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PGA National hosts The Honda Classic for a 14th straight year to begin the PGA Tour’s annual Florida swing.
The 7,125-yard, par-70 venue has long been one of the most difficult courses on the Tour’s circuit.
Below, we make our fantasy golf picks for the 2020 Honda Classic at PGA National.
30. Tom Hoge
Hoge has a great approach game, and he’s good from the sand, which all golfers need to be at PGA National. He has missed two straight cuts at this event, but he finished fifth at the Farmers Insurance Open a month ago.
29. Matthew NeSmith
NeSmith has been steadily improving over his last three events leading to a T-6 finish in Puerto Rico last week. He has been solid in all areas and has been putting extremely well.
28. Ryan Palmer
Palmer tied for fourth last year after missing the cut in 2018. He plays well in the wind, and his best putting surface is the Bermuda grass featured at PGA National.
27. Vaughn Taylor
Taylor comes into 2020 with back-to-back T-59 finishes at PGA National. He scores low on these shorter courses and is another expert putter on Bermuda grass.
26. Ian Poulter
Poulter will play his first event in North America since the fall’s BMW Championship, where he was eliminated from the FedExCup Playoffs. He tied for third here in 2015 but missed the cut in 2018 and skipped last year’s event.
25. Keith Mitchell
The 2019 champion of the Honda Classic won the event after missing the cut in 2018. He hasn’t played since a T-32 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and he doesn’t have a top-10 finish since last season’s Wells Fargo Championship.
24. Matthew Wolff
Wolff is coming off back-to-back missed cuts for the first time in his young career. His putter was one of his biggest weaknesses in those events, but he’s been much better on Bermuda grass as a pro.
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23. Jim Furyk
Furyk remains one of the best ball strikers and approach artists in the game when playing these shorter courses where he’s not penalized for his lack of distance. He tied for ninth last year.
22. Lucas Glover
Glover has had a good three-year stretch at this event with a T-21 in 2017, T-17 in 2018 and a T-4 last year.
21. Rory Sabbatini
The 2011 champion has made the cut in three of his last five appearances at PGA National with two top-20 results in that time. He’s good on par 4s and he has been playing great around the greens.
20. Kyle Stanley
Stanley is one of the best in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and Par 4 Efficiency on holes ranging from 400-450 yards.
19. Brian Harman
Harman is a great ball striker who can go low with his scores at shorter venues. He has made the cut in six-straight events dating back to last year’s Houston Open.
18. Luke List
Typically long off the tee but struggles closer to the greens, List doesn’t seem like a great course fit, but he has had success at PGA National with a runner-up finish in 2018 and a T-10 in 2016. He missed the cut last year, but he has played well while making three straight cuts coming into this week.
17. Corey Conners
The expert ball striker also ranks among the field’s best in SG: Approach. He sat out last year’s tournament following a T-59 finish in 2018.
16. Emiliano Grillo
Grillo is coming off a T-3 finish at the Puerto Rico Open to snap a spell of three straight missed cuts. He leads the field in SG: Ball Striking and SG: Approach on courses shorter than 7,200 yards, according to my model at Fantasy National.
15. Byeong Hun An
An tied for fifth here in 2018 before a T-36 result last year. Putting was again his lone weakness in a 29th-place finish at the WGC-Mexico Championship last week.
14. Sungjae Im
Im finished just T-51 last year, but he enters the week in top form on par 4s and in scoring on short courses. Bermuda grass is his best putting surface.
13. Daniel Berger
Berger is among the best in the field in both Sand Saves Gained and Strokes Gained: Scrambling. He also plays well in the wind, and the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year is coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes.
12. Joaquin Niemann
Niemann scores low on short courses on the back of his ball-striking strength.
11. Erik Van Rooyen
Van Rooyen picked up a T-3 finish in the loaded WGC field last week in Mexico, as he hung around the leaderboard for the entire tournament. He’ll make his debut at this event and it comes at a great time.
10. Lee Westwood
No one has gained more strokes per round at PGA National than Westwood’s 1.93 over 24 career rounds. He’s little more than a month removed from his win at the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and he finished T-22 last week in Mexico.
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9. Viktor Hovland
Hovland rose to No. 22 in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings with his breakthrough win in Puerto Rico last week. While he struggles from the sand and can get into trouble with the water covering PGA National, his play from tee-to-green is nearly unrivaled right now.
8. Billy Horschel
Horschel missed the cut in two of his last five appearances at this event, but his other trips to PGA National resulted in finishes of T-8, T-4 and T-16. He tied for ninth in each of his last two events.
7. Shane Lowry
Lowry tied for 29th last week in his first North American appearance of the 2019-20 season. He’s a great sand player and one of the best in the field at scrambling.
6. Louis Oosthuizen
Another great sand player, Oosthuizen was lights out with the putter last week despite struggling desperately from tee-to-green and everywhere in between. He tied for 24th in 2018 and 21st in 2017.
5. Gary Woodland
Woodland has made four straight cuts at this event, including a co-runner-up finish in 2017.
4. Justin Rose
Rose hasn’t played the Honda Classic since missing the cut in 2015. He avoids trouble and can get out of it when he needs to. He trails only Westwood and Rickie Fowler in total strokes gained per round at PGA National.
3. Brooks Koepka
Koepka skipped out on Mexico following a T-43 finish at the Genesis Invitational. He tied for second here last year and is the best in the field at Birdies or Better Gained on courses shorter than 7,200 yards.
2. Rickie Fowler
Fowler, the 2017 champion, tied with Koepka last year following a missed cut in 2018. He also tied for sixth in 2016 and trails only Westwood in strokes gained at this event.
1. Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood’s lone appearance here was a fourth-place result in 2018. He tied for 18th in Mexico last week and is the betting favorite at BetMGM.
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