From sea to shining sea, the PGA Tour goes after last week’s event in California to the Honda Classic at the PGA National Golf Club Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The event will run from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26.
There is a great list of competitors set to compete and some who The Honda Classic odds will probably lean toward. Returning champion Sepp Straka returns along with former winners Sungjae Im, Padraig Harrington, Rory Sabbatini, and Camilo Villegas. Former Florida Gator, Billy Horschel, is playing for the fifth straight week in hopes to improve his golf standings and win in his home state.
“There are a lot of goals I haven’t checked off, and I’ve always wanted to win in the state of Florida, obviously more than once, but before my career is over,” Horschel said. “I would love to win and hope it is The Honda Classic this year that gets me that first one.”
Horschel has not won since the 2022 Memorial in June. Horschel, who turned 36 years old in December, notched his seventh victory and committed to the upcoming Honda Classic in October.
Course Challenges
Eight of the last 10 Honda Classic events have been decided by a score of 10-under par or less. The course is known for its windy conditions and ranks as the most difficult course for approaches to the green from more than 150 yards on the PGA Tour. Whoever wins the event is going to have to be strong with their irons, and four of the last five champions have led the field in strokes gained from the tee to the green.
Holes 15, 16, and 17 are known as the “bear trap” because they have a lot of water. It is one of the five most difficult three-hole stretches on the PGA Tour, which could make for an exciting finish. It truly means that if it is tight down the stretch on Sunday, anybody could come out of it victorious.
Possible Winners
Im is going to be among The Honda Classic odds favorites. But other people are making their Honda Classic predictions, and a longshot to follow is Aaron Wise. At 26 years old, he has shown he can play well at The Honda Classic after he shot 64 in two rounds during the event in 2021.
He led by three shots after the first two rounds before tying for 13th. But one expert likes Wise because he “fits a top-end profile in this field with difficulty scoring conditions stats, bogey avoidance and scrambling, which he currently ranks No. 1 in scrambling from the fringe.”
Another popular golfer is Chris Kirk, who finished seventh in his 11th trip to The Honda Classic last year. He is coming off a pair of finishes in the top 3 in his last three events. He is also top 30 in strokes gained on the Tour.
The Honda Classic Odds
Here are The Honda Classic odds to win the tournament:
- Sungjae Im +800
- Shane Lowry +1400
- Matt Kuchar +2000
- Aaron Wise, Min Woo Lee +2200
- Denny McCarthy, Alex Noren, Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel +2500
- Taylor Pendrith +2800
- Jhonattan Vegas +3000
- Adam Svensson +3200
- Thomas Detry +3300
- J.T. Poston, Lee Hodges +3500
- Harris English, Adrian Meronk, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Sepp straka, Stephen Jaeger +4000
A Longshot
The top player in the Honda Classic field in strokes gained: tee-to-green is one who does not have the best odds to win Honda Classic. Jhonattan Vegas (+3000) is fourth on the PGA Tour with 1.882 average strokes gained tee to green out of 12 rounds this season.
But that is not all, as there are several top competitors who are expected to finish very well at the Honda Classic who excel in this area.
For those in the field, Im is the next closest at 18th on the Tour with 1.093 across 27 rounds. Then it is Matt Kuchar, who is 26th after rising 40 spots with a .954 in 22 rounds. Shane Lowry is 34th with .824 in 10 rounds.
Ways To Bet
There are a number of ways for people to bet on the Honda Classic. Those who are new to golf betting may see less risk with options such as betting who will lead after the first or second round. There are other opportunities to bet on particular golfers, too.
One way to parlay a bet is to pick several golfers to make the cut. Even if they are at lower odds, parlaying those golfers could be a fruitful payout to help hedge bets on winners. Conversely, there are also ways to bet on people missing the cut.
Other prop bets include choosing the best American in the field, or those from other countries or continents. If someone does not want to go that route, they can opt for something simpler than picking a winner and go with golfers to make the top 5, top 10 or even top 20. But those odds will lessen the larger the opportunity for a player (i.e. top 20 is smaller odds than a top 5).
If someone feels strongly about particular golfers, they can play matchups, which lock at 6:00 a.m. ET on Thursday. The matchups put two golfers against one another with different odds. For example, Im is -170 to beat Lowry, who is +140. These matchups can last the entire tournament, too.
Our Shortlist
There are a couple of players we are eyeing. Im is certainly on the shortlist, along with Vegas as one of our longshot picks, and Wise. Matt Kuchar is another golfer we are eyeing despite being unpopular among other golf circles, but his data tracks well.
We also like Kirk to get another top 10 and Horschel to finish well in his home state, and we will even take a flier on him to finally get a win in Florida.
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