Austin Eckroat helped Ben Coley land a 1-2 in last year’s World Wide Technology Championship and we’re backing him to put up a big defence of his title.
Golf betting tips: WWT Championship
1.5pts e.w. Austin Eckroat at 50/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Mackenzie Hughes at 55/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Eric Cole at 80/1 (BoyleSports 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. David Ford at 100/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Brandt Snedeker at 125/1 (BoyleSports 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Andrew Putnam at 150/1 (BoyleSports 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
With three weeks between the first two events of the FedExCup Fall, the third taking place in the middle of the night, another week gap between that and the fourth, and another week off having preceded the fifth, this part of the season has felt stop-start to put it politely.
Compounded by the fact that two winners were superstars and one wasn’t a PGA Tour member, the entire concept of this revived fall section has been lost, so let’s try again: there are three tournaments remaining, they take place over the next three weeks, and there ought to be a bit more jeopardy as the PGA Tour trims yet more fat, with just the top 100 in points earning status for 2026.
Of course, there are maybe 50 or so players involved in that fight and the top of the market is made up of those with no playing concerns, Ben Griffin and JJ Spaun now set to enjoy the spoils of their respective breakout years. Both come here with strong chances but neither, to me at least, is the sort you want to be betting at 14/1 in a full-field event – and that’s before we get to the golf course.
El Cardonal is extremely wide, like Black Desert two weeks ago only without the same visual intimidation. Two years ago, Adam Long hit each and every one of 56 fairways and while nobody could quite match him in 2024, seven players tied first in driving accuracy having missed just two apiece. Anyone hitting around 80% of fairways will rank first most weeks; here, they’d be just about last.
As such, scoring has been low: 27-under for Erik van Rooyen, 24-under for Austin Eckroat. Last year’s renewal though was pound-for-pound even easier than the one before it, because a five-under 67 was the best score on a breezy day one. Afterwards, we saw five rounds of 63 or lower, one of them coming from the champion on Sunday. Oh, how we enjoyed that. The 12 months since? Stop-start, to put it politely.
The beauty of this game though is that there’s always opportunity just around the corner and when I began writing this preview I felt that at 50/1 and bigger, MACKENZIE HUGHES represented one of the best bets I’ve seen all year.
That doesn’t mean he’s bound to do anything (‘except miss the cut’, they cry) and it must be said, enthusiasm has been tempered – and stakes halved – after I read that he’s working with a new coach, focusing on what appear to be relatively minor changes to his backswing, but changes nonetheless.
Without news of this switch, he’d have been put forward as a maximum bet at the price. Nevertheless, I can’t leave him out. The case, I think, is very strong and if you are working on things a little bit, then it surely must be of some comfort to arrive at a course with fairways as wide as these.
Hughes is simply an extremely good player for this grade and at this time of year, one who could easily merit a place among the second wave of the betting behind Spaun and Griffin were he at his absolute best.
He’s demonstrated this relative class time after time. Last year, he ended the season with four top-10s in five. In 2023, he managed two of them, while in 2022 it was four top-25s in five including a win. In 2021 it was another couple of top-fives, in 2020 another couple of top-10s, and if we rewind to the very beginning of his PGA Tour career, he won November’s RSM Classic as a rookie.
Despite the various changes which have taken place throughout his decade on the PGA Tour, one constant has remained: after August’s TOUR Championship, the schedule gets much weaker. Star players don’t turn out in force; they appear in small clusters, as individuals, sometimes not at all. When that happens, some players suddenly look so much more comfortable. One of them is Hughes.
That’s the class, and now we have the course. Hughes has never been the strongest of drivers, hence layouts which level the playing field are best. He’s contended at Craig Ranch and the Corales Puntacana for a couple of good examples, some players having considered the size of the latter similar to El Cardonal. He’s done it here, too: one start, seventh place, despite having been 88th after the first round.
Hughes shot the low round on Saturday back then and while an early three-putt ended his hopes of a Sunday charge, it’s worth remembering how poorly he’d been playing. This tournament actually yielded his first top-10 finish of the year, his first since winning the Sanderson Farms the previous October. He’d have to wait until the following March for the next.
This time, he’s been up and down but has produced more highs, including when spending all week inside the top 10 at the Procore two starts ago in September. Following that came a narrow missed cut back at the SFC, where he played nicely on Friday. In the end, three bogeys that day cost him a weekend tee-time, the fact that all were three-putts suggesting his overall game game had not gone to pot.
Now back at this course, one where weak drivers dominated last year and the likes of Matt Kuchar and Camilo Villegas contended on debut, Hughes definitely has potential. Granted, his approach play will need to improve but it was better last time and, taking aim at these big greens, a hot putting week could see him do as he so often does and contend for late-season honours.
One of those hot putting weeks is seldom far away and as if to further underline his class, Hughes has played one opposite event this year and should’ve won it, instead losing a play-off. This isn’t one of those but it’s easier than almost everything else he’s played since last here two years ago. If those small approach play improvements were the result of this swing work paying off already, he could go very close.
Get in the Cole
After Michael Brennan blasted his way to the title in Utah, pursued by fellow powerhouses Rico Hoey and Pierceson Coody, no doubt many will assume that these miles-wide fairways favour such players. I disagree and would point to Eckroat and Carson Young, last year’s one-two, who ranked 16th and fourth for the season in accuracy but way down the power charts. Justin Lower was also tied second and he ranked 143rd in distance, with approach shots and short-games of far more significance if you ask me.
Removing driving from the equation is an interesting way to unpack this tournament and it promotes ERIC COLE to somewhere near the top of the list.
Cole hasn’t necessarily built on his exceptional 2023 rookie campaign, where we saw evidence of a late-bloomer who was able to quickly adapt to life on the PGA Tour, but he’s still produced another dozen top-10 finishes since almost reaching the TOUR Championship back then.
They’ve generally come in weaker fields including when going on a tear at this time of year (4-35-3-2-3) in 2023 and again ending the 2024 season well, with 16th in the Sanders Farms, sixth in the ZOZO and 15th in the RSM all solid. Even this year, though quiet for long periods, he looks to be fine when it comes to securing his status for 2026.
As for recent form, he has a top-10 finish two starts ago, just like Hughes, and within his last four starts has two high-class displays of iron play, and two high-class displays of putting. That is the watered-down version of what we need and if he can bring his driving numbers closer to field average, which he’s more likely to do here than anywhere, then we really could be in business.
Cole can also call upon fifth place in one trip to Vidanta Vallarta, the wide-open home of the Mexico Open, plus fifth at Craig Ranch, which is again wide-open and low-scoring, but it’s second place at the Honda Classic which really piques my interest. It’s very hard to say why, but in two renewals of this event, PGA National has been the best place for pointers.
It was the Honda that led us to Eckroat last year, in fact, and behind him in fifth was Joe Highsmith, who won what’s now the Cognizant Classic this year. In 2023, Kuchar, Villegas, van Rooyen and Justin Suh made up the top four and all of them have significant form there, as do fifth-placed Ryan Palmer and our headline pick, Hughes.
It’s not the primary reason for selecting Cole; more another hint that he might love this golf course.
Also 22nd in the Corales Puntacana having played there only once, Cole is a very capable player if he’s driving it to a decent standard, or if poor driving isn’t too big a handicap. That’s a scenario we could have in front of us and at 66/1 and bigger, he’s another I’m keen on.
Further up the betting, Nico Echavarria’s chance is obvious and I strongly considered Jacob Bridgeman, an excellent putter who was 14th here on debut, has a top-five in the Cognizant, and is only really handicapped by his driving. It’s not long since he produced a pair of FedExCup Playoff top-20s and having bagged five top-10s this year, he’d be a worthy first-time winner.
But the one I keep coming back to is the aforementioned AUSTIN ECKROAT and while usually reluctant to side with defending champions, I’ll make an exception in this case.
Eckroat has at least had a go at defending already having done so in February and while that didn’t go to plan, he was in terrible form at the time. Now, things look a good bit better and scores of 62, 63 and 65 in summer offer similarities with last year, when he was hinting at better without often putting four rounds together.
He almost did that in the Procore Championship, too, finishing 11th after a quiet Sunday having hit the ball really well at times. That was a particularly strong renewal with Ryder Cup players in the mix and Scottie Scheffler eventually reeling in Griffin, so the form is good. It’s worth saying that he’s often faced this issue: 15 of his 25 starts this year have been in Signature Events or at least featured Scheffler.
Subsequently down the field in Japan, I don’t mind that, especially as he struggled there on his only previous visit then came back to the US and rattled off eight under-par rounds to end the 2023 season, finishing 23rd and eighth, starting here in Mexico.
It’s been a happy hunting ground for Eckroat, winner of a college event in Mexico back in 2019 and now an ambassador for the sponsors, and on both his course (23-1) and Fortinet (11) form, he’s a big player. He averages better than five-under per round at El Cardonal and hopefully he’s raring to go, free from the pressures of many in this field given that he’s exempt through 2027.
At bigger prices, Noah Goodwin might play well but I had expected a bigger price given that he’s yet to hit the frame and has missed the cut in more than half of his starts this year. Adam Schenk is more appealing but his record in PGA Tour events held in Mexico is abysmal and it’s not like he’s been banging loudly at the door.
DAVID FORD did that in Utah and three-figure prices for this broadly similar test will do for me.
This quality amateur has taken a while to get going since turning professional, but he’s shown himself to be a deadly accurate driver and it just took small improvements in his approach play and putting to turn things around for a top-three finish.
That was behind Brennan, a close friend he’d practiced with earlier that week, and I like the idea that Brennan’s success could rub off on him. They’ll surely be taking a look round El Cardonal together and I dare say they’ll conclude that it’s rinse and repeat from the Black Desert Championship, although hopefully more in favour of the shorter hitters this time.
Encouragingly, Ford spoke like that performance had been coming.
“I think my game has been right where I want it the whole summer,” he said. “I switched putters about two months ago and feel like it gave me a lot of stability on the greens.
“I’ve been driving the golf ball amazing all year. I hit my irons pretty well towards the end of the summer and into the fall. Yeah, I think the more comfortable I have gotten the more I believe I can win. To come close and to at least have a high finish for the first time as a pro is great.
“This whole summer I think my results don’t show how good I was playing.”
Ford was a prolific winner as an amateur and though his price has been cut markedly for his breakout performance, there’s probably still upside in 100/1 and bigger. We’re all still guessing and that’s no bad thing.
Veterans digging deep
At the opposite end of the age and experience scale, BRANDT SNEDEKER has been doing some good things lately and if we’re going to chance him, a course like this one makes sense.
Snedeker has gone 19-MC-9 in three FedExCup Fall starts, the missed cut by a single shot, and he’s up to 120th in points as a result. Who knows what playing opportunities he’ll have if things don’t go to plan, but it’s worth saying he’s currently using his one-time career money exemption and therefore doesn’t have that to call upon.
He doesn’t have much time left to really sort things out by gaining that top-100 place and will need something special from his current position, but having gained strokes with his irons in 10 of his last 11 starts, three of these genuinely high-class, he’s setting up the kind of opportunities his famed putter has always been capable of capitalising upon.
Off the tee is where he struggles but things are better than they were and if you need tangible evidence of that, his three top-10s this year ended a run of almost four years without one.
Snedeker also started quite well on his sole previous start at El Cardonal, lying 27th before a rib injury forced his withdrawal prior to the start of round three. We don’t have strokes-gained data but he’d missed just one fairway and whereas his iron play back then wasn’t in good enough shape to truly capitalise, right now it just might be.
Greyson Sigg’s iron play is among the best in the field and small putting improvements would give him a squeak, inspired no doubt by the similar Steven Fisk. They’re both Mizuno players out of Georgia and Sigg will know he’s capable of winning if the putter does come good, as will Ben Kohles who has been striping it but looks lost on the greens. He does have Craig Ranch form, at least.
Kristoffer Ventura is a Norwegian who was born in Mexico and he’s playing better than he has in a while, Tyler Weaver is an amateur who might be more competitive than his massive odds imply and I can see why Nick Dunlap has attracted bits and pieces of support at huge odds, too.
But my final pick is ANDREW PUTNAM, another player who is close to elite bar the tee shot, which has always been a big handicap and one he’s struggled with all year.
Putnam is fifth in accuracy but is very short, too short for the modern game you might say, which is a shame: at 36th in strokes-gained approach, eighth around the greens and 24th in putting, he does everything else to a very high standard.
Right now his short-game isn’t firing and without it he can’t win, but I’m willing to take that chance as his irons are good and, while on a run of five missed cuts in six, he’s shown decent signs throughout this period. Three of the five missed cuts have been by a shot and several recent appearances have been at courses he doesn’t like.
At 111th in FedExCup points, Putnam should take heart from what lies ahead on the schedule as he’s been fifth here (one visit), 21st in Bermuda (two) and 21st in the RSM Classic (five), all events where his lack of power need not be a major handicap.
He’d missed successive cuts before finishing fifth here two years ago thanks to a closing 62 and there’s more form in the book which offers encouragement: 11th in the Cognizant this year, fifth in the Corales, fifth in Puerto Rico, 15th at Craig Ranch, and 24th in the Mexico Open.
First and second in the Barracuda in the past, he’s often stepped up when stepping down and I think he’s a bit unfortunate to be this low in the standings. That comes from an absence of standout performances and fails to reflect a string of good ones, hence he’s only just outside the top 50 on the PGA Tour in strokes-gained total.
Vince Whaley and Takumi Kanaya are just behind Putnam and they’re about 50/1 for this, and while a flawed way to draw firm conclusions, this does further support the idea that he’s overpriced. It’s too easy to write players off when they’re missing cuts but often, as in this case, there’s a bit more to it than meets the eye.
Max Greyserman showed as much when ending a run of missed cuts with second place in Japan and now goes off close to favourite, understandably so. But there are times to be betting at short prices and times not to be. There are very few players I could confidently draw a line through in this.
Posted at 0900 GMT on 04/11/25
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