Ben Coley's golf betting tips: WWT Championship preview and best bets

Golf betting tips: WWT Championship

2pts e.w. Jackson Suber at 33/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

2pts e.w. Christiaan Bezuidenhout at 35/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

1pt e.w. Denny McCarthy at 60/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

1pt e.w. Luke Clanton at 60/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

1pt e.w. Kensei Hirata at 225/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

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It's week two of the PGA Tour's new, fortnight stay in Mexico, and many of the features of last week's tournament apply also in the World Wide Technology Championship.

Vidanta Vallarta is out, El Cardonal is in, and there's no doubt that the roll-of-honour here suggests less of an emphasis on length – be that of approach shots or drives. However, the climate, the grass and the fundamental nature of both resort courses remain similar, only with everything just that little bit less demanding here.

So far, three editions of the WWT have been won in 27-, 24- and 29-under. The 'toughest' renewal, let's not forget, saw round one played in pretty severe winds yet despite that fact, Austin Eckroat was able to average 66 come the end of it. Such scoring might not be enough to win this week, with the weather promising to be absolutely perfect.

Eckroat is a fine iron player who is up and down with the putter and it's approach play that ought to be our focus. Last year, Ben Griffin won well and his main threat for much of the final round was Sami Valimaki; they ranked 18th and 22nd for the season in strokes-gained approach and both were inside the top 20 in putting for good measure.

Approach play and putting was Andrew Novak's formula last week and it may well be the formula again, having worked for Griffin, Eckroat, and Erik van Rooyen. The latter didn't rank as highly for the season, but make no mistake: ahead of his emotional victory here three years ago, van Rooyen was one of the hottest iron players on the planet having caught fire during the autumn.

So was Novak before his Mexico Open romp and while none of us could've foreseen the scale of his upturn with the putter (the last two PGA Tour winners ranked outside the top 150 for the season), the idea that he'd set up plenty of chances would've been easy to sell. Here, players of his skill set are even more favoured by the fact that so wide are the fairways, they're actually hard to miss. Adam Long hit 56 out of 56 the first time the Tour came to El Cardonal.

Four players are vying for favouritism in an interesting market and I'd rank them by order of their putting capabilities, which is to say Griffin and Jackson Koivun would be preferred to Ryan Gerard and Ben James. Griffin warmed up nicely last week, finished third when defending his first solo title at Colonial, and therefore might just be the pick of the quartet, but don't be surprised if Koivun takes another step up the ladder after finishing off the Presidents Cup in style.

That being said, Koivun hasn't threatened in any of his five starts since winning the 3M Open and returns from a break so at the prices, given that a course like this one may blunt his edge just a little, I'd rather begin with CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT.

Bidding to become the second South African winner of this, Bezuidenhout makes his course debut with a strong Mexico record to call upon. So far he's been 29th, 15th and 19th in three starts across three different courses and there was much to like about last week's effort, where he ranked fourth in strokes-gained approach.

Better putting ought to be expected from one of the best in this field and in fact, his season-long rankings are very similar to those of Griffin and Valimaki: 22nd in approach play, 19th with the putter. That is the sort of statistical profile which looks made for a shootout at El Cardonal.

Bezuidenhout's form is strong, too, as he'd been 17th in Japan prior to last week's effort and 32nd despite unfavourable conditions in Utah prior to that. Among this run of events, I'd have this course alongside the one in Japan as the most suitable and his effort in the Baycurrent Classic reads quite well given the strength at the head of the field.

In terms of correlating form, second both in the low-scoring AmEx and in the similarly low-scoring John Deere Classic is encouraging and he was also eighth on his debut in Puerto Rico earlier this year. Again, we're talking resort golf under conditions comparable to those expected in Mexico, but Puerto Rico tends to play more into the hands of the longer drivers.

Like several in this field, Bezuidenhout should benefit from the fact that his weakest club isn't particularly relevant this week and after warming up his strongest one, the putter, over the weekend of the Mexico Open, he looks primed to go well.

At similar prices, this also looks a good opportunity for JACKSON SUBER to get off the mark.

He's not as reliable on the greens as Bezuidenhout but that club was better last week and his approach play is among the best in this field. Suber ranks 13th for the season, which is enough to be third of those taking part.

We saw strong hints that his skill set could be a good one for El Cardonal when he finished 11th last year and that performance looks all the more encouraging when you consider that he started slowly, lying 75th after round one but closing with a nine-under 63.

Without strokes-gained data it's hard to be sure just how well he putted, but ranking sixth in putts per green in regulation is encouraging and there were more positives on paspalum last week, when he putted well in rounds one, two and three before a disappointing Sunday.

That's been the case for most of autumn – three good rounds undermined by a poor one – but returning to a course where he signed off with a back-nine 28 for one of his best results of 2025, he might just be able to put it together at last.

Suber has contended several times this season and led the Open after round one back in July. The fact that his best performance came when fourth at the wide-open Craig Ranch bodes especially well for is chances, and at 11th in birdie average this looks the right kind of test.

Alongside Suber in those stats, Zach Bauchou could easily bounce back to form with the putter, which was the only issue last week, but I was closer to siding with Mackenzie Hughes despite his disappointing effort when fancied here last year.

The Canadian seldom leaps off the page from a ball-striking perspective as it's his short-game that does most of the heavy lifting, but he said last week that he feels close to something good and it was encouraging that his long-game improved with each day in the Mexico Open.

Fourth place there was something more tangible at last after a host of good starts which petered out into top-30 finishes and it's that failure to fully capitalise on his good golf which has him perilously positioned at 101st in the FedExCup standings.

Fortunately for Hughes, he has form here (seventh in 2023) and at the RSM Classic (past champion) so this is a good run of events to finish the season. The latter correlates nicely with El Cardonal as you'd expect, and so does the Corales where he's been second and third, the Cognizant where he's been second (Eckroat is a champion there) and the Mexico Open where he now has a top-five to his name.

One of the standout putters in the field, space off the tee takes some of the pressure off his driving and with four pro wins having come in August, September, October and November, this is certainly his time of year. All this being said, he's almost halved in price and with all the 40/1 to eight places having been mopped up, I'm going to have to leave him out.

The same applies to Trace Crowe, whose very recent iron play and putting have both been excellent and combined to help him finish a staying-on 11th last week. He's done very well this autumn having missed six months at the start of the year, but suddenly he's close behind much more capable players like Johnny Keefer in the market and that doesn't sit right.

Keefer struck the ball supremely well when selected last week but a missed cut has seen him double in price. For better or worse (worse, lately), I'd rather be siding with someone like him who has a much higher ceiling and could make his revised odds look silly, but the bottom line is he'll need to transform his putting on what are similar greens and I just don't see it happening.

On which note, DENNY MCCARTHY is next.

Finishes of 29th, 15th and 23rd across his last three starts suggest that this quality operator is getting back to his best and the one thing that might prevent him from completing that journey is the one club he shouldn't have to worry about too much this week.

McCarthy has sometimes gone without a tee peg when hitting driver this year, a surefire sign of someone fighting issues with that club, but around here there is far less pressure and that ought to mean the rest of his game can shine.

Last week's 23rd came after a closing 65 to offer yet more promise and I particularly like the fact that his iron play was exceptional twice across the four days, enough to rank 19th overall. That kind of figure is all he usually needs to contend, but McCarthy seemingly handed his putting powers over to Novak for the week, struggling on the greens himself.

Much better can be expected in that regard so having been close to the lead in Bermuda after a good performance in Japan, a player more used to playing in Signature Events than fighting for his card can potentially threaten that first win.

The fact that McCarthy has been third at PGA National, third in Bermuda, fourth in the Corales and boasts three top-10s at Sea Island all bodes well and I think he's going to like what he sees on his first trip to El Cardonal.

Last week was in fact his first start in Mexico for five years and in the hope that he can quickly get dialled in with the putter, he's selected at 50/1 and upwards.

Recent promise points to 225/1 shot

Dylan Wu was 14th on his sole previous start here and that came during a largely poor run, so he's of some interest at massive odds. At his best, Wu's strengths are his approach play and his putting and the former has been better lately, so he's one I could see playing better than most expect.

Similarly, Vince Whaley has a deadly short-game and some course form but the outsider I'm most drawn to is KENSEI HIRATA.

This really comes down to his performances in the last two events and the hope that he can continue to build on them. In Bermuda two starts ago, Hirata co-led through 36 holes of a 54-hole renewal, while last week he was second at halfway and ninth heading into Sunday before finishing 11th.

That means he's one of very few players who've been bang in the mix twice recently and there's been no fluke to this upturn: he's simply taken a big step forward with his approach play (14th and ninth) and managed to marry that with some improvements to his putting too (27th and 25th). Again, these are the skills we're looking for this week.

The other interesting note is that his best performance from earlier in the season came at the Nelson, when 19th in strong company. That's a wide-open shootout where his lack of driving prowess isn't a factor. In other words, he might just like El Cardonal and it certainly doesn't hurt that his best KFT effort came in the Bahamas, either.

Prolific in Japan before graduating through the Korn Ferry Tour, he's one to consider at huge odds or else in the top Asian market, where he's 9/1 in places. The first two in the betting can be hopeless putters at times, whereas Hirata has hopefully turned a corner with that club.

But the more I look the more I like so at 150/1 and bigger (prices range from 225/1 with eight places to 300/1 with five) he's worth chancing in the outright market.

Finally, LUKE CLANTON looks a nice bet for a tournament which could suit him perfectly.

Clanton wasn't able to show it last year but 46th place was no disaster given how poorly he'd played all season, and he improved throughout the week too.

Given that he arrived in miserable form and would go on to miss his next six cuts until finishing fifth in Puerto Rico the following March, I feel that debut at El Cardonal hints at just why it should suit. At 24th in strokes-gained approach, like Suber he's simply one of the best iron players in this field, and he's going to get chance after chance to attack flags.

And whereas this time last year he'd shown only hints of improved putting, Clanton has ranked 25th, 11th and 17th with the flat stick over his last three starts, gaining well over a stroke in three separate rounds last week. It looks like he's found the key to returning to the levels displayed when he went so close to winning on the PGA Tour while still an amateur.

Clanton's closest call came at the RSM Classic, a really strong guide to this event, but he was also second at the John Deere Classic and fifth at the Wyndham, so a low-scoring shootout seems ideal now that his putter is behaving. I'd also consider 18th at the Cognizant to be encouraging and during a poor spring, his best effort was at the Nelson.

In other words, this is a fine iron player with stacks of correlating form, whose putter has come alive in recent weeks. That all makes for a likeable combination at a course which plays more to his strengths than last week's did.

Posted at 12:00 GMT on 03/11/25

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