Articles · Course guide
El Cardonal at Diamante Course Guide: Stats, Hole-by-Hole Scoring and What Wins
By Rick Gehman · Published · 3 min read
Quick answer
El Cardonal is a 7,452-yard, par-72 Tiger Woods design in Cabo San Lucas with paspalum greens and fairways so wide the field hits almost nine in 10 of them. Distance barely matters here. Putting and birdie-making do, and the four par 5s play more than a stroke and a half under par between them.
Key takeaways
- Par 72 at 7,452 yards, with four par 5s that average almost half a stroke under par.
- The field hit 88.7% of fairways in 2025, the highest rate of any PGA Tour event that year.
- When a player does miss a fairway, it costs about 0.74 strokes, the most of 31 events played every year since 2023.
- Birdies line up with results here better than at any recurring PGA Tour event except the Tour Championship.
- Course history matters only a little: El Cardonal ranks 43rd of 89 courses in how well past results carry over.
El Cardonal at a glance
- Location
- Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
- Architect
- Tiger Woods (opened 2014)
- Par
- 72 (four par 3s, 10 par 4s, four par 5s)
- Yardage
- 7,452 yards
- Greens
- Paspalum
- PGA Tour event
- World Wide Technology Championship, since 2023
- Scoring average
- 69.01 (2023), 70.26 (2024), 68.90 (2025)
What wins at El Cardonal
The fairways are enormous and there's essentially one cut of grass. The field hit 88.7% of its fairways here in 2025, the highest rate of any of the 44 official PGA Tour events that year.
That doesn't make the driver irrelevant. With no rough to catch a miss, a wayward drive usually ends up in sand or native desert. Over the last three years, each missed fairway has cost players about 0.74 strokes, the most of 31 events played every year since 2023 and about double the PGA Tour median of 0.37.
Distance barely matters. Among 33 events played every year since 2023, El Cardonal ranks 28th in how closely driving distance lines up with results.
With almost everyone in the fairway, the greens decide it. Putts per round, three-putt avoidance and one-putt percentage all rank among the 10 courses on the PGA Tour where they line up most closely with success. Scoring matters too: the field averaged 5.15 birdies per round here in 2025, second only to The Sentry, and birdie totals track strokes gained here better than at any recurring event except the Tour Championship.
Hole-by-hole scoring
The opening hole is the easiest on the course: a 582-yard par 5 that plays 0.72 strokes under par, with 70% of the field making birdie or better. The closing par 5 is next at 0.55 under. The hardest hole is the 483-yard par-4 fourth, the only hole that plays more than a tenth of a stroke over par, where 22% of the field makes bogey or worse.
| Hole | Par | Yards | Avg. to par | Birdie or better | Bogey or worse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 582 | −0.72 | 70.0% | 3.5% |
| 2 | 3 | 208 | −0.16 | 22.5% | 6.1% |
| 3 | 4 | 351 | −0.27 | 36.6% | 9.3% |
| 4 | 4 | 483 | +0.16 | 11.3% | 22.2% |
| 5 | 4 | 438 | −0.10 | 22.4% | 11.5% |
| 6 | 5 | 601 | −0.31 | 39.8% | 8.1% |
| 7 | 4 | 489 | −0.01 | 16.0% | 12.9% |
| 8 | 4 | 474 | +0.06 | 14.3% | 18.3% |
| 9 | 3 | 200 | −0.04 | 16.6% | 11.8% |
| 10 | 4 | 344 | −0.30 | 36.3% | 6.5% |
| 11 | 3 | 189 | −0.06 | 19.5% | 12.8% |
| 12 | 4 | 401 | +0.05 | 16.8% | 16.0% |
| 13 | 4 | 475 | +0.03 | 17.2% | 16.0% |
| 14 | 5 | 554 | −0.29 | 45.3% | 13.6% |
| 15 | 4 | 462 | +0.07 | 22.3% | 21.1% |
| 16 | 3 | 154 | −0.05 | 21.8% | 14.0% |
| 17 | 4 | 462 | −0.14 | 23.5% | 9.0% |
| 18 | 5 | 585 | −0.55 | 57.4% | 5.6% |
Past winners at El Cardonal
| Year | Winner | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Ben Griffin | −29 |
| 2024 | Austin Eckroat | −24 |
| 2023 | Erik van Rooyen | −27 |
Best course history at El Cardonal
Course history is only a modest signal here. El Cardonal ranks 43rd of 89 courses in how well a player's past results carry over to the next year, so a strong record is a tiebreaker rather than a reason on its own.
These are the best performers at El Cardonal by strokes gained per round, minimum eight rounds:
- Carson Young: +2.87 per round, 12 rounds
- Garrick Higgo: +2.76 per round, 8 rounds
- Patrick Rodgers: +2.14 per round, 8 rounds
- Matt Kuchar: +2.12 per round, 12 rounds
- Ben Griffin: +2.12 per round, 12 rounds
- Justin Lower: +1.87 per round, 12 rounds
- Nico Echavarria: +1.70 per round, 12 rounds
- Austin Eckroat: +1.53 per round, 12 rounds
This week at El Cardonal
For the 2026 picks, DraftKings plays and my custom model's top 10, read the 2026 World Wide Technology Championship preview.
Read: 2026 World Wide Technology Championship Picks: Why El Cardonal Is a Putting Contest
Frequently asked questions
What is the par and yardage at El Cardonal at Diamante?
El Cardonal plays as a par 72 at 7,452 yards for the World Wide Technology Championship, with four par 3s, 10 par 4s and four par 5s.
Who designed El Cardonal?
Tiger Woods. El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas opened in 2014 and was his first course to open.
What is the hardest hole at El Cardonal?
The 483-yard par-4 fourth. It has played 0.16 strokes over par from 2023 to 2025, and 22% of the field makes bogey or worse there.
What kind of player wins at El Cardonal?
A good putter who makes a lot of birdies. The fairways are wide enough that distance and accuracy rarely separate players, though a missed fairway is unusually costly.
Does course history matter at El Cardonal?
Only a little. El Cardonal ranks 43rd of 89 courses in how well past results carry over, so it's a tiebreaker rather than a deciding factor.