Golf Betting - Florida Swing Starts With Honda Classic
by Charles Jay
Fans of golf betting know that things are heating up this week. After taking a trip out west and south of the border, the PGA Tour begins its Florida swing this week with the Honda Classic. It gets underway on Thursday and runs through Sunday at the Champion course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, and you can see the weekend action on NBC. The world's second-ranked player, Lee Westwood, is the +1000 favorite in the golf betting odds for this event.
Golf Betting
March 3-6
PGA National
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Purse: $5.7 million
Okay, so Tiger Woods is not traveling to Palm Beach Gardens for the Honda Classic. So what? There are plenty of players who are high on the list with the Official World Golf Ranking. And heading up this one is Lee Westwood, who has recently been displaced as the #1 player in the world (by Martin Kaymer) but is the golf betting favorite in this field at +1000.
Golf Betting Odds
(40/1 or less)
Lee Westwood +1000
Luke Donald +1200
Rory McIlroy +1500
Graeme McDowell +1500
Matt Kuchar +1500
Vijay Singh +2500
Ben Crane +2500
Rickie Fowler +3000
Ian Poulter +3000
Ernie Els +3000
Robert Allenby +3000
Charl Schwartzel +3500
Y.E Yang +3500
Robert Karlsson +4000
Anthony Kim +4000
Is it a strong field? Well, you've got the #3 (Luke Donald), #4 (Graeme McDowell), #8 (Rory McIlroy), #10 (Matt Kuchar), #12 (Ernie Els) and #13 (Ian Poulter) in this field, along with many others.
Els, the 2008 winner, is priced at +3000 in the golf betting odds, along with Poulter and young Rickie Fowler.
They've been playing this one since 1972, and at that time it was known as the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic and played in Lauderhill, just west of Fort Lauderdale. It's gone through a few changes over the years, but Honda has been a constant since 1982. This will be the fifth year the event will be held at PGA National.
The last three winners of this tournament are back in south Florida this week. Camilo Villegas won last year, but he brings a heavy price of 50/1 (+5000) in golf betting. He posted a score of 13 under par to gain his victory, but that was hardly the tournament record. In fact, it wasn't even close. Justin Leonard had the best score ever posted at the Honda, shooting 24 under in the 2003 tourney. But he is considered but a footnote in this week's event, checking in at 125/1 in golf betting, which is way off the radar screen.
This is where Y.E. Yang registered his first the Masters in 2010, and won on the European Tour last year, he has won no events on the PGA Tour since. Yang is priced at +3500 in the golf betting odds to win his second Honda Classic in three years.
All told, there are twelve past winners of the Honda Classic who will be in action, and that includes Nick Price, who does most of his work these days on the Champions Tour. The former PGA and British Open champ won back in 1994. He is also one of three players in this field who have won three majors, joining Els and Vijay Singh (+2500 in golf betting) in that regard.
Luke Donald, who as mentioned is the #3 player in the world, will try to make it back-to-back in match and medal play, as he captured last week's Accenture Match Play Championship. He is the second favorite at +1200. Jhonattan Vegas, who currently sits in second place in the FedEx Cup standings, fetches a golf betting price of +7000, which might be a bit of a bargain.
Unfortunately, two players who will not be making the trip to Palm Beach Gardens are Justin Rose and J.B. Holmes, who had been priced at +2000 and +4000, respectively. They withdrew late, so if you had it in mind to back them, please turn your golf betting attention elsewhere.
Golf betting is best when it's done at the BetUS sportsbook!
