Honda Classic field includes three Majors winnings from last season, including world No. 2 and Palm Beach County native, Brooks Koepka
Keith Mitchell was standing on the 15th green during the final round of last year’s Honda Classic when the nerves set in.
Mitchell knew he was close to winning his first PGA Tour event, but when he was looking at a 5-foot putt to give him the outright lead, it became reality.
“In golf you have time to think about what’s going on before you actually do it,” Mitchell recently said. “So that walk from 15 tee to 15 green when I got a 5-footer straight up the hill and all I’m trying to do is focus on just making the putt, which was probably the easiest putt I had all day, and just to calm your nerves to make that putt.”
Mitchell made that putt and an even bigger one on 18, a 15-footer for birdie that clinched the title by one stroke over two of the game’s biggest names, Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler.
“Playing on tour is so difficult because you’re playing against 140 to 150 guys every week and when you win … how fun it is, how exciting,” Mitchell said. “Really, the opportunities make you want to win more and more and more. But you forget how hard it was to get there in the first place.”
Mitchell, 28, now gets that chance to add to his lone Tour victory this week at PGA National. While Mitchell was able to hold off two of the best players in the world a year ago, he will have to face down a more formidable field in 2020 if he’s going to join Jack Nicklaus as the only back-to-back champions in the in the tournament’s 48-year history. Nicklaus won in 1977-78 when it was called the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic.
Stuck in the middle of a stretch that includes Tiger Woods’ Genesis Invitational and WGC-Mexico City the two weeks prior and the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship the following two weeks, Honda took a hit a year ago with just three of the top 20 players in the world.
But that field is stronger this year with six of the top 20 – No. 2 Koepka of Jupiter, No. 11 Tommy Fleetwood, No. 12 Justin Rose, No. 17 Louis Oosthuizen, No. 18 Shane Lowry and No. 19 Gary Woodland of Delray Beach. Fowler, ranked 26th, also returns.
“We’ve doubled the top 20s in the field,” Honda executive director Ken Kennerly said. “The field is stronger this year. The schedule is the schedule, that’s always going to be the issue for us.”
The disappointment for the fans is five of the top 10 golfers in the world who have homes a short distance from the course are skipping the tournament: No. 1 Rory McIlroy (Jupiter), No. 4 Justin Thomas (Jupiter), No. 5 Dustin Johnson (Palm Beach Gardens), No. 7 Patrick Cantlay (North Palm Beach) and No. 9 Tiger Woods (Jupiter Island). The schedule is the primary reason although Cantlay is taking off time for a medical procedure.
“Schedules dictate where these guys play,” Kennerly said. “The good news from our perspective is every player I’ve talked to loves the Honda Classic, loves PGA National and the only reason why they chose to skip it is they’re lining themselves up for the Masters, they’re lining themselves up for The Players Championship and they’re coming off the Tiger Woods Invitational and Mexico.”
Still, the highlight this year is having three of the four Majors’ winners from a year ago, Koepka (PGA Championship), Woodland (U.S. Open) and Lowry (British Open).
Kennerly is trying to get all three to bring along their trophies for a photo op.
Koepka, who was raised in Wellington, has won four majors: the PGA Championship and U.S. Open twice each. He was ranked No. 1 in the world when he committed but since has been surpassed by McIlroy. He is seeking his first victory at his hometown tournament. Koepka made a charge last year with the second-lowest final-day round of 66 but fell one shot shy of winning his first Honda.
“I think Brooks has a little unfinished business,” Kennerly said.
Koepka and Daniel Berger of Jupiter are the two homegrown golfers in the field. “I think it would be exciting for one of those guys to win,” Kennerly said.
Koepka’s 8-under last year was his best showing at PGA National. He has played Honda five times, missing the cut once. He is 7-over par in his 18 rounds.
Berger was second in 2015, losing in a playoff to Padraig Harrington. He has played Honda four times, missing the cut once, with a score of 4-over par for his 14 rounds.