The countdown to the end of the 2024 season on the PGA Tour is already underway. This Thursday kicks off at El Cardonal de Diamante, a spectacular golf course designed by Tiger Woods in Los Cabos, Mexico, the penultimate scoring tournament of the season on the American tour. An unmissable event for golfers fighting to retain their playing rights for next year and for those aiming to secure their access to the first designated tournaments of 2025.
The World Wide Technology Championship became in 2007 the first official PGA Tour event held in Mexico in the modern era and the first to be played outside the United States and Canada. This November, it prepares for its 18th edition, the second to be played on this course. With Erik van Rooyen defending the emotional title he achieved last season and $7.2 million in prizes, the tournament is one of the last opportunities for a good handful of players to achieve their goals.
Cameron Young, the highest-ranked player in the field arriving as 33rd in the world ranking, comes with his homework done, within the top 50 of the FedEx Cup, in immovable positions. It’s his first tournament since the BMW Championship of the final series in August in a season where he has accumulated six top-10 finishes, including a second place at the Valspar. The New Yorker will join five former tournament winners: Harris English (2013), Charley Hoffman (2014), Patton Kizzire (2017), Matt Kuchar (2018), and the defending champion.
Tuesday was here & gone in a flash ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/FQOiNVbuNr
— World Wide Technology Championship (@WWTChampionship) November 6, 2024
Joe Highsmith, Kevin Tway, Alejandro Tosti, Daniel Berger, and Pierceson Coody, players positioned between 126th and 130th in the overall circuit standings, are the closest to achieving the goal of breaking into the top 125 and retaining their card. Matt Wallace (125th), the one closest to losing it, has decided not to appear in Mexico, unlike Joel Dahmen, Hayden Springer, S.H. Kim, and Henrik Norlander, who precede him in the rankings and will be at the tournament.
Also present will be Billy Andrade, who at 60 years of age will participate with a sponsor exemption. It will be his first appearance on the PGA Tour since 2014, when he decided to step aside from the main American tour to play the Champions Tour. It is the first time since then that he has missed the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the senior circuit final played this week, so he has been able to set aside the disappointment with this opportunity.
Five players who have won this season and, therefore, have guaranteed their card until 2026 will be on the field: Austin Eckroat (Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches), Harry Hall (ISCO Championship), Jhonattan Vegas (3M Open), Patton Kizzire (Procore Championship), and Nico Echavarria (ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP). Scott Piercy will continue his tradition of playing this Mexican event in what will be his 14th participation, more than any other active player.
That’s a wrap from the Opening Ceremony 🤩🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/Vii4bAXy8w
— World Wide Technology Championship (@WWTChampionship) November 6, 2024
And to the four players between positions 51st and 60th of the FedEx Cup Fall, who will access the designated events if they retain their place at the end of the year (Harris English, Patrick Rodgers, Maverick McNealy, and Ben Griffin), a handful of Latin players will be added, such as the aforementioned Alejandro Tosti from Argentina, the Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas, the Colombians Nico Echavarria, who comes from a great victory in Japan, and Camilo Villegas, and above all, five representatives of Mexican golf, who will have the full support of the public.
Playing will be Raúl Pereda, Santiago de la Fuente, Isidro Benítez, Emilio González, and the young amateur Omar Morales, one of the great hopes of the Aztec country in the world of golf. He will face the challenge of making the cut for the first time on the PGA Tour. To date, he has played four tournaments, two editions of the México Open de Vidanta and two US Open, but in none of them did he manage to pass the Friday cut. What better place to do it than Los Cabos?
