The PGA TOUR stays in Mexico for the World Wide Technology Championship, the sixth of eight FedExCup Fall events, at El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas. Andrew Novak just won the VidantaWorld Mexico Open at 25 under with a tournament-record 259, and the scoring only gets lower from here: every winner at El Cardonal since the event moved there in 2023 has finished at least 24 under, and defending champion Ben Griffin set the tournament record at 29 under last year. For Clubhouse Heroes managers that means one thing. Build for birdies, start your hottest scorers, and do not waste a slot on a grinder. Our full Clubhouse Picks, four starters and two bench golfers with a captain, are at the end of this preview.
Tournament overview
The World Wide Technology Championship runs Thursday, November 5 through Sunday, November 8 at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos. The purse is $6 million, $1.08 million to the winner along with 500 FedExCup points, and the field of 116 as listed on the Clubhouse Heroes Field tab plays a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties. It is the second week of the TOUR's two-week swing through Mexico after the Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta.
El Cardonal is a Tiger Woods design, par 72 at 7,452 yards, laid out across the Diamante resort dunes above the Pacific. It is built around width and options rather than punishment: four par 5s, including the 601-yard 6th, four par 3s from 154 to 208 yards, and ten par 4s with generous landing areas. The winning scores tell you everything about the setup. Erik van Rooyen won the first El Cardonal edition at 27 under in 2023, Austin Eckroat won at 24 under in 2024, and Griffin closed with a 63 to post 29 under in 2025, two clear of Chad Ramey and Sami Valimaki.
Lock time and the cut
Thursday's tee times had not posted when this preview was written. Cabo San Lucas is on Mountain Standard Time, one hour behind Chicago now that U.S. clocks have fallen back, so the first groups should go out in the early morning Central time. The Clubhouse Heroes roster locks five minutes before the first tee shot; the Field tab shows the exact lock once pairings are official. Finish your lineup Wednesday night. The cut falls to the top 65 and ties after Friday, and with scores this low, a 36-hole total around 7 or 8 under is usually the line.
How El Cardonal should play
This is the lowest-scoring stop of the fall. The last three winners averaged better than 26 under, and the course rewards two things above all: length off the tee that turns the par 5s into two-shot holes, and a hot putter on greens that run true in the dry Baja air. The desert-style corridors look wide from the tee but the bunkering and run-offs punish the lazy miss, so the players who win here are the ones who hit it long and straight enough to keep wedges in their hands all day.
The weather should help. As of Monday the Clubhouse Heroes feed shows a Round 1 forecast of 79 degrees with a west-northwest wind of about 10 miles per hour, gusts near 11, and a 2 percent chance of rain. That is a scoring forecast. The ocean breeze picks up in the afternoon at Diamante, which gives a small edge to the early side of the draw on Thursday and Friday, but nothing like the Bermuda gusts that wrecked the Butterfield two weeks ago.
The winning formula
Four par 5s and a handful of drivable or wedge-length par 4s mean the fantasy scoring here comes from birdie volume and the eagle bonus, not from avoiding bogeys. Course history matters more than usual too: Garrick Higgo leads the field in strokes gained here at better than 2.7 per round over eight rounds, Patrick Rodgers and Justin Lower are next, and Matt Kuchar has made all ten of his cuts at this event. Eckroat, the 2024 champion, is also inside the top five in course strokes gained.
Defending champion and field storylines
Griffin arrives as the man to beat. He is No. 25 in the world, the second-highest ranking in the field, he owns the tournament record, and he warmed up with a T4 at the Mexico Open last week at 19 under, averaging 79 fantasy points over his last five events in the Clubhouse Heroes Stats tab. Ryan Gerard, No. 23 in the world and the highest-ranked player here, is the betting favorite at 12-to-1 and averages a field-best 89 fantasy points over his last five starts. Ben James, Jackson Koivun and Keith Mitchell round out the top of the board.
The form players from Vidanta Vallarta travel south with momentum. Kristoffer Ventura shot a Sunday 63 to tie for second, Steven Fisk also tied for second and climbed into the Aon Next 10 picture, Pierceson Coody tied for sixth, and Max Greyserman's T11 lifted him to 96th in the FedExCup. Van Rooyen, the 2023 champion here, tied for sixth in Mexico as well. Novak, the Mexico Open winner, is not in the field.
The FedExCup Fall bubble
Two events remain after Cabo, and the No. 100 line is the story for a dozen players in this field. Greyserman sits 96th and Taylor Pendrith dropped to 102nd after missing the cut in Mexico, with Brandt Snedeker, who is not playing this week, sitting 103rd. A top-10 here is worth roughly 85 to 120 points, enough to move a player 10 or more spots, so expect the players on either side of the line to attack every par 5. Novak and Fisk moved to 53rd and 54th with their Mexico results, pushing Harris English and Ricky Castillo out of the Aon Next 10 window that decides early-season Signature Event starts.
Clubhouse Picks: starters, bench and captain
The Clubhouse Heroes roster is six golfers: four starters and two bench players, with the captain's points doubled in leagues that use one. Here is the lineup we are playing this week, built from the form chart in the Stats tab, course history and the betting board.
Starters. Ryan Gerard, our captain: the betting favorite, No. 23 in the world, and the hottest scorer in the field at 89 fantasy points per event over his last five. Ben Griffin: the defending champion and record holder, fresh off a T4 at the Mexico Open, averaging 79 points over his last five. Ben James: the best full-season scorer in the field at 81 fantasy points per event with a 67.8 scoring average, and he has four top-10s in 12 starts; his even-par opening round in Mexico is the only blemish on a strong fall. Jackson Koivun: 68.1 scoring average, 76 fantasy points per event over his last five, and a game built on wedges and putting that fits a course where every par 5 is reachable.
Bench. Keith Mitchell in the first bench slot: 20 cuts made in 23 starts this season, 80 fantasy points per event over his last five, and the kind of long, straight driver El Cardonal rewards. He is the golfer we trust to make the weekend if a starter misses the cut. Kristoffer Ventura in the second bench slot: a Sunday 63 and a T2 at Vidanta Vallarta last week, 75 points per event over his last five, and a world ranking of 138 that keeps his ownership low. He is the upside play if a starter withdraws or stumbles on Thursday.
If you want a different look, Ben Kohles averages 77 fantasy points this season and 85 over his last five at 40-to-1, Stephan Jaeger's 89-point five-event average is the second best in the field, Jackson Suber has averaged 82 over his last five, and Blades Brown's 68.3 scoring average makes him a strong second-tier starter. Austin Eckroat and Erik van Rooyen have both won here and are fair plays in deeper leagues, but neither has the fall form of the group above.
Before the lineup locks
Check the Field tab Wednesday night for withdrawals and official pairings, and set your bench order with the cut in mind: Mitchell first for safety, Ventura second for ceiling. If you use a captain, Gerard's volume makes him the pick, with Griffin the alternative if you would rather lean on the course record. Usage matters with two fall events still to come after this one, but Cabo is the week to spend starts on your bombers.
The storyline to remember
Griffin is chasing a successful title defense on a course where he has already rewritten the record book, Gerard is trying to turn the fall's best form into a win, and the players around No. 100 are playing for their 2027 cards on a course that hands out birdies in bunches.
For fantasy managers, the lesson from Vidanta Vallarta carries straight to Cabo: the lineup with the most birdies wins. Start Gerard, Griffin, James and Koivun, keep Mitchell and Ventura ready on the bench, and lock it in before Thursday's first tee shot.
Player availability, tournament status, and scoring data can change. Confirm the current field and lineup lock inside the app before making final roster decisions.