World Wide Technology Championship DFS picks 2026: I'm playing the best iron player in the field
Editor's Note: This article is published in partnership with Betsperts Golf, a Golf Digest content partner.
Andy Lyons
The PGA Tour wraps up its two-week Mexico Swing this week at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos for the World Wide Technology Championship. Fresh off the VidantaWorld Mexico Open in Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta, the tour heads west across the Gulf of California to the tip of the Baja Peninsula for its fourth straight year at El Cardonal.
Opened in 2014, El Cardonal sits on 225 acres in the desert foothills above the Pacific and was the first course designed by 82-time PGA Tour winner Tiger Woods. He drew on the Golden Age layouts he grew up playing in Southern California, and it shows. Most holes give you more than one way to get to the green, so the course asks players to pick a line and commit to it rather than simply overpower it.
With wide fairways, bunkering that’s more about positioning than punishment, and some of the largest, most contoured greens the tour sees all year, El Cardonal is a resort course through and through, and the scoring reflects it. Erik van Rooyen won at -27 in 2023, Austin Eckroat went -24 in 2024, and last year Ben Griffin closed with a Sunday 63 to get to -29, two clear of Sami Valimaki and Chad Ramey.
The wind is the only real defense, and since most holes run north and south, it usually blows across the fairways instead of into the players’ faces. Between the breeze and the arroyos, a few shots will go missing, but the winner should still land somewhere in the mid-to-high 20s under par.
Courtesy of the club
Courtesy of the club
Courtesy of the club
The seventh hole at the El Cardonal course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas, designed by Tiger Woods.
Courtesy of the club
The fifth hole at El Cardonal.
Courtesy of the club
The PGA Tour debuted a new tournament venue last year, now serving as the host of the World Wide Technology Championship. El Cardonal usually plays backup to the Mexican resort’s other course, the Dunes, ranked 47th in the Golf Digest World’s 100 Greatest Courses. Though El Cardonal lacks the sensational seaside setting and prolific sand dunes that border the holes of the Dunes course (designed by Mark and Davis Love III, with associate Paul Cowley, in 2010), it has a notable caché of its own as the first course that Tiger Woods and his TGR Design studio built. Opened in 2014, El Cardonal sits in the desert uplands above the sister course with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and holes that run primarily north-south, meaning the prevailing coastal winds are typically crossing. Completed early in Woods' architectural career, El Cardonal strikes chords that the 15-time major champion has continued to use in his subsequent designs at Bluejack National in Texas and Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri (Beau Welling was Woods’ lead designer at all three projects).
Ben Griffin returns to El Cardonal fresh off a T-4 at Vidanta and looking to defend a title he won by two shots. He’s one of just two players in the field ranked inside the top 30 in the world, along with Ryan Gerard at No. 23. From there, the list of top-60 players runs only five deep once you add Marco Penge, Keith Mitchell and Jackson Koivun.
Here are my favorite plays and fades in each price range for DraftKings contests for the 2026 World Wide Technology Championship.
$9,000+ range
Play: Ben James, $9,900
Orlando Ramirez
James is the hottest player in this field, and he is priced like a very good one rather than the best one. Three of his past four starts produced a runner-up finish in September, a tie for fifth at the Bank of Utah Championship and a tie for 16th at the Mexico Open on Sunday, where he closed with rounds of 68 and 65. Over the past three months he has gained 1.97 strokes per round, the most in the field, with his driving and iron play doing the heavy lifting. That matters on a course with 60-yard fairways and no rough, where the long, straight drivers get to attack with short irons all day.
He has never played El Cardonal, but the two courses that most resemble it tell the story. He went 16th at Vidanta and fifth at Black Desert, gaining more than two strokes per round between them. On easy scoring courses this season he leads the field in strokes gained over 34 rounds, and is second-best in weak fields. He also ranks third in the field in birdie or better rate, which is the stat that tracks winning here more closely than any other. Birdie-making, comfort on resort courses and no weakness off the tee make him the easiest player on the board to trust at the top.
Fade: Keith Mitchell, $9,600
I understand the appeal. Mitchell is one of the longest and best drivers in this field, and his runner-up finish at the Baycurrent Classic last month showed the ceiling is still there. The problem is the price. DraftKings has him $1,900 above his average salary over his past five starts. His Baycurrent finish is his only result better than 34th in those five.
Mexico has never suited him either. In 10 starts across El Camaleon, Vidanta and El Cardonal he has one top 20, and at El Cardonal he has lost strokes to the field while finishing 38th, missing the cut and finishing 63rd. The greens are the issue, as he ranks near the bottom of this field in three-putt avoidance and well below average putting on paspalum and Bermuda, while his play in weak fields and fall events sits in the middle of the pack. At this price I would rather have Kris Ventura, who just finished second in Mexico for $9,000.
Read The Line's Keith Stewart and Pat Mayo discuss the keys to handicapping the 2026 World Wide Technology Championship.
$8,000+ range
Play: Ben Kohles, $8,500
David Jensen
Kohles is playing the best golf of his life. He has finished 29th or better in 11 straight starts dating back to the RBC Canadian Open in June, a run that includes a tie for third at the John Deere Classic and a ninth-place finish at the 3M Open, and he has gained strokes on the field in every one of those events.
El Cardonal sets up as a second-shot golf course, and Kohles is the best iron player in this field, ranking first in strokes gained on approach over the last year and fifth in proximity from 175 yards and beyond. He has also been one of the better players in the field on easy scoring courses, and on layouts where the tee shots and approaches play easiest.
Fade: Pierceson Coody, $8,600
I know the sixth-place finish at the Mexico Open is fresh in everyone’s mind, and on paper Coody has the length and par-5 scoring this course rewards. But one good week does not erase the rest of his fall. Before Mexico he finished 57th at the Biltmore Championship, missed the cut at the Bank of Utah Championship and finished 50th at the Baycurrent Classic, and over the last six months he has gained less than a tenth of a stroke per round. DraftKings has bumped him $1,400 above his average salary over his past five starts, so we are paying for the spike, not the trend.
His record at El Cardonal is thin as well, with a missed cut and a 31st-place finish, and his short game is a real concern on these paspalum greens, where he ranks near the bottom of this field around the green and well below average in putting. I would rather save $300 and play Jordan Smith, who has been far steadier and just finished 16th in Mexico.
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$7,000+ range
Play: Rico Hoey, $7,600
Sean M. Haffey
Hoey has quietly turned his season around since the summer. He finished 15th at the Rocket Classic and 25th at the Wyndham Championship, then added a tie for 10th at the Bank of Utah Championship, and over the last three months he has gained close to a stroke per round on the field.
Hoey has played here twice, improving from 45th in 2024 to 21st last year, and his game is built for it. He drives it well and ranks top 10 in this field on the par 5s and in proximity from 175 yards and beyond, and over the past two years he has been one of the better players in fall events and weak fields. He has also gained well over a stroke per round on El Cardonal’s closest comp courses and has the best overall projection in this tier.
$6,000+ range
Play: Ben Silverman, $6,700
Orlando Ramirez
Silverman is playing his best golf of the year at the right time. He finished third at the Bermuda Championship and followed it with a tie for 19th at the Mexico Open last week. Over his past 36 rounds, he is gaining strokes in every area, including 0.30 per round on approach.
He also played well here last year, finishing 21st while gaining well over a stroke per round. Over the past year, he ranks among the best in this field in bogey avoidance and on the long par 4s, and he has been steady on driver-heavy courses such as El Cardonal.
Ron Klos (@PGASplits101 on X) is a PGA Tour data analyst for Betsperts Golf.
