Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Butterfield Bermuda Championship (Lucas Herbert)
THIS WEEK: World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico, Nov. 4-7
Course: El Camaleon Golf Course at Mayakoba (Par 71, 7,017 yards)
Purse: $7.2M (Winner: $1.296M)
Defending Champion: Viktor Hovland
FedEx Cup Leader: Sam Burns
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 2-5 p.m. (Golf Channel)
NOTES: One of the strongest fields of this season’s fall swing includes former No. 1 players and major champions Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka among the 132 players entered. … Hovland birdied the 72nd hole to claim his second tour title last year and is attempting to become the first repeat champion in the event’s 15-year history. … Eleven players who competed in the Ryder Cup in September are in the field. … Sponsors exemptions include Thomas Detry, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra, Guido Migliozzi and APGA star Willie Mack III. Migliozzi is a two-time winner on the European Tour who also tied for fourth at this year’s U.S. Open. … Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz are the top-ranked Mexican players in the field. Ortiz tied for eighth last year while Ancer finished T12. … This is the third consecutive PGA Tour event played outside of the United States, following the Zozo Championship in Japan and the Bermuda Championship. Kramer Hickok, Garrick Higgo, Peter Malnati and Sepp Straka have entered all three events. … The Mayakoba Classic has been decided by a single shot for four consecutive years.
BEST BETS: Thomas (+1100 at DraftKings) shot a tournament-low 62 in tying for 12th last year. He finished T18 in his first start of this season at The CJ Cup. … Hovland’s (+1600) first two PGA Tour victories have come outside of the U.S. (Mexico, Puerto Rico) and he said this week he likes the typically slower pace of the greens. … Ancer (+1600) has a pair of top-10s in six previous starts in the event. … Tony Finau (+2000) has a pair of top-10s in five previous event starts, including T8 last year. … Koepka (+2500) has missed the cut in both of his previous starts at the Mayakoba. The four-time major champion is making his third start of the season.
NEXT WEEK: Houston Open, Houston, Nov. 11-14
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: BMW Ladies Championship (Jin Young Ko)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Pelican Women’s Championship, Belleair, Fla., Nov. 11-14
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Dominion Energy Charity Classic (Bernhard Langer)
THIS WEEK: TimberTech Championship, Boca Raton, Fla., Nov. 5-7
Course: The Old Course at Broken Sound (Par 72, 6,807 yards)
Purse: $2M (Winner: $305,000)
Defending Champion: Darren Clarke
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Bernhard Langer
TV: Friday, Noon-3 p.m. ET; Saturday, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; Sunday, 6-9 p.m. (Golf Channel)
Notes: This is the second leg of the playoffs, with the top 30 players after this week advancing to the Charles Schwab Cup championship. … Clarke won by one shot over Langer and Jim Furyk last year. … Langer, 64, has four consecutive top-10 finishes and lives only 15 minutes from The Old Course. He has a mathematical chance of securing the title this week with the winner earning 610,000 points. Ernie Els is third in the standings, but 803,554 points behind Langer. The winner of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship will earn 880,000 points. … Furyk has finished T4-T3-T8 in his past three starts and posted three rounds of 68 or better in this event last year.
NEXT WEEK: Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Phoenix, Nov. 11-14
–Field Level Media
