Fleetwood Favored To Win The 2020 Honda Classic

After a visit to Mexico, the golfers now make a swing through Florida for the Honda Classic. Played at PGA National, this is one of the most challenging courses on the PGA Tour’s calendar. As a matter of fact, most experts view this as tough as any of the four majors.

When you’re looking at the field this week, the key will be to find players who are either good at avoiding a mess (hitting fairways and greens in regulation) or golfers who are good at getting out of messes. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the tournament and see where there’s some value on the board.

EVENT DETAILS

EVENT: HONDA CLASSIC
CATEGORY: PGA
DATE: FEBRUARY 27 – MARCH 1, 2020
LOCATION: PGA NATIONAL – FLORIDA

PAST FIVE WINNERS

2019: KEITH MITCHELL
2018: JUSTIN THOMAS
2017: RICKIE FOWLER
2016: ADAM SCOTT
2015: PADRAIG HARRINGTON

This week’s field will have about 140 players competing for the win. Tommy Fleetwood is the current favorite at +1100 but there are some big names right behind him. Brooks Koepka is at +1200 and Rickie Fowler – a former Honda Classic winner – is at +1400.

Overall, though, many of the biggest names will not be in the field as we won’t see Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods or Dustin Johnson. Keith Mitchell won as a complete long shot last year, so that gives the indication that anything can happen here.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE COURSE

This is one of the most difficult courses on the PGA Tour, so don’t expect any player to rack up a great score here. As a matter of fact, by many metrics, this is the toughest of the non-major courses on the calendar. This won’t be a walk in the park for anyone.

The course is famously known for the Bear Trap, which is holes 15, 16 and 17. Each one of those holes played over par last year and the players that avoid the mess here will likely do best on the leaderboard. But that’s really the theme of the week as this entire course is littered with bunkers and water hazards. The players that will do best here are the ones who can stay on track with Greens-In-Regulation, Bogey Avoidance and Scrambling.

PROP TO BET: BYEONG-HUN AN FOR TOP 10

One golfer worth eyeing this week is Byeong-Hun An. He’s somewhat in that range of what we’re looking for with Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green. Taking a look at his last 50 rounds, he actually leads in Strokes Gained: Around-The-Green and is 23rd in Strokes Gained: Approach. He placed 29th last week but was 14th or better – with three Top 10’s – in his previous five PGA Tour appearances.

He’s at +3300 to win outright but I like him at +350 to finish in the Top 10.

FIVE TRENDS WORTH NOTING FOR THE HONDA CLASSIC

–Taking a look at recent history, all but three of the last 11 winners ranked inside the Top 60 on the PGA Tour for Adjusted Scoring Average. Nine of the last 11 were in the Top 60 for Tee-To-Green.

–Only three holes on PGA National have birdie rates above 20%.

–Americans have won this event in three straight years and five of the last seven

–Seven of the previous nine winners had placed 13th or better in the prior year

–Each of the last three winners were 12th or better with Driving Distance

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