2020 Honda Classic

[smashdn]

This deserves and probably has already been covered, but I know you are closer to the situation than I so I am looking for your opinion. Do you think the other tournaments surround the API and The Players suffer because there are four Florida events together or does that make it easier for the players to attend? Or is it simply a matter of guys not wanting to play four events in a row and since most live in Florida it makes sense logistically to sneak a break in between those four events?

 

My personal thought is that the PGA Tour should group their swings as geographically as possible. Texas tournaments together, west coast, florida, carolinas/east coast and northeast/upper midwest/canada. I get most guys aren't driving or taking trains but I do feel like the season benefits from logical flow. But it may not make a difference in terms of participation.

[third-times-a-charm]

I agree that events should be grouped and I think it's good to have them all in succession - but I think there's a discussion to be had about having them EVERY weekend consecutively. Something has to give if a player wants a break. Playing 16 rounds of PGA golf in 1 month and having a winning record at it is nearly impossible so players will always have to choose either 2 or 3 of the 4 in the Florida swing if they want to stay healthy and sane.

I think regardless - each event in the FL swing will always have a 'pretty good' attendance just from being in FL and all the players living here - but theyll still have to choose. Each player also has course preferences and etc. Just like Tiger can never win at Riviera, some players don't play well at Bay Hill (JT, Finau, Brooks, etc) and some dont play well at the stadium course @ TPC or Innisbrooke.

So by the facts/data - If you sort by the average here, the API is consistently in the top and was just under the Masters in 2019: https://datagolf.org/field-strength-table with the Valspar and Honda not far behind, but behind none the less.

The API is an invitational, which is great for the API. The money and exemptions for the winner, I think, push some players to the API more so than the Valspar or Honda - just like you're seeing with the Genesis in the West Coast early swing.

Tbh, the PGA tournaments are a pain in the ass for courses to put on, and there aren't huge margins in it for the courses themselves - but IMO it's something that is a big perk in the end for the members and reputation of the club especially for historic tournaments and courses to continue putting on.

 

[dpmontgomery79]

This may have already been discussed, so I am sorry if this is a repeat question, but is Billy Horschel no longer a PXG Pro? I noticed he was using a plain carry bag, he was wearing a University of Florida hat, and he was back to using a Ping Putter. It looked like he was still using PXG irons though. I looked on the PXG website and he is no longer listed under "Pros." Just curious.

[QuigleyDU]

The life of PXG player.

 

PXG. Where tour careers go to die..

[QuigleyDU]

featured groups are pretty bad so far...

[Holy Moses]

 

hope he goes back to Ping

[bking556]

You aren't kidding. What a terrible round for him. +7 with 2 holes to play.

[gripandrip]

That's super clean for a car in Maine.....nice!

[dpmontgomery79]

Good find. Thanks for the info. I always enjoy keeping up with fellow UF Gators on tour.

[3jacker]

IMO, those aren't boring names unless one is just a casual fan.

[3jacker]

I hear he's working on a more lucrative deal with XXIO.

Pronounced egg-seg-see-oh. So you know it's good.

[third-times-a-charm]

Koepka is all over the place today. He's bombing some of his drives down the middle, but is it just me or is his accuracy way down?

[golfer07840]

A friend of mine in Tampa said it got as low as 45 down there. I guess for Florida that is cold. All relative.

[golfer07840]

From what I've seen of it and it isn't a PGA Tour course, but Seamstrong seems to be different.

As far as a Florida Tour course, Innisbrook doesn't look like a "typical" course either.

[lowheel]

This course if you show up and are not 100% sharp you can shoot 80 just like that. When it blows it plays like a par 73-74 its that tough. your hanging on for 10-12 holes. Ask any tour player. its a beast

[Golfingfanatic]

Vijay that putting stroke is not looking good...

[Darth Putter]

I proposed this last year when the schedule changes were made.

 

WGC-Mexico

Valspar

Honda

Bay Hill

New Orleans Team (switching spots with the WGC-Match Play which is now after The Masters)

TPC

Texas Open

Masters

 

 

[grm24]

Two players in on a sponsor exemption, Harris English & Tom Lewis, currently tied for the lead with Doc Redman.

[DrivingChamp]

Awful round for rickie

[third-times-a-charm]

He went and played nine holes at turtle creek by himself after his round....that’s how bad he played.

[BMC]

Cristie Kerr has done a nice job as an on course reporter at the Honda. She made some good calls. Pleasantly surprised.

[stingerfade]

I hope to god she doesn’t became a regular announcer

[third-times-a-charm]

This course is still destroying scores this morning in the first few groups.

These guys better wake up...Bay Hill is going to be a nightmare for them next weekend. We have water AND a 6" rye grass rough growing in right now. The scores in GHIN are so out of spec right now for Bay Hill that GHIN is giving people PCC strokes to their handicaps lol

[3jacker]

This is the first time I've seen Matt Wolf's move. I've read about him, but wasn't prepared for what I saw.

I love it. We needed someone like him to come along.

[OldTomMorris]

Agreed. This event is clearly suffering a little based the new schedule but its still a good field/event.

[bbfifas]

Walked the course for Round 1. It was cold in the morning and very very windy. Some observations:

-Course conditions were nice, greens looked great, it made me want to play!

-Crowds small in morning and picked up later in the day. Most people followed Ricky and later on Kopeka obviously. I enjoyed the small crowds much more and you really could get close to the action.

-Brendon Steele and Ricky on #4 were in greenside bunker and both hit it long over green. Brendon's reaction was ranting to his caddie about momentum, he was -4 going into the hole, and how momentum is crazy and now he hit 3 bad shots in a row and how important momentum is and continued to rant to his caddie about it. Ricky basically told his caddie no sand in the bunker it will be easy to rake, complaining about the firm sand and bad shot. Tough pin spot.

-Ted Potter bagged a 9 on par3 #15! Tee shot was ~170 ish in the water, then 2 drop balls in the water. Ouch. He was -3 going into the hole and ended day +2. The stand behind 15 was fun and gave good views for 3 holes all at once. The wind was rippping on 15 hard left to right towards the water and we saw a few water balls.

-Brisket mac and cheese by green #3 was really good.

-My friend that I golf with surprisingly never went to a PGA tourney before. He was amazed at how big and tall a lot of the players are and also at the amount of bad shots we witnessed. We saw a ton of wild tee shots including some duck hooks OB, putts terribly short or offline, poor chips, irons short of green, etc.

-Not much crowd interaction from the players at all. Barely a thanks or a hat nod from any of them. That was embarrassing to see in my opinion. I saw one of the no name players give balls away to some young fans and that was it. Padraig Harrington is a wee bit touchy also. He was hitting to a green and some lady move behind the flag and he and his caddie proceeded to flail there arms and yell out from 150 yards away to the lady. He also told a marshall that was standing behind him twice to move as he was in his line of sight. He must be battling some mental yips.

-We left around 4pm and I saw one guy on the putting green, Jim Furyk, and maybe one or 2 on the range. Jim was +8 so Im guessing his short game was off.

Overall had a great time and I will go back next year but on a Thursday again to avoid the big crowds. I'm hoping some of the bigger names play better today and make the cut .

 

[CupCup]

Reed winning last week while BK stinks up the place and misses the cut by a wide margin. Who's the clown now?

[3jacker]

Reed

[stingerfade]

Reed for sure.

[Sean2]

He said he likes the way he is hitting the ball, and said it's his putter that has been letting him down.