While the fall swing may not provide great fields, this week is different. Every year the field at Mayakoba gets better, and it is no secret why the course and resort are both top notch. Even before nine of the world’s top 25 and 20 of the world’s 50 decided to come to play, this tournament has been the highlight of the fall swing for years. This year should be the best showing of the event yet, which bodes well for DFS golf picks this week. Below is the first-look breakdown of the Mayakoba Golf Classic for DraftKings and FanDuel.
Mayakoba Golf Classic PGA DFS Preview
While the tournament sponsor has bounced around quite a few times, World Wide Technology is jumping on at the right time, as this year’s field is the strongest the tournament has ever had. A fixture of the fall swing since the 2014 season and a part of the PGA Tour schedule since 2007, Mayakoba provides an escape from the world reality, with incredible surroundings hosted by El Camaleon Golf Club, part of the Mayakoba Resort/Fairmont.
El Camaleon Golf Club Preview
When money is no object and a course is built for resort guests, the end product at times can be incredible. El Camaleon Golf Club is that, with cave-like features in the middle of the fairways and oceanfront holes. It is genuinely one of a kind on the PGA Tour. One of the other great features is that most of the players, at least the more prominent ones, have rooms right on the golf course. From Zach Johnson drinking beers on the balcony to Graeme McDowell drinking Coronas in the hot tub, the tournament and its host make it the best of the fall swing.
Par and Yardage
- Par 71: 7,100 yards
Course Difficulty
- 39/49 70.999 or slightly under par
Hole Dispersion:
- The Par 3’s: 116, 151, 200, 155
- Par 4’s: 438, 428, 389, 416, 462, 451, 452, 485, 386, 458
- The Par 5’s: 554, 554, 532
Grass Types & Hazards
- Grass Type: Seashore paspalum
- Average Green: 7,000 sq ft
- Water Hazards: Every hole
- Bunkers: 36
- Rough Length: 1.5 in.
Designer
- Greg Norman
Facts and Figures
- Off the Tee: The course is not overly hard off the tee, but on certain holes it can be quite challenging, with water lurking everywhere. On average the fairways are hit about 64% of the time, with the average drive around 290.
- Approach to the Green: Greens will never be hard to hit with the course built for resort guests, not PGA Tour events. At least 70% of greens are hit here on average each year.
- On and Around the Green: With short rough, around the green is not too hard at all, especially given that these greens are not overly large either. Putting typically ranks as one of the top 15 easiest on tour each year.
Sweat Sheet
The three par 5’s at El Camaleon present the best scoring opportunities, totaling 35% of PGA DFS scoring. A stretch from holes 3 through 8 has at least 5% of the total scoring. There will be plenty of 5 or 6 unders through eight this week.
Mayakoba Golf Classic Championship Player Preview
It bears repeating that this event is seeing its best-ever field. American stars Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau join defending champion Viktor Hovland. Abraham Ancer will have the home field support this week as the highest-ranked Mexican-born player ever, now 12th in the world. Tyrrell Hatton will look to continue his solid form in the fall, as Ryder Cup snubs Billy Horschel and Patrick Reed will look to do the same. Reed for a moment on Sunday looked like he could win the Bermuda Championship, posting a 6-under 65 final round, but Lucas Herbert ended up birdieing one of the last three holes to win the event. There is plenty of other star power teeing it up this week, including Matthew Wolff, Joaquin Niemann and Scottie Scheffler.
Mayakoba Golf Classic Statistical Review from 2020
Another event outside of the United States means that there is no shot tracker for the event. They will provide a description of where our golfer is, but not enough to see what exactly is going on.
Hovland and Aaron Wise both had a very similar recipe to success here. They hit about 65% of the fairways, were both in the upper echelon of average driving distance and hit a ton of greens. Hovland hit 85% of his greens in regulation for the week, while Wise hit 77%. In addition to the stellar ball striking, they both had great putting weeks, averaging less than 1.63 putts per green in regulation. Here are a couple of more stats from last year’s top 20 that are of interest for this week’s event:
- Average Greens in Regulation: 74.3%
- Driving Accuracy: 62%
- Putts Per Green in Regulation: 1.64
- DraftKings Salary: $8,342
- Average DFS Points: 106
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