The Honda Classic
PGA National Course, FL
Thursday Feb 25th - Sunday Feb 28th, 2016
by David Barwise
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| Photo: www.pga.com |
Say goodbye to California. Say goodbye to the luscious Poa
annua greens. Say goodbye to the glamourous Tinseltown setup. And say hello to the
blustery bothersome Honda Classic in Florida.
There’s no denying that the PGA National Course is an
excellent location. The event was pretty much boycotted by the majority of big
names on tour up until it relocated here to Palm Beach Gardens (and stayed here) and the quality of the
course, coupled with ever-rising winners pot, was naturally a big factor in
roping some of the bigger names over for the first East Coast event of the
year.
However difficult windy conditions and the notorious “Bear
Trap” (the infamous stretch of holes 15, 16 and 17) make this one of the most
difficult courses on tour. Winners in the past haven’t really been household
names, rather they have been form-players and European Tour wind specialists.
Branden Grace and Rickie Fowler, who have already picked up wins on the other
side of the Atlantic, will be in attendance – ones to watch if we put this
theory to the test.
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| Photo: progolfnow.com |
Naturally the heavy favourite for this week is the reigning
European Golfer of the Year, Rory McIlroy. For most of the Northern Trust Open,
he was well in contention with only his final round letting him down.
Undeniably his game is strong right now and, as former winner here, we expect
to see him challenging (or running away with it) late on Sunday.
Another couple of golfers to keep an eye on are reigning
champ Padraig Harrington and last year’s runner up Daniel Berger. Of the two,
Harrington comes into this week in better shape (T21, T45 in his last two
events stacked against Berger’s T58, CUT) and it’ll be interesting to see if he
can pull himself out of the mire that has been his last few seasons. He
currently sits 130th in the World Golf Rankings and this week will
be essential in mounting his charge back into the top 100 once again.
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| Photo: golfweek.com |
It would be easy to ignore Daniel Berger’s chances as he has
missed 2 cuts in his 4 events this year. But this is exactly the place for the
Rookie of the Year to jumpstart his 2016. Not only was he solid here last year,
but he is also a Florida native with the PGA National as his home course.
Of course there are plenty of big names here this week, but
that will only be part of the story. Traditionally, the Honda Classic has a
slightly weaker field and many has-beens and up-and-comers will be targeting
this week as a springboard to the rest of their seasons; the Harrington/Berger
clash is a good example of this. As exciting as it would be to see a McIlroy or
a Fowler lift the trophy on Sunday, I’d love so much more for it to be the next McIlroy or Fowler or a golden
“oldie” throwing his hat back into the ring.
I’m looking at your Matthew Fitzpatrick/Luke Donald…
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