The First Look: World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba

Viktor Hovland is looking to win the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba for a third consecutive year, while PGA TOUR Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler and two-time major winner Collin Morikawa also are teeing it up in Mexico.

FIELD NOTES: Looking for a third straight Mayakoba victory, Viktor Hovland returns to El Camaleon. This marks his third start of the season after a T5 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and T21 at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina. Steve Stricker is the last person to win the same tournament three consecutive years, after claiming the John Deere Classic from 2009-11… Collin Morikawa, the ninth-ranked player in the world, is making his tournament debut…PGA TOUR Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler, who finished fourth last year, is set to return… Other notables include a pair of former FedExCup champs in Billy Horschel and Justin Rose, plus Tony Finau, who’s making his season debut after winning twice last season… Among the sponsor exemptions are a handful of Mexican players like Jose de Jesus Rodriguez and Sebastian Vazquez, as well as DP World Tour winner Adri Arnaus of Spain and the University of Texas’ Travis Vick, who’s sixth in the PGA TOUR University Ranking presented by Velocity Global. Fan favorite Harry Higgs also is in on a sponsor exemption…Seven former champions in total will return to Mexico to tee it up… Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and Augusto Nunez also will be part of the Latin American representation.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points.

COURSE: El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba, par 71, 7,034 yards. There are three separate Mayan Rivera landscapes golfers traverse at Mayakoba: stretches on the oceanfront, tropical jungle, and mangroves. Birdies come in bunches at Mayakoba, with the winning score averaging at 20 under since 2013.

Despite winning in back-to-back years, Viktor Hovland won in two different ways. He was T45 in putts per round in 2021 but was T10 in that same statistic in 2022. He was first in greens hit in 2021, however. Hitting the large resort-style greens in the right spot and staying out of the penalty areas that line many fairways has proven to be the key to success over the last two years.

STORYLINES: Can Viktor Hovland join some of the game’s biggest names in the history books? Tiger Woods is the most prolific of three-peaters on the PGA TOUR (winning four separate events three times in a row, plus two events four times in a row) but there hasn’t been a three-peat since Stricker at the John Deere from 2009-11. Hovland thrives in tropical climes, having also won the Puerto Rico Open and last year’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas… While Rory McIlroy supplanted Scheffler atop the world ranking after winning THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, there’s a chance Scheffler could regain the top spot in the world with a win in Mexico… There are just two events after Mayakoba left on the fall portion of the season. This is an important week for those looking for valuable FedExCup points before the holiday break. Taylor Montgomery, in the field in Mexico, is the highest-ranked Korn Ferry Tour grad from this season in the early-season FedExCup rankings thanks to finishing in the top 15 in all four of his starts.

72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Viktor Hovland (2021)

18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Roland Thatcher (3rd round, 2008).

LAST TIME: After an impressive third-round 62, Viktor Hovland cruised to the finish line in the final round and successfully defended his World Wide Technology Championship title. Hovland shot a 4-under 67 Sunday to win by four shots. He set the pace on the final day at El Camaleon with three birdies on the front nine and no one was able to make a back-nine charge to catch the Norwegian. It was the first title defense in Mexico since the tournament began in 2007. Justin Thomas finished third while Scottie Scheffler finished fourth. Scheffler put in an impressive effort Sunday to try to chase down Hovland – he was 5 under through his first nine holes and 7 under through 13 – but made an unfortunate double bogey on the par-4 16th to end his chances.