PGA Tour moves to Florida for Honda
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 The Honda Classic | Preview | 03 Mar 2009
The PGA Tour moves east to southern Florida for this week’s Honda Classic at the Champions Course at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens.
The original Fazio family designed but Jack Nicklaus redesigned layout will test a field that includes only two players from inside the top ten in the world, Sergio Garcia and Camilo Villegas.
While he is not inside the world top ten at present, defending champion, Ernie Els, is sure to be a contender. Els’s win last year came after a four year victory drought on the PGA Tour and having reached the quarter finals last week in Arizona he stands a good chance of successfully defending his title.
Garcia has played this event just the once finishing 43rd last year but prior to his first round loss last week he was playing well enough to be a serious factor this week. He is after all the world number two and as such should be a chance.
Villegas finished runner up in this event in 2007 and played much of his amateur and collegiate golf in this region. He missed the cut at the Johnnie Walker Classic but played well at the Accenture last week and at the Buick before heading to Australia.
Luke Donald is a player who must be considered provided he starts. Donald was forced to withdraw from his third round match against Els last week at the Accenture although subsequent tests appear to have given him the all clear. He finished runner up to Ernie Els last year and in 2006 won this event and his form prior to last week was encouraging.
Last week’s Mayakoba Classic winner Mark Wilson was perhaps a surprise winner of this event in 2007 but in the form he now enjoys and with the win in this event as further evidence of his credentials he could again do well. His win in 2007 was his first on the PGA Tour and came despite a two shot penalty he called on himself when his caddy offered information to Camilo Villegas. Wilson’s victory last week in Mexico came after a poor run in recent weeks but he is clearly now in the right frame of mind to do well.
It would not surprise this writer to see Andres Romero have a big week this week. He lost in the first round last week at the Accenture but prior to that he finished third at Riviera and this might be the sort of layout on which he could do well.
The Australian challenge is perhaps headed by Robert Allenby who has regularly played well in this event. Allenby has finished 4th and 5th in his last two times in the tournament and is playing well enough to produce another good week.
Stuart Appleby is a previous winner but that was at a time when the event was played elsewhere. Appleby has not played the tournament since 2002 and it seems his game is not as sharp as it needs to be to do well this week.
Nathan Green finished third in this event last year but after a horror weekend last week in Mexico it seems unlikely that he could produce a similar result this week.
Peter Lonard, Marc Leishman, James Nitties, Aron Price, Jarrod Lyle, Greg Chalmers, Nick O’Hern, John Senden and Steve Elkington make up the balance of the Australians while Tim Wilkinson carries the New Zealand flag.
