The First Tee: The Honda Classic

Recap

This past week was a wet one! If you'd stack Thursday am/Friday pm tee times, you probably did very well for the week. We almost had a perfect week with our core. Ryan Moore was the only one that missed the cut, with a disaster finish on his back nine. Including 3 bogeys and a double bogey in his last 7 holes to miss the cut by 2. It happens to every pro, including Matsuyama who shot an 80. Congrats to D.J. on winning and moving to world #1!

This week

We are leaving the west coast and the weather behind us and heading into the Florida swing. We are just a month and a half away until The Masters! Truly an exciting time to be a golf fan. This week's tournament is The Honda Classic. It is being played at PGA National and the famous, “Bear Trap”. 15, 16, and 17 are one of the toughest stretch of holes that a professional will face all year. The course is only a par 70 and so, being accurate off the tee and hitting your greens will be key to shoot well and survive the trap. As per usual, the stats that I look for will be course history; recent form; and G.I.R.%. Here are my core plays for the week.

Core

Sergio Garcia ($10,900) – At the top, you are going to have to pick one who you think will win or at least contend on Sunday to meet his value. My guy this week is going to be Garcia. He was decent last week with a t49 finish where he had a bad back nine on his 3^rd round. With 2 top 10s in his last 4 starts here and hitting 82% of his greens, he'll be a solid start for my core.

Brendan Steele ($8,100) – Steele is once again priced where it's almost a “plug in play” for the week. He is playing at his best right now and it will be hard to fade him going forward. He has 4 top 20s in his last 6 events this year, 2 top 15s in his last 6 appearances at The Honda, and he's hitting consistently at 73% with his G.I.R.%. Steele could be a nice one and done pick for the week.

Rafael Cabrera-Bello ($8,000) – R.C.B. is well known in Europe and not so much in the states. On the Euro slates on DK, he's been averaged over 10k in his last 3 events. The fact that he's only $8,000, we are getting a nice discount. Although, he has no course history, however, he's hitting his greens close to 80% and has 4 top 20s in his last 6 tournaments this year. R.C.B. will be my dark horse for this week.

Charles Howell lll ($7,800) – There's nothing wrong going back to CH3 for this week. This guy is truly on form and show no signs of slowing down. He hasn't finished outside the top 15 this year and has only 1 miss cut and 1 top 10 in his last 6 appearances at this event. He's been hitting his greens at 70% this year.

Exposure

For this week, with the pricing the way it is now, I'm going to expose my core players anywhere between 45-65% and pick about 20-25 players for the rest of my player pool. That way if my core does miss the cut, then I will still have a shot of breaking even and possibly having a nice payday! Which at the end of the day, is what we're all trying to achieve!

Good luck everyone!