Tournament Preview - The Honda Classic

Tournament Preview - The Honda Classic

The West Coast swing is over and to the East Coast we go! PGA National Resort hosts this week in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. The field certainly doesn't have the big names we saw the last two weeks, since most of those top players are taking this week off. Just gives a non-Rahm, Homa, or McIlroy player a chance at the $1.512m winner's check!

Now that it's been a week since Full Swing was released, my thoughts are below (skip if you don't care to know):

The series was definitely interesting following the guys, but I agree with some of the criticism, like too many sit down interviews and not enough candidness, not really highlighting any of the grind, and there needed to be more drama, especially around the players going to LIV. Most dramatic PGA Tour season yet, and the show seemed to be lacking drama. Maybe next season?

1. JT and Jordan's friendship is cool but always flying on a PJ is cooler. AND, a PJ that is no doubt paid for via sponsorships so it's essentially free is Miles Davis cool.

2. Brooks is an absolute head case. Dude was on top of the world for 3 years and now just doesn't have it. Honestly, his episode was sad to me, and I don't blame him for taking the money with LIV.

3. I'm legitimately surprised Ian Poulter gave up his Ryder Cup Captain chances to join LIV, but as they say, money talks.

4. Joel Dahmen is the man, plain and simple. He moved up in my favorite golfer ranks. His story is so tough about his mom and his own cancers, and so he lives with purpose everyday. Mad respect.

5. Dustin Johnson was pretty tame, but as we all know, that is just his personality. I saw a good tweet about how PGA Tour fans aren't that mad at DJ for leaving since he hasn't been a dick about it.

6. Tony Finau is just a good dude. His family is awesome. I don't believe the narrative that his family holds him back from winning more. Collin is a machine and should win a ton.

7. Sahith Theegala seems like a good kid. Works hard and should have a bright future. It would've been life changing if he won the WM Phoenix Open. Hopefully, he has more chances in the near future. For Mito Pereira, I want to know more why he stopped playing golf for awhile but that wasn't addressed. Oh well.

8. Rory has a lot of pressure on himself, not only for the PGA Tour but for golf in general, as he describes. We'll see if he can get it done in this year's major season since the drought is brutal for someone of his quality.

Weather

Palm Beach Gardens, FL should be very Florida this week. Sun, random thunderstorms, and mid-60s to mid-80s.

The tournament socials can be found here for Twitter, Instagram, and their own website.

ESPN Plus starting at 6:45am ESTGolf Channel starting at 2:00pm EST

The full field was announced this weekend and can be found here. 144 players but the big names are taking this week off. Probably resting and relaxing until the Players and Arnold Palmer Invitational upcoming. Tee times start at 6:50am EST.

• Previous Winners in this week's field:

  • Sepp Straka - 2022

  • Sungjae Im - 2020

  • Padraig Harrington - 2015

• Notable previous winners absent:

  • Matt Jones - 2021

  • Keith Mitchell - 2019

  • Justin Thomas - 2018

  • Rickie Fowler - 2017

  • Adam Scott - 2016

Betting Odds provided by Bovada.lv at this link (not sponsored)Some notable players to consider:

• Sepp Straka - +5000 - last year's winner

• Sungjae Im - +1000 - pre-tourney favorite

• Bill Horschel - +2200 - world No. 19, highest ranked in the field

• PGA National Resort and Spa is a public resort we all can play! Typically, you would need to book a stay and play package to play.

• Tom Fazio designed PGA National Champion course. There are five total courses on property.

• Golf rates range around $300-$450, but you would have to stay at the resort, which can range from $250+ a night and most rates are around $650 per night. Some of the other courses may be cheaper.

News and Notes

• LIV will be shown on a tape delay from 1-6pm EST on the CW. They clearly don't know how terrible it is during the Olympics when you already know who won from social media so you don't watch it on TV, but they didn't ask me (twitter)

• Twins are playing the same PGA Tour event for the first time this week (twitter)

• LIV players are being dropped by their apparel sponsors (twitter)

• The R&A removed the exemption for previous year's President's Cup and Ryder Cup members (twitter)

• A new mixed-team event will debut this year with a partnership between LPGA and PGA Tours (twitter)

• Not sure if this is satire or not but SI aka Sports Illustrated released their own "best golfer in the world" rankings and criteria (article)

• Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington headline the 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame finalists (article)

Twitter Roundup

May your rounds be filled with #oneputts.