WWT Championship Turns 20 With Diamante at Its Center

El Cardonal Now Carries a Tournament Record of Its Own

El Cardonal opened in 2014, nine years before it became the first Tiger Woods design to stage an official PGA Tour event. Ben Griffin’s 29-under 259 in 2025 reset the tournament scoring record and gave anyone evaluating the course an obvious number to start with. Scores that low deserve examination. So do the available routes, the preferred shot shapes and the places a player can afford to miss.

Diamante describes a layout influenced by the strategic, old-style Southern California courses Woods played as a young golfer. Natural arroyos and native dunes shape the ground, while multiple routes and shot options are meant to serve players with very different games. The Pacific Ocean supplies the backdrop, but the design brief is about how a golfer gets from the tee to the green.

A player who sees one clear route can turn his attention to execution. El Cardonal often presents two. The shot shape, the useful miss and the preferred angle all have to be sorted out before the club moves. The birdie may look easy on the card after the decision has already done its work.

“When we design a championship course, we want to create something that can challenge the best players in the world,” Woods said. “But we also want the course to be fun and playable for higher handicappers.”

Wide fairways do different jobs for different golfers. A Tour player searches for the section that opens the next shot. A member or resort guest may use the same width simply to stay in the hole. El Cardonal was designed to accommodate both, and its fourth year on Tour gives the broadcast another chance to show those choices before the camera returns to the Pacific.

Diamante Is Openly Connecting the Tournament to Its Expansion

Diamante is not separating the anniversary from its business plans. During tournament week, the property also intends to introduce guests to Legacy Club, the owner-focused residential community being built around another 18-hole Woods and TGR Design course. Legacy Golf Club will be invitation-only and limited to 250 families. Diamante says more than half of those memberships have been reserved.

One Property, Four Distinct Roles

How Diamante’s Courses Fit the Week and the Future

The property is not asking one golf course to serve every purpose. Each design occupies a different place in tournament week or Diamante’s next chapter.

The PGA Tour Stage

El Cardonal

TGR Design | Opened 2014

Tiger Woods’ first completed course design has hosted the World Wide Technology Championship since 2023. Multiple routes and shot options shape its strategic identity.

The Established Companion

Dunes Course

Davis Love III Design

Ranked among the world’s top 100 by Golf Magazine, the course shares Wednesday’s pro-am schedule with El Cardonal.

The Community Course

Oasis Short Course

TGR Design

Its tournament-week role arrives Tuesday through the Oasis Short-Am benefiting the Diamante First Tee Foundation.

The Next Chapter

Legacy Course

Tiger Woods + TGR Design | Forthcoming

The new 18-hole course is planned inside a natural basin with multiple routes and water in play on 13 holes. Legacy Golf Club membership is capped at 250 families.

Also inside Diamante’s golf collection: The Dunes Putting Course. Legacy Golf Club members will have access to Diamante’s existing golf alongside the forthcoming Legacy Course.

Diamante does not have to explain why the dates matter to its real estate team. The championship’s international broadcast is expected to reach more than 220 countries and territories, showing El Cardonal and the Pacific coastline while another phase of residences and homesites is released. Private property tours can be arranged during the same week. Every tournament round also becomes a viewing window for the host.

Diamante is using tournament week to sell real estate, and the release makes no attempt to hide it. Fair enough. By Thursday morning, that sales presentation belongs in the background. The players and the course have four days to give the week its lasting image.

The forthcoming Legacy Course is planned inside a natural basin with Pacific views, multiple routes from tee to green and water in play on 13 holes. A 16-acre practice facility, short-game areas and a private clubhouse are also part of the plan. Members will have access to Diamante’s existing golf, including El Cardonal, the Davis Love III-designed Dunes Course, the Oasis Short Course and the Dunes Putting Course.

The 250-family cap is for buyers. Golfers will be watching something else. Woods is designing another course on the same property, while El Cardonal gets four competitive rounds on television in November. The existing course can be studied through the shots players choose; Legacy still has to wait for golfers to play it.

The Anniversary Starts Working Before the First Round

Competition begins Thursday, but Diamante’s schedule starts three days earlier. The Kick-Off Pro-Am is set for Monday, Nov. 2. The Oasis Short-Am benefiting the Diamante First Tee Foundation follows Tuesday, and Wednesday brings separate pro-ams on El Cardonal and the Dunes Course.

Nov. 2-8, 2026

Seven Days at Diamante

Three days of pro-ams and community programming lead into four rounds at El Cardonal.

Monday, Nov. 2

Kick-Off Pro-Am

The opening event starts the championship’s anniversary week.

Tuesday, Nov. 3

Oasis Short-Am

The short-course event benefits the Diamante First Tee Foundation.

Wednesday, Nov. 4

Two Courses, Two Pro-Ams

Guests play alongside PGA Tour professionals at El Cardonal and the Dunes Course.

Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 5-8

The Championship

A 120-player field competes across 72 holes at El Cardonal.

Also During Tournament Week

A junior golf clinic, fan experiences, live entertainment and Golf is Gourmet, which pairs VIP guests with PGA Tour professionals and local chefs.

A junior golf clinic, fan experiences, live entertainment and Golf is Gourmet, which pairs VIP guests with PGA Tour professionals and local chefs, will fill out the week. Tournament hospitality is familiar territory. The junior clinic and foundation benefit carry a different weight during an anniversary built around two decades of PGA Tour golf in Mexico. Prize money measures the size of the event; participation shows who gets a place around it.

Thursday changes the subject. For 72 holes, the field will face the balance Woods described: enough room to offer options, with the responsibility to choose and execute the right one.

On Nov. 5, the property story stops at the ropes. El Cardonal’s choices will belong to 120 players, and the 20th World Wide Technology Championship will have to make its own memory.

PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on RG.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.