Golf Betting – Honda Classic Preview

A betting preview of this week’s PGA Tour tournament, the Honda Classic in Palm Beach, Florida.

The golf betting world becomes a Tiger-free zone again this week, as Tiger Woods will return to the sidelines and skip the Honda Classic in Palm Beach, Florida.

Woods’ return was quite short last week, as he only lasted two matches at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship after losing to Tim Clark. Geoff Ogilvy went on to win his second career Match Play Championship, but like Woods he won’t take part in the Honda Classic this weekend. In fact, out of the current World Golf Rankings Top 10 only No. 2 Sergio Garcia and No. 9 Camilo Villegas will be teeing it up this week.

Garcia and Villegas will obviously be among the favorites on this week’s golf odds, as will Ernie Els. Els is the defending champion of the Honda Classic after shooting six-under last season to clip Luke Donald by a single stroke. In three PGA stops so far this season Els’ best finish was tying for sixth in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and he made it to the third round in last week’s Match Play Championship before (coincidentally) losing to Donald.

The Match Play Championship wasn’t the only event on the PGA calendar last week. Those who didn’t qualify to play in the Match Play Championship headed to Mexico for the Mayakoba Classic at Riviera Maya. In Mexico Mark Wilson recorded his second career PGA Tour win after shooting 13-under. J.J. Henry was runner-up, two strokes back at 11-under. Wilson will be among the field in Florida this week, and even though he’ll likely receive somewhat high odds he should be a definite contender because his first career PGA Tour win came in the Honda Classic back in 2007.

Other former Honda Classic winners looking for a repeat victory this week that might be worth looking up on the golf odds include 2006 winner Donald, 2004 winner Todd Hamilton, 2003 winner Justin Leonard, 1998 winner Mark Calcavecchia, and 1997 winner Stuart Appleby

The former winners that look like longshots to repeat this week include 2002 winner Matt Kuchar, 2000 winner Dudley Hart, and 1996 winner Tim Herron.