2021 Honda Classic: Tournament preview and picks
Joaquin Niemann +2000
Niemann had a nice ending to last week on his way to a 29th place finish, this coming after a rather flat start when he shot even PAR across his opening two rounds of play, though that is something that can be expected with young players as they familiarise themselves with the tricky TPC Sawgrass.
Joaquin leads the field in strokes gained tee to green over his past twenty rounds and while he has yet to have much success in previous visits to PGA National he has shown a tendency to play difficult courses really well while also having done well at other Jack Nicklaus designs.
The 22-year-old Niemann was 17th at Sherwood Country Club for the ZOZO last year and he also has a 6th and 27th place finish to his name at Jack’s Muirfield Village as well. Joaquin has made every cut so far in 2021 also, this includes back-to-back runner-up finishes at both Hawaii events to start the new year.
Brendan Steele +4500 stands out in the Mid-Tier range this week. Steele has been solid thus far in 2021 having made the cut in each of his starts so far, the best coming with an 18th place finish at Bay Hill two weeks ago. The American finished 4th at the Honda Classic last year and he also was 14th here in 2017.
Brendan ranks inside the top ten in strokes gained tee to green over his past twenty rounds and like Niemann has had some success at Muirfield Village before as well including a 13th place finish at the Memorial last year.
Both MacKenzie Hughes +7000 and Alex Noren +7000 are worth backing this week. Hughes was battling to come back to the cut line last week and for a bit, it looked like he may have pulled it off after going three-under across his first nine holes on Friday, but his hopes were vanquished with not one, but two double bogeys coming on the back nine, the last coming on the iconic 17th when he rinsed his tee shot.
So why go back to MacKenzie?, well for starters he was runner-up at the Honda Classic last year to Sungjae when he came into that event after missing five consecutive cuts. He has been in much better form this year and before last week he had gained in two consecutive starts with his approach game, something that he does not normally do.
The Canadian has also excelled at Jack Nicklaus courses as well, this includes a 6th place finish under difficult conditions at the Memorial tournament last year. Hughes also played well at the BMW Championship last year on another difficult course where he finished top 10, providing further evidence that he likes playing difficult tracks.
Alex Noren has had some decent results in 2021 so far, most recently when he finished 12th at the Genesis Invitational. The Swede finished 3rd at the Honda Classic back in 2018 and also was 17th at last year’s ZOZO Championship.
I’ll finish things up with another Canadian in Nick Taylor +10000 who was 30th in his lone start at the Honda Classic back in 2019. It has been an up and down start to 2021 for Taylor who’s best finish came back at the Sony Open in Hawaii where he finished 11th. Nick had a 20th place finish at the Genesis last month and he made the cut last week while gaining a significant amount of strokes with his irons, indicating that he may be rounding into some form again. I’ll be looking to play these three in the top 10 and 20 markets as well.
The Honda Classic Card
Joaquin Niemann +2000
Brendan Steele +4500
MacKenzie Hughes +7000 ( +top 10, top 20)
Alex Noren +7000 (+top 10, top 20)
Nick Taylor +1000 (+top 10, top 20)