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Tournament Stats:
Honda ClassicMarch 4 – 7, 2010
PGA National Resort and Spa
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,158
Purse: $5.6 million with $1,080,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: Y.E. Yang
List of Champions & Scores
Results & Scores of 2009 Honda Classic
Box Score of 2009 Honda Classic
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:264 (Justin Leonard in 2003)
54-Hole Record:
196 (Davis Love III in 2003)
36-Hole Record:
128 (Dan Pohl in 1989)
18-Hole Record:
62 (Jerry Kelly in 2003, Adam Scott in 2003, Tim Herron in 1996, Dan Pohl in 1989 and Hale Irwin in 1979)
18-Hole Record at PGA National:
64 by Luke Donald in the first round in 2008
64 by Greg Chalmers in the second round in 2009
Tournament information:
This will be the 38th Honda Classic. The tournament got started in 1972 as the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic and was played at Inverrary Golf & C.C. in Lauderhill, Florida. In 1981 Jackie Gleason was dropped from the tournament and the following year Honda came aboard as the tournament sponsor. After playing at several courses over the course of the last 15 years, the tournament switched courses again last year, this time to the Champion Course at PGA National, site of the 1987 PGA Championship. In 1976 the Players Championship, which back then moved around to different courses chose Inverrary Golf & C.C. and the Inverrary Classic wasn't played that year.Course information:
PGA National has a lot of experience holding golf tournaments. It held the 1983 Ryder Cup, the 1987 PGA Championship and was home to 18 Senior PGA Cahmpionships. The course was originally designed by Tom and George Fazio and opened in 1981. In 1990 Jack Nicklaus came in to do some renovations. The course has 107 bunkers on it and 16 of the 18 holes have water on them. The average size of the greens is 6,400 square feet. The most famous part of the course is the "Bear Trap", holes 15, 16 and 17, two par 3s and a par 4 that will bring a lot of drama and excitement to the finish of the tournament.The Buzz:
So lots of talk about Tiger and John Daly. First on Woods, supposedly he is back home in Orlando after a week of counseling in Arizona. According to Associated Press, Woods is now getting back into his fitness routine and has started hitting balls on the driving range across the street from his home at Isleworth.
If that is the case the big question could be can Tiger not only get ready for the Masters but can he mentally feel ready to take on golf? When he made his statement on February 18, you could of bet a month's pay that he was not going to play in the Masters and could be away from the game awhile. With this news it does give some hope that he could possibly play in the Masters, still I can't see that happening. It's more than just playing the game again, that first event will have noting but pitfalls in dealing with people, media, friends, fans and then he has to play golf with all of the expectations that people will expect from Woods. I will never forget his reaction at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot after his missed the cut. Woods said that he would never play again in an event if he isn't ready and frankly I can't picture him getting ready in five weeks for the Masters.
We move from one problem child to another, John Daly. Tuesday brought two elements of the continuing saga of John Daly, first the Garry Smits, Florida Times Union breakdown of John Daly's problems with the PGA Tour. When it first came out everyone was totally stunned that one reporter had access to the 456 page file of problems that Daly has had with the PGA Tour. Reason for the surprise, the Tour keeps all of this confidential so the first thought was, how in the hell did this get out?
In a way Daly has himself to blame for all this embarrassment as he tried to sue Morris publishing, who owns the Florida Times Union. In the court action the PGA Tour file was subpoenaed and was part of the court case in which Daly dropped his appeal last year. So the file was free game to get published and that is what happened here. In a way the story is not what was in the file, we all know on how destructive Daly has been, but that the PGA Tour has this file and keeps it a big secret.
In a way it's like the Nixon secret enemies list or the closed, secret files that FBI director J.Edgar Hoover had on people like Charlie Chaplain and even President Kennedy. The fact that the PGA Tour has to be so secretive over this is really bad for the sport. If PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has to keep this quiet, what else could he quietly be doing? In this age of the internet, TMZ and stories getting out of hand when they are suppressed you have to think that the Tour is playing Russian Roulette in all of this. If the Tour is keeping this secret, what other things is secret?
The reason for this is based on a paranoia that has been around since the Tour was formed in the 70s. Deane Beman, the former commissioner of the tour in the 80s and first part of the 90s always made sure to keep things quiet from sponsors because he was worried that any frailties would cause sponsors not sticking around. This became part of the culture of the tour and carried over when Finchem took over and now in the internet age. While every sport is open about problems with players and are open to write about problems on websites from Major League Baseball to the NFL and Basketball, the PGA Tour makes sure that PGA Tour.Com doesn't do that. In a way the website has become know more of a propaganda vehicle instead of a vehicle that gives honest information and opinions.
The same with this PGA Tour policy of not commenting on disciplinary action taken against players. The reason for this is because disciplinary action is based on what PGA Tour commissioner feels is best for the Tour and by not reveling it there is no talk about it. Many wonder why Tiger Woods was spared any disciplinary action for his acts which has hurt the PGA Tour plus all of his cursing and club throwing while Jim Thorpe was not allowed to play this month and last while he appeal's his conviction for tax evasion. The answer is simple, Jim Thorpe shows up at a Champions Tour event and it brings a bad light on the Tour as attention is drawn on his problems and away from the golf tournament. It doesn't help keep sponsors when the newspapers talk more about Jim Thorpe's problems instead of the golf tournament. Is it fair? Maybe not but until there is public rules in place for fines and suspensions there will always be that question if the PGA Tour is doing the fair thing.
In the old days before the internet when secrets stayed secret, this way worked. But now what happens is when someone tries to keep things quiet and suppressed and it's revelled then it gets 10 times the amount of press and negative coverage. If Tiger Woods would of come out with his statement and apology a week or two after the accident, he probably would of been able to keep the story more in hand and not embarrass himself and his sponsors. Yes we all agree that somethings have to stay private, but the tour is getting themselves in trouble with this policy.
Again I hate to harp on this but the Tour shoots themselves with things like this because we talk about this instead of the tournament. If Tim Finchem does anything else in the coming months he has to figure out how to get storylines back on golf and the players instead of on trying to suppress the media and fans to save face for sponsors.
Lastly the jury is out on John Daly and his Golf Channel special. In looking at the show it has some top level production value and was very well done. Yes it's unscripted and reality TV but frankly it shows how low John Daly has gotten. The only reason he did the show is not to give folks an inside glimpse of his life, but he needed the money and was paid to give Golf Channel access to all this. Will this fly with people, check back in four or five weeks when the series starts whining down. In a way this reminds me of the movie Network in which ratings was more important than the health of an individual, wonder when Daly will be screaming "I'm bad as hell and not going to take it anymore"? Maybe that happened in San Diego when he told the cameras that he was ready to quit golf.
Now lets talk about golf as the tour moves from the west coast to Florida for the next four weeks. Look for a lot of difference as the difference between playing in California and Arizona is like night and day with playing in Florida. There is a special breed of player that does better on Bermuda than bent Guys like John Huston, Steve Elkington, Mark McCumber, Andy Bean, Gary Koch and Stephen Ames shine when they get to Florida. It's alway best to look at were a player was born and raised, if they are from Florida they are a step ahead of someone that was born and raised in the Northeast.
Again the buzz on the venue PGA National is good, the event has grown since the change to this course in 2007 and more good players are in the field.
Here are some things to look for this week:
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A typical Florida course with lots of water and sand, look for scores to be a bit high for the first going. This will be the first time players see Bermuda fairways, rough and greens, so it will take some getting use to.
Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Honda Classic:
