This week in golf: Tiger's El Cardonal, a loaded Abu Dhabi and WTGL's debut

Golf Channel's week runs from Abu Dhabi to Los Cabos. The PGA Tour's World Wide Technology Championship starts Thursday, November 5, at El Cardonal at Diamante, Tiger Woods' first finished design, with Ben Griffin defending and 120 players chasing 2027 status in the sixth of eight FedExCup Fall events. The same morning, the DP World Tour opens its Play-Offs at Yas Links with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm in the field, and on Sunday WTGL plays its first match.

The PGA Tour: World Wide Technology Championship

• Where: El Cardonal at Diamante, Los Cabos, Mexico. Par 72, 7,452 yards, designed by Tiger Woods.
• Defending champion: Ben Griffin, whose 29-under total last year is the tournament record.
• Purse: $6 million, $1.08 million to the winner.
• TV: Golf Channel, live 3-6 p.m. ET Thursday through Sunday, per the PGA Tour's broadcast schedule.

Golf Channel's notables are Tony Finau, Griffin, Ben James, Jackson Koivun, Matt Kuchar, Denny McCarthy, Aldrich Potgieter and Nick Taylor. The Tour's field list also has Luke Donald on a sponsor exemption, plus Mexico Open runners-up Steven Fisk and Kristoffer Ventura and Mackenzie Hughes, who sits one spot outside the top 100 after his tie for fourth. Andrew Novak, last week's winner, is not on the list.

Three players withdrew over the weekend. Mac Meissner (Paul Peterson in), Dan Brown (Ben Martin in) and Keita Nakajima (Tyler Duncan in) are out, according to the Tour's media page.

Why it matters: only three fall events remain, and the top 100 keep full cards. Course spotlight: all three winners here closed with a Sunday 63. Erik van Rooyen did it in 2023, Austin Eckroat in 2024 and Griffin in 2025. The site falls 240 feet over a mile and gets about 6 inches of rain a year, so the paspalum plays firm and the wind decides a lot. Our El Cardonal spotlight has the full history. Griffin warmed up with a tie for fourth in Mexico.

Also on Golf Channel this week

• DP World Tour, Abu Dhabi Championship: Yas Links, Abu Dhabi, November 5-8. It is the first of two Play-Offs events. The top 70 play with no cut, and the top 50 move on to Dubai, November 12-15. Aaron Rai defends, and Eugenio Chacarra leads the Race to Dubai. Golf Channel's notables include Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, McIlroy, Rahm, Patrick Reed and Adam Scott. Coverage runs 2-8 a.m. ET Thursday through Saturday and 1:30-7:30 a.m. ET Sunday.
• LPGA, TOTO Japan Classic: Taiheiyo Club, Minori Course, Omitama, Japan. Nasa Hataoka defends after winning a playoff when rain washed out the last round in 2025. Miyu Yamashita arrives off her Maybank repeat, and Jeeno Thitikul, Minjee Lee and Hannah Green are in. Because of the time difference, Golf Channel airs it Wednesday and Thursday 9 p.m.-1 a.m. ET, Friday 9:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. and Saturday 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
• Eamon Lynch Has Questions: the new 60-minute interview show opens Thursday at 6 p.m. ET, right after the Los Cabos coverage, with outgoing PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan (our story).

WTGL starts Sunday

Indoor golf's women's league plays its first match Sunday, November 8, at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN, with Los Angeles Golf Club against New York Golf Club at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens. Five teams play 10 regular-season matches before semifinals December 20-21 and finals December 22-23. The same day, Topgolf bays start offering official TGL and WTGL competition holes (our story). TGL's third season follows on December 27.

The Perfect Lie angle

El Cardonal is the place to start if you want to see how Woods builds a course: wide fairways, sandy arroyos beside the holes and wind that can switch from one day to the next. Browse more designers in our course and designer directory. On the sim side, PurePlay's early access opens Friday at 5 p.m. ET, two days before WTGL shows what a simulator arena looks like on TV.

We post a new preview every Monday when Golf Channel puts out its weekly schedule.