Matthew NeSmith holed out at the par-3 fifth hole, playing 186 yards, at PGA National with his 5-iron.
Chalk up the first East Coast ace of the year on the PGA Tour. Matthew NeSmith, a 26-year-old South Carolina alum, earned that honor in the opening round of the Honda Classic. NeSmith holed out at the par-3 fifth hole, playing 186 yards, at PGA National with his 5-iron.
NeSmith’s hole-in-one came amid a colorful front-nine stretch. He had birdied the third hole before giving a shot back with a bogey at No. 4. He bookended the ace with another bogey then logged three more pars to close out the front nine at 1-under 34.
The Honda Classic represents NeSmith’s 13th start in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season. He missed the first three cuts of the season but logged his best finish, a T-6, at last week’s Puerto Rico Open. Last season, NeSmith won the Albertsons Boise Open on the Korn Ferry Tour and earned PGA Tour membership for this season by finishing No. 1 in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals 25.
After winning the Puerto Rico Open, his first PGA Tour event, Viktor Hovland is working toward joining the European Ryder Cup team.
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PALM BEACH GARDENS – Viktor Hovland had never played PGA National before Tuesday afternoon.
But the 22-year-old rookie has had a lot of firsts this week.
On Sunday, he won his first PGA Tour event, the Puerto Rico Open, to become the first Norwegian to win on Tour. The victory will allow him to play in his first PGA Championship this year.
Of course, he will compete in his first Honda Classic this week.
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Hovland said about being a champion. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s a pretty crazy ride.”
Hovland is one of the rising stars on Tour. Having turned pro last year, he has two top-10 finishes in seven starts this season and has risen to No. 60 in the world. While on his way to establishing himself on the Tour, he’s also eyeing a spot on the European Ryder Cup team. What better place to start to impress than Honda where team captain (and two-time Honda champion) Padraig Harrington is in the field.
“I’ve been looking at Ryder Cup as something that I want to play in for a really long time,” Hovland said. “It’s pretty much the pinnacle of a golfing career.”
So, what was that first conversation this week with Harrington like?
“He said congrats, so that was great,” Hovland said.
Hovland, who needed a 35-foot birdie putt on the final hole to get to 20-under 268 and defeat Josh Teater by one stroke at Puerto Rico, got his first PGA National lesson on his first hole Tuesday. He went off at No. 10.
The hole was playing into the wind. Hovland’s tee shot found the bunker a little more than 260 yards away. He was about 235 from the flag. Hovland said to his caddie, Shay Knight, “this is a pretty easy par-5 if I just catch one.”
Said Knight, an Australian: ”Ít’s a par-4, mate.”
Welcome to PGA National.
“There’s a lot of really tough holes out there,” Hovland said. “But if you hit the ball good there’s definitely opportunities to score.”
The first benefit of winning in Puerto Rico is more stability in his schedule. Now, he’s in The Players field along with PGA Championship. He has yet to earn an invite to the Masters because Puerto Rico was an opposite-field event (it was played the same weekend as the WCG-Mexico Championship) but still could get in by cracking the top 50 in the world.
“Getting into the PGA Championship is going to be a lot of fun,” Hovland said. “I haven’t played in that major. The Players is going to be awesome to play in. There’s so many cool tournaments out there.”
The Honda Classic returns to PGA National. Be sure to check in through the week for live updates.
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The PGA Tour is heading to PGA National for the Honda Classic.
This week’s event, the 21st of the 2019-20 season, features six of the world’s top-20 players, highlighted by No. 3 Brooks Koepka, No. 12 Tommy Fleetwood and No. 13 Justin Rose.
The biggest story, however, might be the absence of nearby residents and top-10 players Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay and Tiger Woods.
Featured groups for this year’s Honda Classic are: Brooks Koepka, defending champion Keith Mitchell, Matthew Wolff; Rickie Fowler, last week’s Puerto Rico Open winner Viktor Hovland, Joaquin Niemann; Shane Lowry, Gary Woodland, Louis Oosthuizen; Tommy Fleetwood, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose.
Koepka weighs in on his knee, his round with Trump and his opinion of the Premier Golf League and whether he can be swayed by Rory McIlroy.
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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Brooks Koepka’s golf game has been very healthy for a long time. Now, he’s looking for his actual health to catch up to his game.
Coming off a knee injury that forced him to take off three months, Koepka is gearing up for the heart of the season, his next step this week’s Honda Classic at PGA National. Koepka is working to get back to the form that allowed him to win four majors since the summer of 2017, including the 2019 PGA Championship.
Honda is Koepka’s fourth start since returning five weeks ago – including Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. He plans to give his knee the ultimate test by playing three weeks in a row, starting in two weeks with the Players Championship. Then, he will take a week off and onto the Masters, where he is seeking his first title after tying for second last year behind Tiger Woods.
“The knee is great,” he said. “I wouldn’t be playing if there was pain or I didn’t feel like I could come out here and compete my best.
“It’s better than I expected it to be at this point in time.”
The results have not been there since he returned, finishing 43rd two weeks ago at the Genesis Invitational, equaling his second-highest round all of last season. Koepka, though, stopped short of blaming his score on the layoff.
“I don’t want to say rust was the culprit of that,” he said. “I felt like I was doing a lot of really good things. I was very close, striking it well, putting it well, and sometimes it’s just a matter of scoring.”
The best thing for Koepka now after rehabbing in San Diego – where he would get his work in starting at 7 a.m. and be looking for things to do around noon – is to keep moving so his knee does not get stiff. He said he started getting antsy in early December and finally started hitting balls on Dec. 20. About a week later, he was playing a round with the world’s most famous golfer, Donald Trump. Koepka played at Trump’s course in West Palm Beach and was joined by his father, Bob, and brother, Chase.
Koepka, who was raised in Wellington, described meeting sitting Presidents – he met Barack Obama at the Floridian Golf Club years ago but was unable to fit in a round of golf – as something that will last with him forever.
“When I’m on my death bed, that’ll probably be one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, getting to meet those guys,” he said.
As for playing with Trump: “I actually had a blast,” he said.
Koepka has been in a good spot for a very long time. His climb up the golf hierarchy – he currently is ranked No. 3 in the world after holding the top spot since winning the PGA Championship in May and being overtaken this month by Rory McIlroy – has emboldened him to speak his mind on a variety of topics. He has been out front on his distaste for slow play and long pre-shot routines and recently weighed on the Patrick Reed saga at the Hero World Challenge in December, saying Reed was “building sand castles” in the bunker for the purpose of cheating.
Koepka has become a powerful voice and feeling comfortable enough to speak his mind is a good thing for golf. He has strong opinions and can help shape the game on certain issues. One of those is the topic du jour: The concept of starting a new professional golf league.
The idea of a Premier Golf League is being spearheaded by a group out of the United Kingdom and has become more than just a curiosity on the PGA Tour. McIlroy has been the most outspoken against the concept saying he does not like the plan.
Koepka did not rule it out or endorse the idea, simply saying he will wait to see what all his peers think.
“I’m just going to play where the best players play, simple as that,” he said. “I want to play against the best. I think everybody wants to play against the best.”
Koepka was then asked if McIlroy’s opinion would sway his.
“My opinion is my opinion,” he said. “Nobody else is going to sway it. It doesn’t matter.”
We break down the Honda Classic field by Golfweek/Sagarins and OWGR rankings.
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This week’s Honda Classic, the 21st event of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season, starts the beginning of a series of East Coast stops. While the field features plenty of top players – Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose among them – the biggest story might be the absence of nearby residents and top-10 players. That list includes Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay and Tiger Woods.
Regardless, there’s still plenty of top talent in the field, and we’ve broken it down according to two rankings.
For the 2019-20 season, the average ranking of the winner heading into the week in which they won PGA Tour event has been 88.50 in Golfweek/Sagarins and 119.65 in the OWGR.
Everything you need to know for the first round of the Honda Classic at PGA National.
The PGA Tour is heading to PGA National for the Honda Classic.
This week’s event, the 21st of the 2019-20 season, features six of the world’s top-20 players, highlighted by No. 3 Brooks Koepka, No. 12 Tommy Fleetwood and No. 13 Justin Rose.
The biggest story, however, might be the absence of nearby residents and top-10 players Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay and Tiger Woods.
Featured groups for the Honda are as follows: Brooks Koepka, defending champion Keith Mitchell, Matthew Wolff; Rickie Fowler, last week’s Puerto Rico Open winner Viktor Hovland, Joaquin Niemann; Shane Lowry, Gary Woodland, Louis Oosthuizen; Tommy Fleetwood, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose.
Check out the tee times and viewing info below (All Times Eastern).
Round 1 – Honda Classic
1st Tee – Thursday
Tee Time
Players
6:45 a.m.
Vaughn Taylor, Fabián Gómez, Seung-Yul Noh
6:55 a.m.
Zac Blair, Denny McCarthy, Robby Shelton
7:05 a.m.
Peter Malnati, Chesson Hadley, Arjun Atwal
7:15 a.m.
Adam Long, Ryan Armour, Si Woo Kim
7:25 a.m.
C.T. Pan, Greg Chalmers, Jim Furyk
7:35 a.m.
Ryan Palmer, Keegan Bradley, Lucas Glover
7:45 a.m.
Satoshi Kodaira, Brice Garnett, Austin Cook
7:55 a.m.
Kyle Stanley, Chris Kirk, Richy Werenski
8:05 a.m.
Cameron Tringale, Josh Teater, Sam Burns
8:15 a.m.
Padraig Harrington, Matt Jones, Matthew NeSmith
8:25 a.m.
Chase Seiffert, Sebastian Cappelen, Hayden Buckley
8:35 a.m.
Rob Oppenheim, Mark Anderson, Tom Lewis
11:35 a.m.
Harris English, Harold Varner III, Kyoung-Hoon Lee
11:45 a.m.
John Huh, Sean O’Hair, Bronson Burgoon
11:55 a.m.
Chris Stroud, Kevin Streelman, Matt Wallace
12:05 p.m.
Corey Conners, Russell Knox, Davis Love III
12:15 p.m.
Luke Donald, Stewart Cink, Vijay Singh
12:25 p.m.
Shane Lowry, Gary Woodland, Louis Oosthuizen
12:35 p.m.
Brooks Koepka, Matthew Wolff, Keith Mitchell
12:45 p.m.
Scott Stallings, Lee Westwood, Jamie Lovemark
12:55 p.m.
Jhonattan Vegas, Matt Every, Michael Thompson
1:05 p.m.
Russell Henley, Mackenzie Hughes, Maverick McNealy
Cristie Kerr will put the headset back on for the Golf Channel, this time as an on-course reporter for a men’s event for the first time.
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Cristie Kerr will put the headset back on this week for the Golf Channel, this time as an on-course reporter at the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.
It will be the third time Kerr has worked for Golf Channel, but the first at a men’s event.
Last November, the former World No. 1 and major winner was part of live coverage for the Golf Channel’s broadcast of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, working alongside Judy Rankin in the booth and shadowing Jerry Foltz on the course. In January of 2019, she was a studio guest analyst for “Golf Central.”
“I’m very excited to join the Golf Channel team for the week of The Honda Classic,” said Kerr in a release. “I look forward to learning from them and putting my golf expertise to use for viewers. This should be an amazing experience.”
Cristie Kerr made her analyst debut during the Golf Channel’s coverage of the 2019 CME Group Tour Championship. (Golf Channel)
Kerr, 42, is a 20-time winner on the LPGA and mother of two who grew up in South Florida and won the 1996 Girls Junior PGA Championship at PGA National Golf Club. She made it clear last November in an interview with Golfweek that she wasn’t slowing down.
Kerr, now in her 23rd season on the LPGA, has played in three events so far this season, finishing in a share of sixth place at the ISPA Handa Women’s Australian Open and T-11 at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.
She’ll next tee it up next at the Volvik Founders Cup in Phoenix March 21-24.
NBC Sports Group’s tournament coverage of The Honda Classic will be led by play-by-play host Dan Hicks and lead analyst Paul Azinger. Gary Koch and David Feherty will be hole announcers, with Roger Maltbie and Jim “Bones” Mackay joining Kerr as on-course reporters.
The 7,125-yard, par-70 PGA National hosts The Honda Classic for a 14th straight year. It begins the PGA Tour’s annual Florida swing.
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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.
Rory Sabbatini points towards the seventh tee box prior to teeing off on the fourth hole during the final round of the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson. Photo: Ray Carlin/USA TODAY Sports
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.
Sungjae Im looks on during the second round of the 2020 WGC – Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec. Photo by Orlando Ramirez/USA TODAY Sports
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.
Viktor Hovland celebrates on the 18th green after winning the 2020 Puerto Rico Open. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
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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The PGA Tour begins its four-event Florida swing with this week’s Honda Classic. Three of the top 10 players in the world, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings are in the field this week. There will be six of the top 20 golfers in the World …
The PGA Tour begins its four-event Florida swing with this week’s Honda Classic. Three of the top 10 players in the world, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings are in the field this week. There will be six of the top 20 golfers in the World Ranking in the tournament.
Many of the world’s top golfers, including Tiger Woods, are taking the week off ahead of next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship the following week.
The key stats for the 7,125-yard, par-70 PGA National are:
At No. 5 in the Golfweek rankings, Fleetwood is the top golfer in attendance. He also leads my stat model for the week on his strengths in SG: Ball Striking and Par 4 Efficiency. He finished fourth here in 2018 before skipping last year’s event.
Fleetwood is one of the more precise and accurate golfers in the world, and the forced layups off the tees at PGA National will play to his advantage as golfers need to navigate their way around the course. He’s a chalky play as the tournament favorite, but it worked for us last week with Viktor Hovland at the Puerto Rico Open.
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Billy Horschel (+2800)
Horschel has finished T-9 at each of his last two events – last week’s WGC-Mexico Championship and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He tied for 16th at last year’s tournament following a missed cut in 2018. He finished T-4 and T-8 in 2017 and 2016, respectively. Like Fleetwood, he’s a great irons player.
Honda Classic – Tier 2
Matthew Wolff (+8000)
Wolff took last week off following a missed cut at the Genesis Invitational. He had previously missed the cut at the WMPO. While he ranks just 72nd overall by the stat model, he’s 18th in Birdies or Better Gained on shorter courses.
Luke List (+9000)
List’s advantage in length is largely negated at PGA National due to the forced layups off the tee. He was the runner-up to Rickie Fowler in 2018 and he tied for 10th in 2016. He’s on a streak of three straight made cuts.
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Honda Classic – Longshots
Sam Burns (+10000)
Burns’ odds are attractive following a T-8 finish in 2018. He followed it up with a T-73 last year, but he’s coming off a T-23 result in a much stronger field at the Genesis Invitational. He can score low on shorter courses.
Dylan Frittelli (+15000)
Frittelli excels on par 4’s ranging from 400-450 yards. He missed the cut last year on the heels of an 11th-place finish in 2018. He hasn’t found top form since his breakthrough win at last year’s John Deere Classic, but he picked up top-10 finishes at the Sanderson Farms Championship and Safeway Open earlier in the 2019-20 season. These odds are far too high for someone with a Masters invite already secured.
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