This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba
Course: El Camaleon Golf Course at Mayakoba (7,034 yards, par 71)
Purse: $8,200,000
Winner: $1,476,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
Viktor Hovland has a chance to do something this week that we haven't seen on the PGA Tour since 2011. That would be win the same event in three straight seasons. Steve Stricker was the last player to do it from 2009-11 at the John Deere Classic. In 2020 Hovland won in dramatic fashion at Mayakoba with a birdie on the 72nd hole to win, while last year he cruised to a four shot victory with a tournament-record score of 23-under-par.
Now World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler has a chance to take back the top spot in the OWGR from Rory McIlroy with a victory at Mayakoba. He was in the mix last year in this event and finished fourth. Scheffler will be joined by Presidents Cup teammates Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel, and Tony Finau. Morikawa will be looking for his first victory in nearly a year going back to the DP World Tour Championship while Finau will be making his 2022-23 PGA Tour season debut. Seamus Power, who won the Butterfield Bermuda Championship last week, is the only player in the field at Mayakoba who already has a victory this season.
El Camaleon is usually a course that requires a bunch of birdies to win. That should be the case once again this week. The course should play pretty soft with some early-week thunderstorms expected. It's possible we may see a delay on Thursday for the 132-man field, but the weather appears to improve as the tournament goes on. After this week there are only two more official PGA Tour events left in the fall schedule.
Recent Champions
2021 - Viktor Hovland (-23)
2020 - Viktor Hovland (-20)
2019 - Brendon Todd (-20)
2018 - Matt Kuchar (-22)
2017 - Patton Kizzire (-19)
2016 - Pat Perez (-21)
2015 - Graeme McDowell (-18)
2014 - Charley Hoffman (-17)
2013 - Harris English (-21)
2012 - John Huh (-13)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- GIR Percentage
- SG: Putting
- Driving Accuracy
Champion's Profile
El Camaleon is another resort course that should call for a lot of the same skillsets that Port Royal did last week in Bermuda. The winners at Mayakoba have consistently ranked very high in fairways and greens hit in regulation. At just over 7,000 yards, players of all lengths off the tee will be able to compete this week. With penalty areas coming into play on a number of tee shots, accuracy will be much more important than pure distance. The greens at El Camaleon feature paspalum and will roll around 11 on the Stimpmeter. This is a pretty straight-forward scrambling course, so deficiencies in that area of the game will be mitigated this week, which is why we've seen a player like Hovland, who consistently struggles around-the-greens, has had so much success at Mayakoba. Overall, we are looking to find accurate ball-strikers who can get hot with the putter.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Billy Horschel ($11,200)
Not many this week will have as many rounds as Horschel does at El Camaleon. In 26 rounds here the veteran owns a scoring average of 68.4 with three top-15's and just one finish worse than a T33. Horschel comes in on great form as well going T9 at the BMW PGA, T10 at the Dunhill Links, and T7 at Congaree. He's got the type of nuclear putting potential you covet in a shootout.
Aaron Wise ($11,100)
Wise had a very good season last year and you can see breakout potential in his game for 2022-23. He is an elite iron player, but his putting improved tremendously once he went to the broomstick. Mayakoba is the perfect place for him to get back in the winner's circle. He was a runner-up back in 2020 here which is one of three top-15 finishes over the last four years. Wise is also coming off a strong sixth place showing at Congaree.
Tom Hoge ($10,900)
I'm going to keep riding with Hoge until he shows any signs of blinking. So far this season he has gone T12-T4-T9-T13. He ranks third in SG: Approach, sixth in GIR percentage, sixth in proximity to the hole and 22nd in SG: Putting this season. Hoge has a lot of experience at Mayakoba including a T3 two years ago.
Emiliano Grillo ($10,700)
El Camaleon has arguably been Grillo's best course on Tour throughout his career, as he owns four top-15's in six starts. It's no surprise given how precise of a ball-striker he is. Grillo has never ranked worse than 54th in either driving accuracy or GIR percentage in a season, which is truly remarkable for the now eight-year veteran. He's had a great start to the season with a pair of top-5's at the Sanderson Farms and ZOZO Championship.
Longer Shots with Value
Patrick Rodgers ($9,700)
Rodgers has finished better in each start this season, going MC-T54-T28-T16-T3. If he keeps the trend going again at Mayakoba he could finally get that elusive first victory. Speaking of Mayakoba, it has been a great course for the 30-year-old, who has recorded a trio of top-20s at the venue.
Justin Lower ($9,500)
Lower is another player who has been playing some great golf. Across his last 11 starts, Lower posted four top-10s and just one finish worse than a T45. The 33-year-old is gaining strokes in every category this season and is eighth in birdie average. There's just nothing not to like here.
Lee Hodges ($9,100)
Hodges is coming off back-to-back top-25 finishes, including a T7 in a stacked CJ CUP field. He's the exact type of profile we are looking for this week, gaining shots off the tee and on approach in each of his last five measured tournaments. Hodges also gained strokes with the putter in five of his last seven tournaments.
Kevin Yu ($8,400)
Yu is coming off a fantastic week in Bermuda where he scored a top-3 finish. It was his second top-20 of the season so far. The rookie has really been impressive from a ball-striking standpoint, gaining over four strokes off the tee and approaching the green in each measured tournament. Yu should give himself a ton of looks at birdie at Mayakoba.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
This is one of the strongest $9K ranges I can remember. It's loaded with players who are off to really strong starts this season or who have some good course history. Robby Shelton ($9,700), Nick Hardy ($9,600), Andrew Putnam ($9,500), Hayden Buckley ($9,300), and Joel Dahmen ($9,200) are all other pretty strong options this week in that range not mentioned above. Given all that depth in the $9K range, I don't think it makes sense to invest this week in Scottie Scheffler ($12,000), who can't figure out how to putt, or Viktor Hovland ($11,800), whose ownership is going to be astronomically high.
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