Some of the best golfers in the world will make the trip to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and the PGA National Resort and Spa for The Honda Classic this week. It will mark the first event on the PGA Tour’s annual Florida swing and there is a good chance we can expect more drama at this year’s event. The Honda Classic has been determined by a playoff in two of the last three years so perhaps we should expect more of the same with even the best really coming to understand the value of par this week.
Event Details
Event: The Honda Classic
Category: PGA
Date: February 23-26
Location: PGA National Resort and Spa, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
None of the previous four winners here have managed to break double-digits in terms of their final score below par, including last year’s winner Adam Scott, who finished at nine-under. Scott’s nine-under 271 marked the eighth time that the winning pace was single digits under par and there is a very good chance that trend continues this week.
Past Five Winners
2016: Adam Scott -9
2015: Padraig Harrington -6 (Playoff)
2014: Russell Henley -8 (Playoff)
2013: Michael Thompson -9
2012: Rory Mcilroy -12
What To Know About The Course
The heavily bunkered course at PGA National can be intimidating, including its infamous finishing stretch, which includes the three hole stretch at 15, 16 and 17 known as the Bear Trap. Neither Driving Distances or Driving Accuracy will be particularly important with Greens In Regulation once again the most important statistic to consider. Scott ranked No. 1 in that category when he won this event a year ago.
The Field
The defending champion Scott will enter this year’s tournament as the sports betting favorite to win The Honda Classic outright for the second year in a row at +1200 odds. However, he will have some tough competition with Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia and Russell Knox among the most likely to keep him from repeating here. The 2016 winner Padraig Harrington isn’t expected to be in the mix but could represent a strong value bet for anybody willing to take a chance on him at +12500 odds, while the 2015 winner Russell Henley is another long shot listed at +5000 odds.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Justin Thomas over Rickie Fowler
Fowler has played some pretty good golf at this tournament in past years but he continues to struggle with his overall consistency when it comes to putting tournaments away and that could be the case again this week at a difficult course. Meanwhile, Justin Thomas has stumbled since his Hawaiian dominance to open the calendar year but there is reason to believe he could bounce back in a big way this week. Thomas was the only golfer to connect four sub-70 rounds at the PGA National en route to a tied for third here last year and if he duplicates that performance he should be able to edge out Fowler in the head-to-head betting matchup at decent odds.
Top-Five Pick: Adam Scott
The betting favorite to win outright won back-to-back Singapore Opens in 2004 and 2005 and while he has never successfully defended a title since he should be in the mix this week. Scott arrives in Florida following a strong performance in California in which he finished 11th at the Genesis Open, which was his sixth straight top-15 finish dating back to October. Scott might not be able to win The Honda Classic for the second year in a row but he should at the very least be in the mix contending as a top-five pick.
Honda Classic Tee Times
6:45 a.m. — Rory Sabbatini, Ryan Blaum, Thomas Pieters
6:55 a.m. — Scott Stallings, John Huh, Tim Wilkinson
7:05 a.m. — Ken Duke, Cameron Tringale, Andrew Loupe
7:15 a.m. — Cody Gribble, Emiliano Grillo, Keegan Bradley
7:25 a.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, William McGirt, Retief Goosen
7:35 a.m. — Russell Knox, Jim Herman, Tyrrell Hatton
7:45 a.m. — Graeme McDowell, Robert Streb, Brian Gay
7:55 a.m. — Greg Chalmers, Branden Grace, Nick Watney
8:05 a.m. — John Senden, Michael Thompson, Ryo Ishikawa
8:15 a.m. — Mark Wilson, Patrick Rodgers, Freddie Jacobson
8:25 a.m. — Steve Marino, Shawn Stefani, Willy Wilcox
8:35 a.m. — Kelly Kraft, Brandon Hagy, Dominic Bozzelli
11:45 a.m. — Boo Weekley, Sung Kang, Matthew Fitzpatrick
11:55 a.m. — Camilo Villegas, Martin Flores, Chad Collins
12:05 p.m. — Morgan Hoffmann, Soren Kjeldsen, Michael Kim
12:15 p.m. — Si Woo Kim, J.J. Henry, David Lingmerth
12:25 p.m. — Smylie Kaufman, Ernie Els, Luke Donald
12:35 p.m. — Jimmy Walker, Brooks Koepka, Martin Kaymer
12:45 p.m. — Hudson Swafford, Daniel Berger, Rickie Fowler
12:55 p.m. — Ryan Palmer, John Peterson, Mark Hubbard
1:05 p.m. — Seung-yul Noh, David Hearn, Zac Blair
1:15 p.m. — Will MacKenzie, Daniel Summerhays, Anirban Lahiri
1:25 p.m. — Seamus Power, Ryan Brehm, Grayson Murray
1:35 p.m. — Richy Werenski, Trey Mullinax, Stephen Gangluff
No. 10
6:45 a.m. — Derek Fathauer, Harold Varner III, Ollie Schniederjans
6:55 a.m. — Francesco Molinari, Bud Cauley, Jamie Lovemark
7:05 a.m. — Ben Crane, Tyrone Van Aswegen, Whee Kim
7:15 a.m. — Fabian Gomez, Alex Cejka, Charles Howell III
7:25 a.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, Jason Dufner, Matt Every
7:35 a.m. — Sergio Garcia, Zach Johnson, Paul Casey
7:45 a.m. — Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Padraig Harrington
7:55 a.m. — Harris English, Louis Oosthuizen, Jeff Overton
8:05 a.m. — Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Spencer Levin
8:15 a.m. — Jonas Blixt, Cameron Percy, Wesley Bryan
8:25 a.m. — Lucas Glover, Graham DeLaet, Brett Stegmaier
8:35 a.m. — Ryan Armour, Steven Alker, Bryson DeChambeau
11:45 a.m. — Chad Campbell, Jon Curran, Rafa Cabrera Bello
11:55 a.m. — Sean O’Hair, Jason Bohn, Ricky Barnes
12:05 p.m. — Patton Kizzire, Luke List, Cheng-Tsung Pan
12:15 p.m. — Kevin Kisner, Steven Bowditch, Stewart Cink
12:25 p.m. — Billy Hurley III, Brian Stuard, Billy Horschel
12:35 p.m. — Peter Malnati, Danny Lee, Gary Woodland
12:45 p.m. — Brendan Steele, Danny Willett, Vaughn Taylor
12:55 p.m. — Scott Brown, Ian Poulter, Carl Pettersson
1:05 p.m. — Marc Leishman, Kyle Stanley, Kyle Reifers
1:15 p.m. — Johnson Wagner, Robert Garrigus, Blayne Barber
1:25 p.m. — J.J. Spaun, J.T. Poston, Alan Morin
1:35 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Brett Drewitt, Joey Garber
Click here to get all of the latest golf betting lines at BetDSI including head-to-head matchups, props and odds to win each tournament!
