What To Look For: 2020 Honda Classic

Patrick Reed won in Mexico City last week:



Reed won at 40/1 odds.  And WGC-Mexico is quickly becoming one of my favorite events on Tour as between the high altitude at the trickiness of the course with great crowds, it's making for a great event to watch every year.  Unfortunately, Reed was ranked 12th on my list of players in the field that could win at Golf de Chapultec.

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This week the Tour comes to south Florida for the Honda Classic.



The Honda Classic started as the Jackie Gleason tournament in 1972.  From 1972 to 2007 the Honda Classic changed venues from the Inverrary Club (excellent), to TPC Eagle Trace (now a dump) to Weston Hills and then CC Mirasol.  Due to those clubs being private at the time (Eagle Trace is open to the public) and the event drawing more fans they could never quite find the venue they wanted until PGA National came along.

The course is a Nicklaus design and it's always in fantastic shape.  It is difficult because it is long, often windy and often very soft which is an odd combination to see.

The course usually gets fair reviews from the players.  They like the fact that it's usually in pristine condition, but it's a lot of 'Florida Golf' with water coming in to play on a lot of holes and if the winds kick into action and your game isn't really top notch, it can make for an un-fun experience.

This is strictly a long iron play golf course.  The rest of the game, outside of performing poorly at them, will likely not play a large role which is very typical from a Nicklaus design.

The final critical hole of the event is the par-5 18th.

It plays to about 555 yards.  The key is for the player to hit a good drive about 290+ yards in the fairway.  And if the wind is cooperating (or not interfering), then to go for the green because it's reachable.  What's interesting is players are better off missing the fairway left, even if it ends up in the bunker, than they are missing right off the tee.

The green is much more difficult to hit wedge shots into than it looks and it's a difficult green to putt on.  Especially that Sunday center right location as that is one of the very toughest putting locations on the entire course.

Projected Winning Score: -9


3JACK'S FAVORITES

Brooks Koepka +1,000
Rickie Fowler +1,200
Tommy Fleetwood +2,000
Justin Rose +2,500
Victor Hovland +2,800
Sung-Jae Im +2,800
Shane Lowry +3,300


3JACK'S DARKHORSE PICKS

Joaquin Niemann +5,000
Harris English +6,000
Tom Hoge +12,500





3JACK