The course is famous for its picturesque setting along the Riviera Maya.
El Camaleon was the home to the first PGA Tour event in Latin America, and in 2024, LIV Golf will host its event at the Greg Norman-designed course for a second time.
The course is undergoing a renovation in preparation for the February 2024 event. The clubhouse, restaurants and a few of the holes have seen some major changes. El Camaleon opened in 2006, and these renovations are the first of its kind to improve the overall experience for the spectators, players and guests of the Mayakoba resort.
The clubhouse renovated the entry, locker rooms, pro shop and gathering place. The Koba Club House restaurant has taken on a brand new menu to accompany the new design.
The course, famous for its picturesque setting along the Riviera Maya, enlisted architects to make strategic changes to many of the holes. Some have enlarged tee boxes and there is changed elevation to fairways, greens and bunkers. The fourth hole, in particular, is getting a new island green, and No. 8 is getting new changes to the size and slope of its green.
Hole 15 of Maykoba’s El Camaleon. (Mayakoba)
These improvements come while maintaining the unique charm of El Camaleon. The redesign aims to strike a balance between preserving the course’s natural beauty and introducing new elements to push professional competition and amateurs in 2024.
Golfweek’s Averee Dovsek stopped by and took a closer look at the renovations.
There are four resorts that make up Mayakoba: Andaz, Banyan Tree, Fairmont and Rosewood. Upon arrival, guests are greeted with traditional juices, small gifts and accompanied by an inviting staff. The check-in experience is peaceful and no detail gets left behind.
Between beautifully designed villas and the ambiance of each resort, the 595-acre property is a dream. The transportation system makes it convenient to get to the beaches, rivers, restaurants, shops, cooking classes, golf course, kayaking adventures and more. You can travel around the resort by bike, boats or golf carts.
Each restaurant at the property has a unique concept and taste, serving fresh seafood to Thai food with a tasteful design. The dining experience can accommodate dietary restrictions and flavor preferences.
Mayakoba is immersed in the Mayan ecosystem, surrounded by the river, trees, birds and even spider monkeys, which will gladly greet you at the sight of an apple at your doorstep.
The next two weeks are about the only downtime in the world of pro golf but there will be tees stuck into the ground before you know it.
The first event out of the box in 2024 also marks the return to the calendar-based schedule on the PGA Tour. Not far behind are events on the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Champions and LPGA. The 2024 LIV Golf slate starts up in February.
Here’s a closer look at the first events of 2024 on the major golf circuits.
Conversations with Champions is presented by Sentry.
“Conversations with Champions presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek. This week: Russell Henley, winner of the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.
Russell Henley snapped a five-year winless drought at El Camaleon Golf Course in Riviera Maya, Mexico, on Sunday.
His four-stroke win at Mayakoba put an end to a string of near-misses for the 33-year-old.
Henley at one point led by six shots, the largest on the PGA Tour since Jon Rahm at the 2020 Memorial. Players holding a six-shot lead entering the final round in last 15 seasons have now won 23 of 25 times.
Here is everything Henley said Sunday after his win:
“A lot of these events that I haven’t come through on, like I was telling [caddie] Todd [Gjesvold] earlier, just means so much more. I tried to learn from those situations where I didn’t get it done and didn’t come through down the stretch, just tried to keep working on my game and keep practicing hard and keep believing that I can do it. Took a little longer than I wanted, but I’ve been playing some good golf for a few years and it’s nice to get a W.
Russell Henley celebrates with his caddie Todd Gjesvold celebrate after winning the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Club de Golf El Camaleon in Playa del Carmen. (Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
Q: It’s different when it’s a six-shot lead. I can imagine the last 24 hours were interesting in terms of just blinders, strategy and just going out there and taking care of business?
RH: Yeah, it’s tough. I don’t sleep well on a lead. I need a lot more practice. I have no idea how Tiger did this 80-some times. It’s tough for me just to kind of calm down. You definitely don’t feel the same as when you’re practicing at home, but that’s the fun of it, that’s why we play. We want to see what we’re made of out here and get tested under pressure.
Q: What were those calming moments for you today? What was the key to you in that round? The bogey at 5, but you hop right back at 6. What were some of the moments that kind of stand in your mind as to what helped you get it across the finish line?
RH: I kind of had it in my mind today I needed to get under par, for sure. I figured that somebody would shoot a low one and so, you know, making a bogey on 6, I kind of got a mud ball and just misplayed it with my hybrid and ended up missing a short putt. Just kind of a disappointing way to start the day because I hit every shot really nice and gave myself a lot of birdie putts before that. Andy just said, just shake it off and let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. And hit a great drive on the next hole and kind of felt like I can do this, I can keep playing well, that’s just one hole. So it was nice to come back from that.
Q: Easy to say these weeks are a springboard of something. You thought you were going to have this moment many times over the last couple weeks, but what can this week do for you moving forward?
RH: Yeah, I mean, I hope just keep giving me confidence. It’s just so hard to get in contention out here, first part, and then to close it out, it’s a really hard deal. I feel like it gets harder every year. I’m just going to try to just pull from the fact that when I didn’t feel super comfortable and I had a lead that I executed and I got it done.
Q: Twenty-five birdies and just two bogeys, incredible. With that, just a few thoughts on clutching your fourth career PGA Tour title.
RH: It’s surreal to hear you say that. You know, you always have doubts, am I going to win again. I’ve had a lot of tournaments where I haven’t gotten it done, so this one’s really special. To be leading by six, which is my largest 54-hole lead, I’m sure, and to just play solid today and get it done gives me a lot of confidence. I’m really excited, really thankful. Yeah, I don’t know what to say, it’s just surreal.
Q: This was your fifth start here at Mayakoba and haven’t had an entirely successful past four starts. Was there something different? Was it just you and how you were playing? Did the course feel different? What was the difference that you could maybe put a finger on?
RH: I’ve always felt like I could play well here. I think I’ve been in a little bit of an interesting spot with my game other years. One of the years I was playing pretty well after two days and ended up getting basically disqualified, so the track record may look a little better if you add that week in. I think golf’s just really hard. This week I felt like I was confident off the tee and I felt like I had — my putting stroke was working well. So just kind of rode the wave and here we are.
Russell Henley plays a shot on the sixth hole during the third round of the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Club de Golf El Camaleon in Mexico. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Q: Nice weekend to be a Georgia Bulldog, I guess. Did you watch the game last night? What did you get up to last night as you were preparing for today knowing obviously you had such a big cushion?
RH: I was playing while the game was going on, so I didn’t get to see it. I heard on No. 13 or so that we were winning 21-3, so I was very happy to hear that. It was actually a little bit surprising that we bet them so handily. I guess they got a little closer at the end. The Dawgs are playing great. I’m still kind of living off of last year’s National Championship, though. It’s a fun time of the year to be a Georgia fan.
Q: In terms of your 54-hole leads, obviously you haven’t been able to convert one in a while, but you did this week obviously. Did you feel like this was a bit of a monkey off your back scenario?
RH: I do. I’ve just choked, you know. The nerves have gotten to me and I’ve made bad mistakes, bad mental mistakes and just haven’t gotten it done on Sunday. So put myself in position a decent amount, just haven’t gotten it done. So to come out and kind of do everything pretty well today tee to green and keep it pretty clean and just play steady was what was nice. I think, I don’t think I would have done it unless I had kind of failed so many times.
Q: When that final putt dropped on 18 and you won, what was the emotion like for you?
RH: Yeah, I mean, kind of walking up 18 I kind of felt like I wanted to cry a little bit. It was almost like just a little bit of emotion, just so much happiness looking back at the times where I kind of choked. I remember at Greensboro a couple years ago, just should have easily won the tournament, was just playing great and didn’t get it done. It was such a tough feeling because I put in a lot of work like we all do and just, you know, choked. So it was just a lot of emotion thinking about how those moments have kind of, I’m still here, I’m still fighting and I just can’t believe that I got it done. I don’t know, I don’t know if that helps.
Q: I want to know if you feel best like revenge on this course? Do you feel like this is revenge for you to come here again?
RH: Absolutely. I love being here, I love the golf course, I love the resort, the food is awesome, the people are so nice and this is always one that I get excited about coming to. I can’t say that about every event. Now every Tour event is great, but this one’s very special. Amazing location, very beautiful, so really fun.
Q: Did you consider that you get your revenge because of what happened in 2019?
RH: I never really thought about it, to be honest. I just felt like that was just some, just some weird stuff happening. But I definitely don’t regret turning myself in. I mean, I think that’s, you know, what we’re all supposed to do. But it was kind of, in my opinion, a little bit of a stupid situation considering I didn’t know that I had played a different ball. So it’s not like I was intentionally doing anything wrong, but you should always turn yourself in if you do do something against the rules. I did and I’m happy for that, and now I’m very happy.
Russell Henley lines up a putt on the green of the third hole during the third round of the World Wide Technology Championship at Club de Golf El Camaleon at on Nov. 5, 2022. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Q: Could you tell us a little bit about what happened in that tournament in 2019? How was it that you hit a different ball?
RH: Yeah. So Titleist makes a lot of different balls, prototype balls. How they mark them, they’ll put a little dot or a little dash next to where it says Pro V1x on the ball. So when I was signing my scorecard, I just looked down at the ball and for some reason, the Pro V1x was facing me and it had a little dot beside the Pro V1x. I thought, do all my balls have that dot? I haven’t even, I don’t remember them having a dot. So then I started comparing them to the other eight balls I had and it was the only one with a dot. Turns out it’s a prototype ball that they make. I just play the 17 Pro V1x. So I told the rules official I changed balls about four times that day. They said since you don’t know when you played it, we’re going to give you a four-hole penalty, so it’s two shots a hole, eight shots, trip back home to Columbus, yep.
Q: You hit a great second shot on No. 6 after a not-so-good second shot on No. 5. Can you take us through that moment in the round, 5 and 6?
RH: You know, No. 5, I hit a good drive, I was happy with the drive. Had some mud on the right side of the ball and I tried to aim out to the right to give myself some room, because typically when the mud’s on the right side of the ball, it goes left. I didn’t aim far enough to the right, maybe I didn’t put a great swing on it, it’s tough to know, but the ball just went left the whole way. And I don’t really hit a shot like that too often, or I haven’t been lately, so it was frustrating. I feel like I maybe should have played a little more conservative than I did. I thought I made the right decision at the time. But then after that, my caddie, Andy, just said, “Shake it off, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing,” because the first four holes and then the tee shot on 5 I hit a fairway, a green and I gave myself a birdie putt and was playing well. So he said, “Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing,” and I said OK, going to keep fighting, keep trying to hit fairways and greens and it was nice to come back with a birdie on 6.
Q: After your fourth win on the PGA Tour, what would be the next goal? Do you have the majors in sight? Obviously, you contended in the 2021 U.S. Open and the other majors, but making a Ryder Cup team? What would be the goal for next year?
RH: I think I’ve always dreamed of winning a major and always dreamed of making a Ryder Cup team or Presidents Cup team. Those are high on the list. I would love to do those things. I mean, it’s so hard to make one of those teams and to win a major. It’s just so hard to win out here, everybody is so good and it’s so competitive. I definitely would like to do that. I’d like to just keep putting myself in position to win any Tour event because it’s just so difficult and it’s so much fun to put yourself and kind of see what you’re made of, see what your game’s made of and see if the hard work you’ve put in has paid off and that’s kind of why we play.
Q: Were you looking for perfection knowing that you didn’t bogey in the three rounds? Were you looking for perfection this Sunday?
RH: Absolutely. I mean, I thought I could do it, I thought I could do it. I was close to doing it, to having no bogeys, but in reality, you know, it’s pretty hard to do over the course of 72 holes, especially with how much water and hazards there are out here. So I was definitely — I definitely thought about it, but didn’t quite work out.
Q: Do you think this win can be like a new part in your career knowing that you started with three wins at a very young age in 2013, you were I think 23, 24, and now with this win you can have like another part in your career?
RH: I don’t know, I’m getting old. Everybody’s so young on the Tour now, everybody’s in their early 20s and coming out ready to win majors. I’m not really sure what the future holds. I feel like I have some great golf ahead of me, but I’m just going to try to keep doing what I’m doing and take care of my body and, Lord willing, I can just keep playing some good golf.
Q: Russell, are you kind of bummed that there’s only two events left in this part of the season or are you kind of ready for a break and can kind of lean into the holiday season?
RH: Yeah, I haven’t played a ton this year. I had some family stuff going on this summer and I’ve only played twice this season, so I’ve been kind of excited to play. Just, yeah, I mean, every tournament we play out here is a fun event, every one is run so well like this one. I’m always excited to play, it’s just you can play too much. Yeah, I mean, I think if I had it my way, every event would be at an awesome location like this and super exciting. Yeah, I’m excited to keep playing, I love playing on the PGA Tour.
Q: Your thoughts on the trophy creation?
The trophy for the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Club de Golf El Camaleon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. (Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
RH: Yeah, it’s awesome. My wife, Teil, is an artist and she’s going to appreciate it a lot more than I can.
It’s beautiful. I definitely don’t have any trophies like this one, that’s for sure.
Scheffler shot a bogey-free 9-under 62 on Sunday, the lowest final-round score of his PGA Tour career.
After a dreadful putting round on Friday, Scottie Scheffler switched back to old faithful and switched back to making birdies Sunday.
The world No. 2 made seven birdies and a hole-out eagle to shoot a bogey-free 9-under 62 at El Camaleon Golf Course at the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. It’s the lowest final-round score of his PGA Tour career and lifted him to a five-way tie for third.
Without Shotlink data this week in Riviera Maya, Mexico, it’s hard to say definitively how poorly Scheffler putted on Friday, but it was poor enough for him to shelve the Scotty Cameron T-5.5 Proto mallet putter he used two weeks ago at the CJ Cup in South Carolina and return to the model that he used to win the Masters.
“It never goes too far away,” Scheffler said of his Scotty Cameron Newport 2. “I went back to my old putter for the round yesterday. I think when I see so many putts go up to the cup and not go in, it was like, well, maybe I’ll just make a change and see what happens. This is the time of year when I’ll usually experiment with stuff. It’s probably something I’ll continue to fiddle around with.”
Scheffler’s day got off to a promising start with a hole-out at the par-4 third hole from 108 yards.
“There was nobody at the green and I hit a good shot and it looked like it landed close, but we couldn’t really see, couldn’t really hear anything, nobody was clapping or nothing. So when I got up there, I was like, ‘Oh, man, it must have spun off the green. Then I checked the cup and it was in,” Scheffler said.
How much was Scheffler thinking about the fact he needed either a win or to finish solo second to overtake Rory McIlroy and reclaim world No. 1?
“I was just trying to show up and have a good round of golf,” he said. “Rankings are great, it was definitely fun being No. 1 in the world, it’s definitely something I hope to get back to, but it’s not something that’s going to occupy a lot of my thoughts.”
Scheffler is scheduled to play next week in the Cadence Houston Open, a tournament he nearly won last year. Confidence is high after shooting his sixth round of 62 or lower since the beginning of 2019, most of any player on Tour in that span.
“A few things go my way, a few more putts go in, I could have been right in the tournament,” Scheffler said.
Here’s a quick review of the four aces south of the border, which meant cervezas for everybody.
If you thought 4 Aces was just the name of Dustin Johnson’s juggernaut of a team in LIV Golf, you’d be wrong. There were four aces this week at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, too.
The last time there were four holes-in-one in a single PGA Tour event? That would be at the 2019 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. What is it about the par-3s at El Camaleon Golf Club in Riviera Maya, Mexico, that serves up aces and opens the bars?
Here’s a quick review of the four aces south of the border, which meant cervezas for everybody.
If Jason Day can get it going on the greens in Mexico, watch out.
After a week on the beautiful island of Bermuda, the PGA Tour heads to another breathtaking part of the world, Riviera Maya, Mexico.
Several of the best players in the world, including world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland, headline yet another strong field.
After his 2020 triumph, Hovland came back to Mayakoba last season and out dueled Carlos Ortiz and Justin Thomas, winning by four strokes.
Five players who finished inside the top 10 last season now play on the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Series.
Scheffler, who grabbed a solo fourth here a year ago, is the betting favorite at +900.
Golf course
El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba | Par 71 | 7,017 yards
The 15th hole during the final round of the 2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba on El Camaleon golf course in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Data Golf Information
Course Fit (compares golf courses based on the degree to which different golfer attributes — such as driving distance — to predict who performs well at each course – DataGolf): 1. Sedgefield Country Club, 2. TPC Sawgrass, 3. TPC Potomac
Percent chance to win (based on course history, fit, trending, etc.): 1. Scottie Scheffler (10.6 percent), 2. Collin Morikawa (5.2 percent), 3. Billy Horschel (4.6 percent)
As the best players in the world prepare to begin another season, golf fans prepare to live vicariously through their heroes competing at courses around the U.S.
To help turn your TV daydream into a reality, Golfweek has compiled 10 courses from the PGA Tour schedule that anyone can play – if their pockets are deep enough.
All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time. Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with the list of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. Each of the courses below is public-access, although greens fees at several of them go above $500 per player.
The hundreds of members of the Golfweek’s Best ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those averaged overall ratings are presented for each course below.
JT said that his game “feels close,” and he just needs to remove the rust from a lack of competitive rounds.
Justin Thomas is his own toughest critic.
Despite a victory at the Players Championship in March, his sixth consecutive season with a win on the PGA Tour, being a member of the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team in September and finishing fourth in the FedEx Cup, Thomas reflected on the calendar year that was as he makes likely his final official start of 2021 this week and concluded that he’d grade it, “C at best. C-minus. I would say it has not been a very good year at all.”
Thomas wasn’t done picking at the warts of what by most standards would be a resounding success.
“Definitely haven’t closed out as many tournaments. As good as the finishes I’ve had, I feel like I should have won more than once and played a lot better in the majors,” he said. “Yeah, other than that, no, it’s been great.”
Thomas, 28, isn’t most players. It’s his grit and determinations to squeeze everything out of his immense talent that makes Thomas, winner of the 2017 PGA Championship and a former World No. 1, one of the best players in the game. Thomas still has a chance to end the year on a high note this week in the Maya Riviera, south of Cancun, Mexico, for this week’s World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Perhaps he could lift his grade into the ‘B’ range with his 15th career Tour title.
And that’s why as much as he’d like to kick back and enjoy the sunshine, turquoise water and endless sandy beaches that is island life at this luxury resort, this is very much a work trip for Thomas.
Justin Thomas hits out of a bunker at the CJ Cup at The Summit on October 15, 2021 at the Summit Club in Las Vegas. Photo by Matthew Bolt/Icon Sportswire via AP Images
“I keep saying every time I come here, this is my third time, that I want to come not for a golf tournament because I’d love to vacation here and get to enjoy it a little bit more,” said Thomas, who noted he trained hard last week.
“I tried to not take this event lightly, I tried to not just think of it as a vacation, although it’s kind of hard to at times as beautiful as it is and maybe wanting to cut practice sessions short to go hang at the beach or the pool.”
Thomas said that his game “feels close,” and he just needs to remove the rust from a lack of competitive rounds as he’s only made one start at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas (T-18) over the course of the last two months.
A year ago, it took Thomas a couple of rounds to rid himself of the rust at El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course, but then he shot a third-round 62 to join the trophy hunt before eventually finishing T-12. Thomas finished last year at World No. 3 and slipped a few notches to No. 7 presently, but getting back to the top of the mountain still is in his sights.
“It’s very bunched,” he said. “I’m one or two tournaments away from being in the top two or three again. It’s all about runs out here. Jon’s been on an unbelievable run, DJ got on an unbelievable run, Brooks was on one, Collin’s been on one. Everybody gets on these runs of the top players. And I know that I’m due and ready for another one, it’s just a matter of when it will happen.”
It would come as no surprise if he did just that to Thomas’s Ryder Cup teammate Tony Finau, who considers Thomas to be one of two current players — along with reigning World No. 1 Jon Rahm — with a game that’s “bulletproof.”
“They can hit it high, low, left-to-right, right-to-left, can chip and putt and really make any shot,” Finau said. “Those are the two guys that I’ve played with that I think have that Tiger-esque game when they are playing well.”
Thomas said that hard work is the key to achieving the type of year he’d grade an A, but he also knows what becomes of an all work and no play mentality.
When asked to name his favorite Mexican food, Thomas said, “Does tequila count?”
That’s a drink best served on Sunday after a victory.
