The Honda Classic
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
PGA National (Champion) – Par 70 – 7,125 yards
Field – 144 entrants
Purse – $7M
The Preview
Wedged between the PLAYERS Championship and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play only a few weeks before the Masters, this year’s Honda Classic serves as an underwhelming finale to the Florida Swing with zero attendees located higher than 18th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Nonetheless, those who appreciate carnage on the course could be in for a treat as high winds are forecasted at a PGA National venue that ceded overall scores in red numbers to only 16 entrants last season. Holes 15-17 are sure to play over par as the infamous Bear Trap lures dozens of golf balls into the drink each year. Driving distances measure just over 10 yards less here than the average PGA Tour stop, but the field’s best ball-strikers will still have the advantage with such deflated GIR rates on this second-shot layout.
Recent Champions
2020 – Sungjae Im
2019 – Keith Mitchell
2018 – Justin Thomas
2017 – Rickie Fowler
2016 – Adam Scott
2015 – Padraig Harrington
2014 – Russell Henley
2013 – Michael Thompson
2012 – Rory McIlroy
2011 – Rory Sabbatini
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Bogey Avoidance
Scrambling
SG: Putting (Bermuda)
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Sungjae Im – $46
The defending champion earns the title of betting favorite as well, following the WD from World No. 15 Daniel Berger who will miss the Honda Classic with a rib injury. Im secured his maiden PGA Tour victory here last year at just six-under-par, though he also tied for the tournament lead with 19 birdies while ranking T2 in GIR percentage. Im is now looking to add his 10th consecutive cut made, a streak that extends back to the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship in December. He paces this week’s field in both SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Putting over his past 24 rounds.
Joaquin Niemann – $42
Niemann hasn’t lost strokes from tee to green in any of his starts since the U.S. Open in September, residing behind only Keegan Bradley in SG: T2G over their last 36 rounds. The 22-year-old Chilean even made strides with the flat stick at TPC Sawgrass last week, picking up 3.3 strokes on the putting surfaces en route to a top-30.
Glue Guys
Chris Kirk – $33
Kirk hasn’t hit the brakes since securing full status on the last leg of his Major Medical Extension in January, racking up a T16 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and a T8 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before playing the first 54 holes of his PLAYERS Championship in stellar fashion. A closing triple bogey on the par-4 18th at TPC Sawgrass caused him to fall into a tie for 48th, but he still gained 5.9 strokes from tee to green for the week. He’s 35th or better in SG: T2G, SG: Approach, SG: Around-the-Green and proximity from 50-125 yards this season.
Shane Lowry – $30
Coming off a solo-8th finish at THE PLAYERS Championship, the former Open champion shouldn’t be bothered by a hefty breeze in Palm Beach Gardens. Lowry, who gained 7.5 strokes from tee to green last week at TPC Sawgrass, grades very favorably in both difficult and windy conditions. He also hasn’t lost strokes off the tee since the Wyndham Championship in August.
Bargain Bin
Talor Gooch – $29
Gooch has finished top-40 in each of the past two editions of the Honda Classic, and he’s now coming off a top-5 performance at the PLAYERS Championship where he gained 6.8 strokes on his approach shots. The short game didn’t trail far behind, either, ranking 14th in SG: Putting and eighth in SG: Around-the-Green to combat lousy accuracy off the tee throughout the weekend. Gooch has rebounded nicely from a missed cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a run of T12-T43-T5 results, ascending to a career-best 64th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Doug Ghim – $20
It’s a no-brainer to target Ghim at the minimum salary on Yahoo, given the cost to include him in your lineup hasn’t caught up to his overall market value as he resides just inside of the top-15 in terms of betting odds among those still in the field at PGA National. Ghim missed the cut by a mile during his Honda Classic debut last season, which could help keep the casual gamer from inflating his rostership percentages. From the more important recent form perspective, Ghim has placed T37 or better in five of six starts dating to his T5 at the American Express in January while finishing on the positive side of SG: Approach at every event during this stretch.