Find love in the Honda Classic
The Honda Classic begins today in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on the PGA National Resort Champion Course. Unsurprisingly, at odds of 4-1, the field is the favorite with Jim Furyk right behind at odds of 6-1. Luke Donald captured the Honda Classic title last season, but I don’t see a repeat this season. , as the Champion Course at PGA National appears to be an ugly half-sister compared to the Sunrise Course at Mirasol, where the event was held last season. The oddsmakers are showing Donald some respect at odds of 16 to 1, but that’s it, as the odds on him are slim to none in my opinion.
With Tiger out of the picture, the former winners of this event will be hungry for top prize money of $990,000. Joining Donald as past winners are Todd Hamilton, Justin Leonard, Matt Kuchar, Jesper Parnevik, Dudley Hart, Mark Calcavecchia, Tim Herron, Corey Pavin, Joey Sindelar and Padraig Harrington. Mark Calcavecchia is even a two-time winner of this event, but none of the above courses really interest me here. I think we should be looking at the top 25 golfers in the world at this event as they are the ones playing the best golf right now and will have the best chance of making it after a sub-par round this course is sure to cause. . The seven top 25 golfers for this event are Padraig Harrington, Nich O’Hern, Davis Love III, David Toms, Chris DiMarco, Luke Donald and of course Jim Furyk.
The facelift that Jack Nicklaus gave this course is sure to cause some wrinkles on the course this week. If we stepped out of the story, we might be looking at former two-time winner Mark Calcavecchia, but this is really a new event with the turnaround. With the golf Furyk is playing, we think he’ll finish near the top. With Tiger out of the event, he is likely to be the favourite, but I think this really hurts him here. When Tiger is playing, he takes some of the pressure off the other golfers because he’s the one with the target on his back. Now that Furyk has the target, I’m not convinced he can carry the charge. With the first round underway, of the favorites, Harrington and Furyk are off to a fast start with two under and one under respectively. But the guy you need to keep a close eye on is Davis Love III. We’re talking about a guy with one of the best golden swings in the game and he already has two top five finishes in 2007. I think his consistent swing and great iron play put him at the top of the league table. at the end of the day. Davis Love III is showing great value at odds of 23-1 for this event and if he’s his man, he should feel pretty good about his chances.
