One year ago Matt Jones ran away with the Honda Classic! The former Arizona State player from Sydney Australia won by five strokes over Brandon Hagy who finished in sole 2nd place at PGA National at Palm Beach, Florida. Now Jones comes in slightly down the favorites list but is still considered a contender by oddsmakers.
Jones comes in as the defending champion at +4000 which is about 10 players away from Sungjae Im who enters as the favorite to win the 2022 Honda Classic. Im enters the opening round at +1200 as the lone favorite.
This is an indicator that the field is a combination of strong PGA favorites and possible dark horses that include a fantastic mix of international flair. The best indicator of this is Tommy Fleetwood who returns to the PGA Tour for only his 3 rd event in the 2021-2022 season. Another interesting name is Daniel Berger who was recovering from a rib injury last year during this event on his home turf.
Now Berger enters completely healed from his rib injury but is nursing some soreness along his spine and lower back. He is just behind Im at +1600. As for Fleetwood, he comes in just outside of the top-five at +2200 along with Shane Lowrey. Last year I faded on Berger due to his nagging injury and that’s something I’m still considering due to his back issue.
Hopefully, Berger will be in the mix on Sunday as his style of play is a great fit for this event. Here are the top-five favorites through +2000 to win the 2022 Honda Classic outright.
Sungjae Im +1200
Daniel Berger +1600
Joaquin Niemann +1800
Brooks Koepka +1800
Louis Oosthuizen +2000
2022 Honda Classic Preview
Where: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Course: PGA National Resort and Spa Champion Course
Format: Stroke Play
Par: 70
Length: 7,140
When: March 24 –27, 2022
Purse: $8 Million.
TV Coverage: NBC/Golf
The PGA National Champion Course can make you look great or expose some weak spots in your game. The Par 70 course can be brutal at times especially if the wind is blowing which could be the case in Palm Beach this week. That being said, the course is always stunning to view and short enough where the big hitters on the Tour can lay back a bit.
This is a second shot course that forces players to be precise off the tee to hit landing areas while staying away from well-placed bunkers. If a player misses then they are in the deep combination rough of Bermuda and overseeded Ryegrass.
There’s also the “Bear Trap” which is considered among the toughest three consecutive hole stretch on the PGA Tour. It consists of holes 15, 16, and 17. How tough are they? Water comes into play on all three which are two par three holes and a par four. It can be a 3-hole stretch of bogies. A plaque is in place, complete with a statue of a bear, homage to Jack Nicklaus.
2022 Honda Classic Picks
Sungjae Im +1200
Sungjae Im won this event in 2020 by going 6-under and beating a hard-charging Mackenzie Hughes by one stroke. Im finished T8 in his Honda Classic title defense last year but he’s playing better golf as of late. He is now ranked 5th in FedEx points and No. 24 on the OWGR list. If Im has his putter and wedges going he’ll be hard to beat.
Tommy Fleetwood +2200
Tommy Fleetwood has spent the majority of his time on the European Tour as of late but can capture a Tour win this season at the PGA National Champion Course. He seems to play well here as he finished 4th here in 2018 and 3 rd in 2020. Fleetwood can be very precise off the tee on a course like this.
Mackenzie Hughes +5000
Mackenzie Hughes could have the strongest short game going in this entire field and always shows well at this course. He also comes in strong with a 2nd place finish at the RSM Classic and a T4 at the ZOZO Championship. He looked great at Pebble Beach before finishing T16.
Others I Like: I would be full in with Daniel Berger (+1600) if not having a back issue, That could change if he has no issues during practice rounds. Rickie Fowler (+6600) has not had the best run of luck over the last few seasons but he can get back on track here with a solid short game.
2022 Honda Classic Betting Lines
Sungjae Im +1200
Daniel Berger +1600
Joaquin Niemann +1800
Brooks Koepka +1800
Louis Oosthuizen +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2200
Shane Lowry +2200
Billy Horschel +2500
Keith Mitchell +3300
Matthew Wolff +3300
Alex Noren +3500
Brian Harman +4000
Matt Jones +4000
Mito Pereira +4500
Jhonattan Vegas +5000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +5000
Patrick Reed +5000
Taylor Moore +5000
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +5000
Mackenzie Hughes +5000
Gary Woodland +5500
Cameron Young +5500
Russell Knox +5500
Denny McCarthy +6000
Ryan Palmer +6000
Aaron Wise +6000
Lee Westwood +6600
Lucas Glover +6600
Nicolai Hojgaard +6600
Rickie Fowler +6600
C T Pan +7000
Ian Poulter +7500
Chris Kirk +8000
Martin Kaymer +8000
Charles Howell III +8000
Brendon Todd +8000
Michael Thompson +8000
Lucas Herbert +8000
Zach Johnson +9000
Aaron Rai +9000
Brendan Steele +9000
Garrick Higgo +10000
Stewart Cink +10000
Greyson Sigg +10000
Nick Taylor +10000
Beau Hossler +10000
Dylan Frittelli +10000
Kevin Streelman +12500
Alex Smalley +12500
Taylor Pendrith +12500
Patrick Rodgers +12500
Sepp Straka +12500
Sam Ryder +12500
Camilo Villegas +12500
Matthew Nesmith +12500
Chad Ramey +12500
Hudson Swafford +12500
Harry Higgs +12500
Mark Hubbard +12500
Padraig Harrington +12500
Henrik Stenson +15000
Matthias Schwab +15000
JJ Spaun +15000
Rory Sabbatini +15000
Davis Riley +15000
Kramer Hickok +15000
Hayden Buckley +15000
Adam Svensson +15000
Doc Redman +15000
Lee Hodges +15000
JT Poston +15000
Doug Ghim +15000
Danny Willett +15000
Adam Schenk +15000
Nate Lashley +15000
Charl Schwartzel +17500
Satoshi Kodaira +17500
John Huh +17500
Vincent Whaley +20000
Ryan Armour +20000
David Lipsky +20000
Stephan Jaeger +20000
Austin Smotherman +20000
Trey Mullinax +20000
Brandon Hagy +20000
Nick Hardy +20000
Brian Stuard +25000
Kiradech Aphibarnrat +25000
Dylan Wu +25000
Brice Garnett +25000
Hank Lebioda +25000
Robert Streb +25000
Peter Uihlein +25000
Roger Sloan +25000
Jason Dufner +25000
Tyler Duncan +25000
Sung Kang +25000
Andrew Novak +25000
Jimmy Walker +25000
Jared Wolfe +25000
Brian Gay +25000
Anirban Lahiri +30000
Luke Donald +30000
Nick Watney +30000
Kevin Tway +30000
Bronson Burgoon +30000
Austin Cook +30000
Wesley Bryan +30000
Paul Barjon +30000
Justin Lower +35000
Brandon Wu +35000
Kyle Stanley +40000
Bill Haas +40000
Kelly Kraft +40000
Seth Reeves +40000
Jim Herman +40000
Tyler McCumber +40000
Ben Kohles +40000
Chris Stroud +40000
Callum Tarren +40000
Chase Koepka +40000
Curtis Thompson +40000
Richy Werenski +40000
Michael Gligic +50000
Brett Drewitt +50000
Joshua Creel +50000
Grayson Murray +50000
Seung-Yul Noh +50000
William McGirt +50000
Max McGreevy +50000
Jim Knous +50000
David Skinns +50000
Dawie Van Der Walt +50000
Erik Compton +50000
Martin Trainer +50000
Alan Morin +100000
Kyle Westmoreland +150000