The PGA Tour has made its way to Mexico for this week’s event at the World Wide Technology Championship, with the host course designed by 15-time major champion Tiger Woods
The PGA Tour’s latest event is taking place at a Tiger Woods-designed course, with the World Wide Technology Championship taking place at El Cardonal in Mexico.
The former home of the tournament was Riviera Maya at Mayakoba, but the Mexican course has since cut ties with the PGA Tour to host an event on the LIV Golf circuit. This saw the Tour turn to one of their great allies in Woods, with the TGR design hosting the event for a second year.
For many competing in the field this week, it is crunch time, with players competing for their place on the PGA Tour in 2025, with the end of the FedEx Cup Fall series drawing closer.
Those in action however can expect a tough challenge around El Cardonal, with the Woods design a test. Speaking about the layout at last year’s event, U.S. Presidents Cup star Sahith Theegala said: “Tiger was talking about how he just likes to make people think on the golf course and the back nine out here is just all strategy.
“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 are around the greens. It’s a nice blend of kind of tactical, strategic golf.” As alluded to by Theegala, strategy was at the center of Woods’ design.
“I set up the golf strategy to make golfers think and make choices,” Woods claimed. “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.” As is often the case on the PGA Tour, a cool prize will be on offer too. The player who comes out on top in Mexico will bank a cool $1.3 million in prize money with a total $7.2 million purse up for grabs. One man who will not compete though is the course designer.
Woods is continuing to play a part-time schedule on the PGA Tour, having sustained life-changing injuries in a car crash in February 2021. This season has been another stop-start year for the five-time Masters champion, having competed just five times, playing all 72 holes just once.
The only time he made it to the weekend in 2024 was at Augusta National in April, where the tough test of the iconic Georgia course took its toll in rounds three and four. Two months prior to that, he turned out at the Genesis Invitational but was forced to withdraw in round two due to illness.
Elsewhere, Woods competed at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and Open Championship but missed the cut on all three occasions. Golf fans will get the chance to see the golfing great in action once more before the close of the year, with Woods set to compete at the Hero World Challenge next month.
