2021 Honda Classic: Tournament preview and picks
This week’s 2021 Honda Classic welcomes a significantly weaker field one week after THE PLAYERS.
The 2021 PLAYERS Championship is now a thing of the past and all focus will now be upon the first official major of the new year and the upcoming 85th playing of the Masters early next month, with that being said many of golf’s biggest names have elected to take this week off before next week’s second World Golf Championship event of the year, much to the chagrin of this week’s Honda Classic.
Much like the Arnold Palmer Invitational a couple of weeks ago, The Honda Classic has been severely impacted by its new place on the PGA calendar in between the PLAYERS last week and next week’s second WGC event of the year. The 144 man field will make the trip to Palm Beach Gardens and PGA National devoid of many in the top half of the Official World Golf Ranking with only Daniel Berger, Sungjae Im, and Lee Westwood taking part from those ranked inside of the top 20 in the rankings.
Last week’s PLAYERS certainly lived up to the hype and it was another dramatic Sunday finish that left Lee Westwood one place
short of the prize for the second week in a row, instead, it was Justin Thomas who followed a superb Saturday with a composed Sunday that reflected the type of player he is when playing at his best. Thomas went on to win his first PLAYERS Championship and in doing so delivered us our first outright winner of 2021 at one of the biggest events of the year.
The Honda Classic at PGA National
Traditionally ranked as one of the most difficult course’s the PGA visits each year, PGA National (Champion) though not long in length test’s the resolve of every golfer year after year. The 7,125 yard PAR 70 test was originally designed by Tom and George Fazio before being re-designed by Jack Nicklaus in 2014.
It is considered to be home to one of the most difficult three-hole stretches in all of golf known as “The Bear Trap” a collection of holes that features the challenging PAR 3 15th, PAR 4 16th, and PAR 3 17th. Water comes into play on fifteen of the eighteen holes and if that wasn’t challenging enough the course also includes a ton of bunkers that are waiting to punish any errant shots. The wind is also a major factor at this event year after year and early forecasts for this week suggest more of the same is in store this time around.
The Champion course at PGA National does an excellent job of testing every aspect of a player’s game with a premium being placed on accuracy from both off the tee and approach play. The Honda Classic has seen a winning score in double digits just twice over the last ten years further highlighting the challenge that awaits the field this week.
Past Winners at The Honda Classic
2020: Sunjae Im (-6)
2019: Keith Mitchell (-9)
2018: Justin Thomas (-8)
2017: Rickie Fowler (-12)
2016: Adam Scott (-9)
Several early withdrawals and a significantly weakened field have already led to a number of changes in the outright market this week at The Honda Classic.