PGA Tour Brunch: 1st Look Honda Classic
@PGATourBrunch Previews the 2021 Honda Classic at PGA National ☘️
First Look at The Honda Classic - ☘️
The Honda Classic was once one of the biggest draws for top players readying for The Masters. In the current schedule, it falls between The PLAYERS and the World Golf Championship - Dell Technology Match Play tournaments.
Daniel Berger is the highest-ranked player at No. 15. … Berger skipped the Pro-Am but plans to compete Thursday, according to the Palm Beach Post. Brooks Koepka was scheduled to play until injuring his right knee. The only Koepka in the field is his younger brother, Chase, who received a sponsor exemption.
Five former No. 1 players in the world are competing at the Honda Classic, including: Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Vijay Singh. … Both Ryder Cup captains, Steve Stricker (USA) and Padraig Harrington (Europe), are playing this event on the PGA Tour’s “Florida Swing.”
Westwood - a disappointing second place finisher at The PLAYERS last weekend, following his efforts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, is the first player to be the runner-up in consecutive weeks since Webb Simpson at the Wyndham Championship and The Northern Trust in August 2019.
The Tournament Tee Times begin on Thursday at an early 7:25am (EDT/local) through 2:21pm (EDT/local). (link)
Weather for Thursday: Partly Cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. Temperatures expected to be 71-85 degrees with winds S/SW at 15-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Friday weather calls for a chance of Showers and T-Storms, 50% chance of rain but winds 12-18 mph with gusts to 25 mph. Similar forecast for the weekend, with showers and windy conditions.
PGATourBrunch will be serving an early “BRUNCH” and posting at 7am EDT Thursday-Friday and 8:00am EDT Saturday-Sunday.
Next Week: World Golf Championship - Dell Technologies Match Play and the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club in Dominican Republic.
Field Updates:
Brian Harman OUT / Joseph Bramlett IN
Sam Burns OUT / J.J. Spaun IN
Gary Woodland OUT / Sebastian Cappelen IN
Scott Piercy OUT / D.J. Trahan IN
Doc Redman OUT - Kiradech Aphibarnrat IN
The Field (link)
Featured Groups:
THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: The Honda Classic
COURSE: PGA National (Champion), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
ARCHITECTS: Tom Fazio
YARDS/PAR: 7,125 yards/Par 70
PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $7,000,000/$1,260,000
DEFENDING Champion: Sungjae Im - (Leaderboard link)
PAST RESULTS: (link)
PAST CHAMPIONS of Event: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points Available/Winner Share: 2,989/500
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedEXCup @TheHondaClassic
TV COVERAGE: Thursday, March 18 and Friday, March 19: 2:00pm to 6:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel. Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14 - Early coverage on Golf Channel from 1:00pm to 3:00pm and the switch at 3:00pm to 6:00pm (ET) to NBC.
STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups on Thursday and Friday from 7:30am to 6:00pm (EDT); and on Saturday and Sunday from (7:15am-3:00pm EDT), PGA Tour Live will stream Featured Holes on Saturday and Sunday from (3:00pm to 6:00pm EDT).
PGA Tour is also offering its “Twitter” feed on Thursday and Friday from 7:30am to 8:35am EDT and on Saturday and Sunday from 7:15am to 8:30am (EDT).
PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Thursday, March 18 - Friday, March 19 - 12:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT); then Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21: (1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT)) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.
TOURNAMENT SITE (link) and Honda’s site (link)
Odds & Predictions:
A L👀K at the O👀S and A PREDICTION OR TWO:
The Honda Classic - odds (via William Hill)
Daniel Berger 11-1
Sungjae Im 14-1
Joaquin Niemann 20-1
Lee Westwood 22-1
Adam Scott 25-1
Talor Gooch 28-1
Shane Lowry 28-1
Russell Henley 28-1
Chris Kirk 35-1
Brendan Steele 40-1
Cameron Tringale 40-1
Cameron Davis 40-1
Rickie Fowler 45-1
Keegan Bradley 45-1
Martin Kaymer 45-1
Dylan Frittelli 50-1
Doug Ghim 50-1
Wyndham Clark 55-1
Byeong Hun An 55-1
Matt Wallace 55-1
Alex Noren 55-1
Ian Poulter 60-1
J.T. Poston 60-1
Brandon Wu 60-1
MacKenzie Hughes 60-1
Erik Van Rooyen 66-1
Russell Knox 66-1
Aaron Wise 70-1
Matt Jones 70-1
Adam Hadwin 70-1
Michael Thompson 70-1
Jhonattan Vegas 70-1
Kevin Streelman 70-1
Patton Kizzire 80-1
James Hahn 80-1
Luke List 80-1
Harold Varner 80-1
Ryan Moore 80-1
Keith Mitchell 80-1
Rory Sabbatini 80-1
Will Gordon 80-1
Zach Johnson 80-1
Chez Reavie 80-1
Richy Werenski 80-1
Phil Mickelson 80-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 80-1
Henrik Norlander 90-1
Lucas Glover 90-1
Maverick McNealy 100-1
Nick Taylor 100-1
Lucas Herbert 100-1
Matthew NeSmith 100-1
Adam Long 100-1
Mark Hubbard 100-1
Tom Hoge 100-1
Rafa Cabrera Bello 100-1
TL’s Wedge for an Edge: For the weekly PGA Tour Fantasy Game, my starting foursome will be: Lee Westwood, Jungjae Im, Talor Gooch and Joaquin Niemann. Back-ups on the bench for The Honda Classic are: Shane Lowry and Cameron Davis.
For PGA Tour One and Done? I’ll be going with Niemann.
If you used Niemann, don’t hesitate to try Westwood, Lowry or take a shot with Russell Henley.
I’m shading Berger with the back pain issue.
Quick Look/Key Information:
Last Week’s Final Leaderboard from The PLAYERS Championship (link)
2020 Honda Classic Results (Sungjae Im was Champion) - (link)
Past Winners and Runners-Up at The Honda Classic (link)
What They’re Saying:
The Honda Classic “First Look” (PGATourCom)
Players Withdraw from The Honda with COVID-19+ (CBS Sports HQ)
Power Rankings Heading into The Honda Classic (PGATourCom)
Horses for the Course (RotoBall)
Berger Plans to Tee-it-Up Thursday (Palm Beach Post)
#SportsBiz, Sporting Gambling and Golf Industry News
CBS Sports Odds and Predictions (CBS Sports HQ)
Expert Picks (PGATourCom)
Sleeper Picks (PGATourCom)
Tiger Woods Returns Home for Recovery from Accident (ESPN)
Tiger to Make Video Game (ESPN)
On This Day in Golf History:
March 17, 1963 - Raymond Floyd won his first PGA Tour title at the St. Petersburg Open Invitational at the age of 20 years, six months to become the youngest player to win a PGA Tour title since 1928. Floyd went on to win 28 PGA Tour titles, including The Masters in 1976, the U.S. Open in 1986 and the PGA Championship in 1969 and 1982. (Courtesy of Randy Walker), Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️
Parting Putt:
PGA Tour Brunch is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Pivottv Media
