likes himself a birdie fest and loves a weak-field event. He’s top 10 in this field in strokes gained on very easy courses and 1st in strokes gained in weak-field events. He’s not the best driver of the ball, but he’s elite when you put him in the fairway with everyone else. He’s solid on approach, he has an excellent short game, and he’s one of the best putters in the field. With such wide fairways, his subpar driving shouldn’t be a concern this week. He’s already played four times this fall and has two top-25 finishes. He won’t have to shake off the rust like some of the other expensive options. In his debut here, he finished T23.
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