Preview
World Wide Technology Championship 2026: Griffin defends at El Cardonal
Ben Griffin set the tournament record of 259 at Tiger Woods's El Cardonal last year. Three Canadians start the week just outside the FedExCup top 100.
Ben Griffin’s 40-foot putt on the 11th at El Cardonal last November, the fourth of five birdies in a row from the 8th, tied him for the lead. A 25-footer on the 16th put him clear, and his closing 63 left him on 259, −29, the tournament record. Chad Ramey and Sami Valimaki finished two behind. If Griffin wins again this week (5–8 November), he will be the first to defend the title since Viktor Hovland in 2020 and 2021, according to the PGA TOUR.
Griffin shared fourth at the VidantaWorld Mexico Open on Sunday, where Andrew Novak won on −25. He plays the first two rounds with Jackson Koivun and Pierceson Coody, starting at 18:38 GMT on Thursday. Koivun has three top-10 finishes this season, the best a share of fifth at the Biltmore Championship Asheville.
El Cardonal, facing the Pacific at Cabo San Lucas, is the first course designed by Tiger Woods to host a PGA TOUR event. It measures 7,452 yards to a par of 72. In its three years as host it has produced four rounds of 61, the tournament’s 18-hole record: Carson Young’s in 2024, and Valimaki’s, Garrick Higgo’s and Nick Dunlap’s last year. At −26 Higgo and Trevor Cone could only share fourth last year.
Thursday in Los Cabos: selected groups in GMT
Los Cabos is seven hours behind GMT.
| GMT | Tee | Players |
|---|---|---|
| 13:30 | 1st | Peter Malnati, Joel Dahmen, Ben Martin |
| 13:41 | 1st | Matthieu Pavon, Rico Hoey, Johnny Keefer |
| 14:03 | 10th | Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor, Blades Brown |
| 14:14 | 10th | Karl Vilips, Tony Finau, Keith Mitchell |
| 14:25 | 1st | Joe Highsmith, Taylor Pendrith, Christiaan Bezuidenhout |
| 14:36 | 1st | Mackenzie Hughes, Andrew Putnam, Luke Donald |
| 15:09 | 1st | Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Davis Chatfield, Preston Stout (a) |
| 18:38 | 1st | Jackson Koivun, Ben Griffin, Pierceson Coody |
| 18:38 | 10th | Davis Riley, Lucas Glover, Aaron Wise |
| 18:49 | 1st | Steven Fisk, Billy Horschel, Ben James |
| 19:00 | 1st | Camilo Villegas, Zac Blair, Chandler Phillips |
| 19:22 | 10th | A.J. Ewart, Luke Clanton, Tyler Collet |
Golf Channel is on air 20:00–23:00 GMT each day; on Thursday every group will have teed off before it starts. PGA TOUR Radio begins at 18:00 GMT. The winner’s share of the US$6 million purse is US$1.08 million, along with 500 FedExCup points. Round reports go up on our tournament hub early on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Donald, Stout and the top-100 line
Ryan Gerard, 23rd in the Official World Golf Ranking, is the highest-ranked player in the 120-man field. Luke Donald, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, makes his second PGA TOUR start of the season on a sponsor’s invitation; his first was the PGA Championship, where he made the cut. Preston Stout, the world’s leading amateur and this year’s NCAA champion, earned his place by winning the Cabo Collegiate.
This is the sixth of eight FedExCup Fall events. The top 100 after The RSM Classic keep full cards for 2027, and every player from 93rd, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, to 99th, Chandler Phillips, is in the field. Three Canadians sit just outside: Mackenzie Hughes is 101st, Taylor Pendrith 102nd and A.J. Ewart 104th. Hughes shared fourth with Griffin last week. Tony Finau is 109th and Lucas Glover 111th. Those ranked 51st to 60th get into The Genesis Invitational and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first two Signature Events of 2027. Novak’s win in Vallarta took him from 89th to 53rd.
Sources
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