Club: PGA National Resort & Spa

Location: Palm Beach Garden, Florida

Date: Feb 27 - Mar 4, 2012

Golf Betting Online: The Honda Classic is a PGA Tour golf tournament that is played as part of the Tour’s “Florida Swing. It was founded in 1972 as the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic. Some celebrated golfers have won this tournament, including Jack Nicklaus in 1977 and 1978. The Golden Bear, Johnny Miller and Mark Calcavecchia are the only two-winners of this event.

In recent years the tournament has acquired a reputation for struggling to attract the top players. Tiger Woods has never taken part as a professional, Ernie Els was an absentee from 1999 until 2008, and Phil Mickelson has not played it since 2002. This is despite the fact that the prize money is comparable to other PGA Tour events; the total purse was US$5,600,000 in 2010, with a top prize of $1,008,000 (this can be contrasted to the total purse of $300,000 for the match held in 1981).Part of the problem is this event's position on the PGA Tour schedule. It is the least-heralded of the Tour's "Florida Swing" that includes the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the CA Championship (a World Golf Championship event). With these two other popular events, plus The Masters in early April, many of the world's top players choose to take off the week of The Honda Classic. However, the hope is that the field will continue to strengthen due to the change in venue to PGA National, a well-regarded course that has twice hosted the PGA Championship and most importantly the influence of Jack Nicklaus who is the tournaments host. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Tiger Woods playing here soon.

The field is not set yet, as players have until the Friday before to enter, but with Jack Nicklaus asking players to come support this tournament, the 2012 Honda Classic will for sure have an expanding field of superstars on display the first week in March. 

Log on to Bookmaker Sportsbook and get the latest lines on both the PGA Tour and European Tour’s all season long. The Honda Classic is sure to be an exciting event on the PGA Tour in March.

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2012 Honda Classic Winner - Rory McIlroy wins Honda Classic to take No. 1 ranking

Rory McIlroy stood firm against the gale-force momentum of a classic Tiger Woods charge Sunday to win both the Honda Classic and, for the first time in his young and suddenly dominant career, the world's No. 1 ranking, too.

Safe to say that winning this tournament has never meant so much to a champion, and that no Honda finale has ever sparkled with such superstar drama.

Tiger surely captured millions of television viewers with a scintillating 62, the lowest final-round score of his PGA Tour career. McIlroy then kept them all tuned to the drama at PGA National by scrambling through the Bear Trap for a pair of sandy par saves, locking down a two-stroke victory that is suitable for framing next to some of Tiger's earliest and burliest achievements.

Rory is 22, the youngest No. 1 player since Tiger did the trick at 21. McIlroy already has a major championship in his pocket, winning the U.S. Open by eight shots last summer, and that's enough to bring Jack Nicklaus into the conversation, too. The Golden Bear's record run of 18 major titles began, after all, when he was just 22.

2011 Honda Classic Winner

Rory Sabbatini took a five-stroke lead into the final round of the 2011 Honda Classic, walking away with a one-stroke victory. Y.E. Yang made a late charge, scoring birdies on five Sunday holes, but came up just short.

Though the round was interrupted by a brief lightning delay at one point, Sabbatini hit a two-foot putt on hole 18 to seal up the victory. Those two things are not related, but have you ever tried to make a two-foot putt after sitting through a lightning delay? You probably have not.

Rounding out the top 10, Ricky Barnes shot 4-under; Tommy Gainey shot 3-under; Graeme McDowell, Jeff Overton, Matt Bettencourt, and Gary Woodland shot 2-under, and another small crowd came in one under par.