Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2024 World Wide Technology Championship

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2024 World Wide Technology Championship

World Wide Technology Championship Fantasy Preview

The PGA TOUR’s international odyssey continues as the action switches from Japan to Mexico at the World Wide Technology Championship.

It feels like a lifetime ago since Nico Echavarria won the ZOZO Championship….as a 200/1 chance with the sportsbooks, no less!

The Colombian shook off a formline that read MC-MC-11-MC to best a chasing pack that included Justin Thomas at the Narashino Country Club. His final round of 67 was enough to beat the field by one stroke, and confirms Echavarria’s second PGA TOUR title – following his win at the Puerto Rico Open in 2023.

And if you predicted it pre-event, you might want to go out and buy a lottery ticket.

Embed from Getty Images

The FedEx Cup Fall Series now reaches its business end, with three straight weeks – starting with the World Wide Technology Championship, before encompassing the Bermuda Championship and RSM Classic – for the players in the field to save their careers.

Those in the top 125 of the standings will retain their full playing rights in 2025; those outside the number will only have limited playing privileges based upon their status….others will lose their access to the PGA TOUR altogether.

At the other end of the spectrum, those who finish in 51st through to 60th will qualify for the first two Signature Events next year, so there’s plenty to play for in Los Cabos this week.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Rickie Fowler was our stud last week with his 4th place finish.

Overall, in the N0-Cut ZOZO we had three Top 13 picks. 

Embed from Getty Images

World Wide Technology Championship Field

The objective for the likes of Echavarria, Lucas Glover, Beau Hossler, and defending World Wide Technology Championship Erik van Rooyen is to break into the top-60; they’re all knocking on the door, and all in the field in Mexico.

Maverick McNealy (55) and Ben Griffin (60) will be looking for a strong showing to maintain their position, while those in the seventies – Doug Ghim, Keith Mitchell, and Patton Kizzire amongst them – will be looking to kick on.

The likes of Daniel Berger, Tom Hoge, Harris English, and Taylor Moore are clinging onto their two-year exemptions as former tournament winners, but all have the form and/or pedigree to wrap up their playing privileges with another victory on the TOUR this week.

This Week’s Course Preview

You would think that a layout designed by a classical technician like Tiger Woods would provide players with a stern, ball-striking test.

But with El Cardonal, home of the World Wide Technology Championship, nothing could be further from the truth.

These are some of the widest landing zones you’ll see on the PGA TOUR off the tee, while the sluggish Paspalum greens are also generously proportioned – as you would expect from a golf course built as much for tourists as it is professional players.

Embed from Getty Images

Tiger believes that El Cardonal is a layout at which the players have different ways to play many of its holes, but in truth there’s only one way required: make birdie….or else.

The track features just one water hazard, which is barely in play anyway, and fewer than 50 bunkers. The only challenge really is that it’s exposed to the weather, with the Linksy, resort-style vibe ensuring there’s barely a tree on the real estate.

Some unique elevation changes – holes that play up and down slope – will at least keep them honest, but Van Rooyen’s winning mark of -27 last year is rather instructive of the conditions.

A whopping 14 of the 18 holes averaged under par in 2023, with four easy Par 5s – two of which play as the first and last holes – joined by a pair of drivable Par 4s.

Even the quartet of Par 3s averaged under par last year – that’s a rarity, with three longish Par 4s at four, eight, and thirteen providing the players with any difficulty.

Weather Forecast for Los Cabos, Mexico

The weather is the only variable that can make El Cardonal anything remotely like a difficult golf course, so what can the players expect this week?

The answer is a warm, sunny, and very pleasant few days….albeit on the breezy side.

The toughest conditions may well come on Thursday, when the wind gusts could peak at 20mph+. The breeze dips down thereafter, according to the predictions, although you’ll still see the flags moving to some tune.

Otherwise it’s wall to wall sunshine, and temperatures in the region of 80 degrees.

LOS CABOS WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from the World Wide Technology Championship

El Cardonal made its debut as a PGA TOUR host at this event in 2023, and the eagles and birdies started flying in from the get-go.

Cameron Percy led the way with an opening 62, on a day in which 20 players shot 66 or lower.

By the end of round two, Camilo Villegas had opened up a two-shot lead, and the Colombian hung on to top spot after 54 holes in a share of the lead with Matt Kuchar.

Closely poised, one shot behind, heading into the final round was Erik van Rooyen, and it was the South African that charged for the finishing line.

Embed from Getty Images

Despite bogeying the first hole on Sunday, E.V.R. went into warp speed thereafter, birdieing two and six, before coming home on the back nine in an extraordinary 28 shots (six birdies and an eagle). 

Vilegas and Kuchar could not keep pace, and so Van Rooyen was left to celebrate a second win of his PGA TOUR career.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for this Week’s World Wide Technology Championship

It’s a land of opportunity at the World Wide Technology Championship this week….as long as can predict who will make the putts necessary to contend at this birdie fest. 

It’s a high risk, high reward tournament, so let’s choose our contests accordingly.

• PGA $10k Birdie: The variance of these putting shootouts is such that you’ll probably want to draft a few variations of your main lineups. You can enter these drafts into this $3 multi-entry contest, which keeps your costs down but still awards $1,000 to the winner. 

• PGA $100k Drive the Green: If you’ve got a bit more of a budget to play for, then the multiple-entry mindset can be deployed in this $5 game too….this time with a $25k winner’s share up for grabs.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the World Wide Technology Championship

The PGA TOUR didn’t pack their ShotLink lasers for the World Wide Technology Championship, and the basic stats – driving accuracy, greens in regulation etc – were taken from a small set of holes; rather than all 72.

So from a data standpoint, we basically have nothing to work with when it comes to this week’s event.

Instead, we will use the things we do know to guide us. The winner shot -27 here in 2023, nine players posted a score of -20 or lower, and the cut was made at -4.

So this really is your archetypal resort-based birdie fest, with everyone in the field having a fair chance of winning. 

The biggest difference-maker will come on the greens, because you won’t make 25 birdies (probably the bare minimum to win this week) without a good week with the flatstick. 

The recent ball-striking form of the field will provide an angle in, but its putting stats – permed from the Fall Swing Series, and particularly success on Paspalum greens in the past, that will be of most interest. 

As for correlating courses, look to the RSM Classic – another seaside-based birdie shootout, the Bermuda Championship, and the Corales Puntacana Championship.

[membership level=”0″]

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the World Wide Technology Championship   

You must be a Premium Member to view our exclusive fantasy golf picks.

Already a member?  Sign in Here.

[/membership]

[membership level=”1,2,3″]

Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the World Wide Technology Championship  

Top Tier Pick # 1

Beau Hossler (Odds: 22/1, FPPG: 65.1, Salary: $9,800)

One of the reasons Erik van Rooyen won the World Wide Technology Championship in 2023 was that he was putting better at that time than in much of his career before it.

Type him into DataGolf and see for yourself: the South African was far below the PGA TOUR average for putting in 2023, until a remarkable resurgence with the flatstick in the Fall culminated in victory in Mexico.

It’s a formula that could yet see quality ball-strikers like Lucas Glover, Doug Ghim, or Keith Mitchell win this event this week – each has shown some improvement on the greens this Fall.

But can they relentlessly one-putt the lights out, for 72 holes, at El Cardonal? Because that’s what they’ll need to do.

Preference then is for a reliable putter whose ball striking has improved immensely since the summer. It’s true that Beau Hossler was off the boil in his last two starts, but those came in the altitude of Nevada, and the unfamiliar conditions of Japan.

But at the Sanderson Farms and Black Desert Championship, Hossler was outstanding from tee-to-green; he finished second at the former and T11 at the latter, despite losing -0.80 strokes to the field putting in Nevada.

If he brings that ball-striking to Mexico, and matches it with his trademark putting class, at a layout where he shot rounds of 65, 66, and 67 in 2023, then surely Hossler can contend once more.

Key Stats:

• SG: Putting – 14th
• Total Birdies – 15th
• Greens in Regulation – 39th

Top Tier Pick #2

Matthias Schmid (Odds: 25/1, FPPG: 65.2, Salary: $9,600)

One of the players to emerge from the Fall Series with immense credit is Matthias Schmid.

The German’s current formline reads 3-5-16, so he’s very much edging closer to a maiden PGA TOUR title. And the good news is that form is build around solid ball-striking and solidity on the greens, which clearly is the way to go in birdie shootouts like this.

Solo third at the 2023 Bermuda Championship, T11 at the Corales Puntacana, and even T9 by the seaside in the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Schmid clearly has the game for success in resort-style golf. 

Key Stats:

• Birdie Average – 27th
• Greens in Regulation – 29th
• SG: Putting – 46th

Mid-Tier Pick #1

Austin Eckroat (Odds: 45/1, FPPG: 62.3, Salary: $7,800)

Although his form on the greens has been sketchy at times in 2024, Austin Eckroat does have the ability to pop with the flatstick in hand – and that’s handy, because his ball-striking is very good indeed.

It’s been a year in which Eckroat has won his maiden PGA TOUR event at the Cognizant Classic (where he finished three shots clear of the defending champion this week in Van Rooyen), but as importantly, in a sense, is the improvement in his approach play, which is now heading towards outstanding status.

He is typically poor around the greens, but that’s a skillset that is unlikely to be tested given the size of the putting surfaces, so Eckroat is likely to be four good days with the putter away from challenging for the title.

And in a neat twist for his backers, Eckroat has putted well on Paspalum greens on his way to solo fifth at the Puntacana Championship and T12 at the Mayakoba Classic.

Key Stats:

• Approach Putt Performance – 10th
• SG: Approach – 27th
• Total Birdies – 48th

Mid-Tier Pick #2

Jacob Bridgeman (Odds: 50/1, FPPG: 61.9, Salary: $7,800)

One of the best putters on the PGA TOUR this year, Jacob Bridgeman also boasts the honor of ranking seventh on TOUR for Birdie Average in 2024….alongside some very elite names.

Those are markers of what his game is all about, and while he’ll need to strike the ball well enough to set up birdie opportunities, the 24-year-old is – by hook or by crook – doing that right now.

If he’s making tons of birdies, clearly the issue in Bridgeman’s game is running into trouble from tee to green. But El Cardonal is almost completely shy of danger, and so we can instead hope that Bridgeman bludgeons his way to victory with a high birdie count.

Key Stats:

• SG: Putting – 6th
• Birdie Average – 7th
• Proximity to Hole – 47th

Low-Tier Pick

Nico Echavarria (Odds: 55/1, FPPG: 59.0, Salary: $7,500)

Yes, he won last time out, but it’s a combination of other factors that stand the Colombian out this week.

In triumphing at the ZOZO Championship, Nico Echavarria gained +2.06 on a classy field on approach; to go with +1.53 at the Black Desert Championship.

That is elite iron and wedge play, better than what most in this field are capable of. And in his last three completed outings, Echavarria has also gained strokes on the field putting, too.

A winner on the Paspalum greens of Puerto Rico, the Colombian surely has a chance to go back-to-back this week.

Key Stats:

• Birdie Average – 39th 
• Greens in Regulation – 43rd
• Putting Average – 44th

Sleeper Pick for the World Wide Technology Championship

Carson Young (Odds: 80/1, FPPG: 58.4, Salary: $7,200)

At the ZOZO Championship, Carson Young put up his best approach play numbers since finishing T5 at the John Deere Classic.

But it was an unusually poor week off the tee – the first time Young had lost strokes to the field driving since July – that ultimately prevented him from building on that.

Juicy putting gains in two of his last three starts will be just the tonic if Young’s approach play remains in fine order, and we have no qualms about a player who ranks 39th on TOUR this season for Birdie Average in the low-scoring stakes.

T8 at the Mexico Open earlier this year, and solo ninth here 12 months ago, Young has also won on the Korn Ferry Tour in Panama to frank his skills on Paspalum greens. 

Key Stats:

• Fairway Proximity – 20th
• Birdie Average – 39th
• Greens in Regulation – 44th

Alternative Sleeper Pick for the World Wide Technology Championship

Wesley Bryan (Odds: 125/1, FPPG: 55.0, Salary: $6,800)

Another strong week on the Fall Swing will be vital for Wes Bryan in his bid to earn a PGA TOUR card.

So far this fall he’s finished 21-37-13, which – while no means spectacular – is confirmation that he’s found some consistency in his game once more.

Solo second at the Corales Puntacana earlier this year, Bryan can get business done on Paspalum greens, having won in Mexico on the Korn Ferry Tour. 

Lest we forget too that his sole PGA TOUR win came at the resort-style RBC Heritage.

Key Stats:

• N/A

This Week’s Sample Fantasy Lineup

Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only.  Be sure to mix-and-match to best fit individual contests.

[/membership]

Fantasy Golf Predictions – This Season 

Remember to visit our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for the World Wide Technology Championship with other Premium Members.

Cover Photo via Instagram