From Regular Play to PGA Tour Event Pressure, Platinum TE Delivers

At Diamante Resort’s El Cardonal golf course in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the desert and the Pacific Ocean provide a memorable backdrop. Broad fairways unfold among native vegetation and natural arroyos, while coastal winds add another consideration to every shot. Designed by Tiger Woods, the course invites golfers to think through their options—and gives the maintenance team plenty to think about, too.

For Kevin Welker, who oversees golf course maintenance at Diamante, presenting El Cardonal at its best means balancing everyday play, a demanding irrigation environment, and the expectations of a PGA TOUR event. Throughout the course, Platinum TE Paspalum provides the playing surface that brings those responsibilities together.

“It is wall to wall on our El Cardonal golf course,” Welker said. “Everything’s Platinum TE.”

A Course Built Around Options

El Cardonal opened in 2014 as Woods’ first completed golf course design. Influenced by the Southern California courses he grew up playing, the par-72 layout offers multiple ways to approach a hole. Its generous fairways welcome a range of abilities, while positioning and shot selection remain important for players seeking the best scoring opportunities.

The course’s large greens, averaging approximately 8,300 square feet, are a defining feature. Their scale makes the quality and consistency of the putting surfaces particularly important, whether a golfer is enjoying a resort round or competing in the World Wide Technology Championship.

The championship returns to El Cardonal during the week of November 2–8, 2026, bringing PGA TOUR golf and an international audience back to Diamante. For Welker and his team, tournament preparation builds on months of work maintaining the same turf that members and resort guests play throughout the year.

A Familiar Species, a Different Experience

A Florida native, Welker initially expected to spend his career close to home. An opportunity in Venezuela changed that direction, eventually leading him to Mexico, where he spent 14 years at Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club in Cancun. Along the way, he developed extensive experience with paspalum and consulted on tournament preparation at Mayakoba before joining Diamante in June 2023.

El Cardonal was his first experience managing Platinum TE. His initial impressions centered on its appearance and putting performance.

“It’s a much darker green than a SeaIsle 1 or SeaIsle 2000,” he said. “The leaf blade is a lot finer, so it’s easier to get green speeds, which is important for us.”

Those differences became especially valuable during tournament preparation. Welker explained that the requested putting speed at El Cardonal has been around 11 feet on the Stimpmeter, with his team achieving approximately 11 to 11.5 feet through morning double cutting and rolling in the morning and afternoon.

“We didn’t have to cut anything in the afternoon,” he said. “So that’s a huge benefit, and we don’t stress the greens out.”

His experience with earlier paspalum varieties required more intensive work to achieve comparable speeds, including additional mowing and rolling that left the greens stressed by the end of an event. At El Cardonal, he sees Platinum TE’s ability to reach the desired speed with fewer mowing passes as a meaningful advantage.

For daily play, the team generally targets approximately 10.5 feet, taking the course’s frequent winds into account. Grooming, brushing, light topdressing, morning mowing, and regular rolling help maintain smooth, consistent surfaces.

Managing What Comes Through the Water

One of El Cardonal’s biggest agronomic challenges comes through its irrigation system. The course uses treated wastewater that, according to Welker, delivers substantially more nitrogen than the turf needs.

He estimates that irrigation alone supplies seven to eight pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet annually. By comparison, his previous courses in Cancun received approximately one to two pounds through fertilizer applications each year. At Diamante, he reported applying no supplemental nitrogen during his tenure.

The excess nitrogen encourages growth and contributes to organic matter accumulation, making regular cultivation essential. Welker is careful to distinguish this water-quality challenge from the performance of the turfgrass itself.

“We’re always fighting, trying to control the organic matter, which is not the fault of the Platinum TE,” he said. “It’s just the situation we have here.”

Before the tournament, the team blended its treated wastewater with reverse osmosis water for about a month to six weeks. Reducing the nitrogen entering the system produced a noticeable response.

“In that short period of time, we saw a huge difference, a huge improvement in the turf quality,” Welker said.

The experience underscored the importance of accounting for nutrients supplied through irrigation when developing a maintenance program. At El Cardonal, water management and turf management are closely connected.

Working With the Desert

Cabo’s dry climate offers some advantages. Welker encounters fewer disease and insect problems than he experienced in wetter, tropical conditions. Still, reliable irrigation coverage is essential, and hand watering helps maintain areas that need additional attention.

Sodium in the irrigation water introduces another challenge during prolonged periods without rain. While Platinum TE tolerates the salts, Welker explained that sodium accumulation can affect the underlying soil, reducing water infiltration and contributing to difficult growing conditions in certain areas.

Some portions of El Cardonal have particularly hard, compacted native desert soils. The maintenance team addresses those conditions through deep aerification, removal and replacement of poor soil with sand where practical, and gypsum applications.

Rainfall brings its own unpredictability. Welker described annual totals ranging from approximately three inches to nearly 13 inches during his years at Diamante. Before one tournament, storm runoff through the arroyos damaged the collar of the fifth green, requiring repairs and adjustments to the surrounding drainage corridor roughly a month before the event.

“Mother Nature wins every year,” he said.

Preparation That Shows

Tournament readiness begins well before the final mowing passes. After a short breather following the championship, Welker’s team typically starts preparing again early in the new year. Smaller projects and irrigation adjustments come first, followed by wall-to-wall core aerification in late spring and ongoing verticutting and topdressing to manage organic matter.

Closing about a month before the tournament gives the team room to clean bunkers, refine areas around tees and greens, and complete finishing work that is harder to accomplish during regular play.

Platinum TE’s deep green color and defined mowing patterns contribute to the finished presentation. “With Platinum TE, the striping is a lot cleaner, a lot nicer,” Welker said, noting the value of that appearance during televised events.

Feedback has reinforced his confidence in the putting surfaces. Although most player comments reach him through Diamante’s owner, director of golf, and the TOUR agronomist, Welker recalled particularly encouraging reports after a recent championship: players described the greens as the best paspalum greens they had played.

For Welker, the appeal extends beyond tournament week. He appreciates the fine leaf texture, rich color, and overall presentation that Platinum TE brings to El Cardonal, along with its suitability for a course where sodium in irrigation water is a concern.

At a course designed to give golfers choices, Welker has a clear preference. Asked whether he would select Platinum TE for a course if he were building, his answer was straightforward: “Yes.” From everyday resort rounds to PGA TOUR competition, his experience at El Cardonal gives that answer substance.