Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- Honda Classic

OVERVIEW
The PGA Tour leaves the west coast for the warmth of the east this week as we head to the Bear Trap at PGA National. The wind is a key factor this week, so make sure you look at the Thursday & Friday draws before locking your lineups in. While I don’t typically put too much emphasis on this factor, it is important to note at this course specifically if there will be an advantage for one draw. Even without the wind, the course plays tougher than most stops on the PGA Tour, so shifting our focus to players who fit the course needs as well as targeting players who play well on difficult courses is a strategy I’ll be employing this week (as opposed to just jamming the best players in my lineup and hoping to make them fit). Finally, we move away from the bumpy poa greens to the lush, pure ones that bermuda grass brings. Make sure you’re looking at bermuda splits for your 1v1 or 2v2 swaps this week as well. Finally, I think we have enough of a sample size for most of the players this season to move onto 2019 PGA Tour stats (even though they’re not indicative of anything) so that’s what you’ll see going forward in the “stats” section. For 1AD this week I’m looking at Brooks, Sergio, Cam Smith & Scott. We know we’re going to get Webb at a weak field event late in the season when no one else is teeing it up, I’ve already used JT & Rickie so this seems like a week where you burn someone at the top of the board. If you haven’t used JT yet, I’d like to remind you that no defending champion has won this event back to back years since Jack Nicklaus in the 70’s, so yeah, it’s been awhile since someone won this event two years in a row.

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND

o The Course
• PGA National – Champions Course
• Par: 70
• Yardage: 7,100
• Greens: Bermuda
o Location: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
o Corollary Tournaments/Courses: Waialae (Sony), Quail Hollow (WF Championship)
o Past Champions:
• 2018: Justin Thomas -8 in a playoff over Luke List
• 2017: Rickie Fowler -12 over Morgan Hoffmann & Gary Woodland
• 2016: Adam Scott -9 over Sergio Garcia
• 2015: Padraig Harrington -6 in a playoff over Daniel Berger
• 2014: Russell Henley -8 in a playoff over Russell Knox, Rory McIlroy & Ryan Palmer

KEY STATS TO TARGET
o Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, SG: T2G, Birdie or Better, Scrambling
o Important – P4 Scoring 400-450 & 450-500, Proximity 175-200y, Bogey Avoidance

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