The WWT Championship will close out the PGA Tour’s two-week run in Mexico, ending one of the final three chances to secure cards for the next season. But it won’t be easy, and the credit goes to Tiger Woods’ 7,452-yard giant, El Cardonal.
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There will be 120 men playing on a course Woods designed back in 2014, though it will still be fairly new for a lot of them. Opened in 2014, El Cardonal didn’t join the PGA Tour until 2023. El Cardonal had to offer something enticing, and so it did. Woods’ confession revealed the gist.
Back in 2014, Woods said of the course, “I set up the golf strategy to make golfers think and make choices. Regardless of your handicap, there are going to be different ways to play every hole. Angles of approach are going to be very important and will dictate the type of shots you should consider. I love this kind of golf.” There are multiple reasons why there shouldn’t really be a doubt.
Look at the numbers first. It’s a par-72 course, with fairways averaging widths of 60 yards and zero acres of rough. There are 48 bunkers and one water hazard. The greens, meanwhile, average 8,300 square feet.
Back in 2024, as per Sports Illustrated, its hardest hole was the par-4 4th, with a scoring average of 4.213. It was the 77th out of 900 toughest holes on the PGA Tour that year. Its easiest was the par-5 1st. Sounds easy? It may, because pros have gone as low as 61 here. But that’s not exactly the point.
The point is that the course, inspired by the course Woods grew up playing, makes you rethink your strategy. First, hear from Sahith Theegala.
In 2024, as per Sports Illustrated, Theegala mentioned Woods’ aforementioned quote before adding, “There’s very few drivers, a lot of placement. You need to have good angles or else these little cacti come into play and the way the arroyos and the desert is around the greens. It’s a nice blend of kind of tactical, strategic golf.” He is correct.
For instance, the greens are indeed big enough to ease a pro into play. They might even prove easy for weekend hackers. But still don’t expect easy reads. Subtle slopes and tiers can make it tough to control long putts when you’re on the wrong side of the hole. Then, there is the other case.
By several accounts, golfers with varied handicaps had to stand on the tee and think about what to do next. Before you tee off on the 3rd, for instance, would you try to take on the bunker on the left with a shorter shot or play safe to the right and leave a tougher angle? It’s all about the choices.
Of course, the course doesn’t make that easy, either.
The course follows the area’s natural arroyos, stretching across a rugged desert landscape littered with cacti, palo verde trees, native dunes, etc. These arroyos run north to south, highlighting that the course was designed mainly for resort play. But this also helps avoid forced carries across the arroyos, some of which stretch 100 yards or more. Between the 17th tee and the 3rd fairway, the land descends 240 feet, as per Planet Golf Review.
If you talk about the numbers again, the pros have done plenty to deal with the challenges. Last season, it ranked 45th on the PGA Tour’s toughest courses, with a scoring average of 68.900. In 2024, it proved a little more difficult, with the average score sitting at 70.06. Back in 2023, it ranked 56th on the list, averaging 68.993. Pros themselves have tackled it well enough.
For example, the largest margin of victory is four strokes, achieved by three players and most recently by Russell Henley in 2022. But don’t misunderstand. The problem at the WWT Championship (and El Cardonal) isn’t only the course.
Almost everything is at stake this week
There are only three Fall tournaments left to secure PGA Tour cards. Now, there are two ways to go about it. Anyone ranked inside the top 100 will secure full playing status for next season, but those finishing between 100 and 125 will be handed conditional status. There are multiple players on the bubble, including Rasmus Hojgaard, Neal Shipley, among others.
Take Billy Horschel, for instance. Horschel ranks 97th on the list, but needs to give a stellar performance to rise up. Last week, he entered the Mexico Open, but withdrew at the last moment, citing dizziness and lightheadedness, as per Golf Channel. For most of the season, however, he has dealt with health issues.
Moreover, he has not shied away from admitting he struggled this season. After skipping the BMW PGA Championship, a “devastated” Horschel confessed, “… due to my not-so-stellar play on the PGA Tour this year, I’m going to have to skip the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth…”
Marco Penge (113th) also needs three solid weeks to secure his full playing status. By his own admission, he has had a “nightmare season,” filled with an injury he has yet to recover well from. But in case he loses his full playing status at El Cardonal, will he play on the PGA Tour at all, or return to the DP World Tour?
That’s one question only Penge and El Cardonal can answer.