After a fantastic three weeks of golf with the world’s best on full-display, including a thrilling finish to the Players Championship, we get a bit of a change of pace in the Honda Classic this week. Nobody inside the world’s top 10 is here to compete, as the stars prepare for a big stretch leading up to Augusta. So our PGA DFS picks won’t be as shiny and noteworthy for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups this week. Most of them have played two of the last three weeks, and all of them are scheduled to play in the WGC Match Play Championship in two weeks. From there, it’s only another week before we get to drive down Magnolia Lane and enjoy the sights and sounds of Augusta National.
Before we get all excited about that, let’s plan and prepare for this difficult test at PGA National.
In case this is your first time here, this is what you can expect to find in this article:
- The Tournament and Format
- Course Commentary
- Course Facts and Figures
- PGA DFS Course Summary and Statistical Comparison
- PGA DFS Preview, including sweat sheet and now featuring optimal lineups from last year’s event
- Player Preview
The Honda Classic PGA DFS Picks | DraftKings & FanDuel
The Tournament and Format
Normally this tournament has been at the beginning of the Florida Swing, but a scheduling change now pushes it to the back end of it, and thus the weaker field. The tour has been stopping at PGA National since 2007, and the tournament itself has been held here in Florida since 1972.
The Course: PGA National
A par 70, the course will be a big change from the last three weeks and likely will keep scores in the single digits. There are plenty of water hazards lurking everywhere, including the Beartrap (holes 15 through 17), which will gather a ton of water balls this week. There are plenty of other spots where this will happen as well; last week was a good preview of what’s to happen again in this tournament.
Course Facts and Figures
Par and Yardage
- Par 70: 7,100 yards
Course Difficulty 2020
- 3/41, about one full stroke over par
Hole Dispersion
- Four Par 3’s : 217, 226, 179, 175
- 12 Par 4’s: 365, 464, 395, 479, 427, 421, 508, 450, 438, 388, 465, 434
- Two Par 5’s: 538, 566
Grass Types and Hazards
- Grass Type: Bermuda
- Rough Length: 2 inches
- Green Size: 7,000 square feet
- Holes with water in play: 15
Designer
- Jack Nicklaus redesign
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Facts and Figures
- Off the Tee: While the course plays hard every single year, it is paramount to hit the fairway. On average golfers did that 62.5 % of the time, good enough for 23rd easiest last year. It also had a lot of drivers hit off the tee; the average drive was 291, also the 23rd longest on tour.
- Approach to the Green: Getting on the greens are where this course gets its difficult. On average the greens were hit only 58% of the time, ranking them the third hardest on tour last year.
- Around the Green: When golfers do miss the green (42%), they will fail to get up and down 42% of the time, ranking it 14th hardest last year.
- On the Green: Putting on the greens themselves is not that hard, ranking in the top 10 easiest on tour last year.
PGA DFS Sweat Sheet
The two par 5’s are very important here, as they account for just about 30% of the total scoring. Outside of that, just aren’t that many scoring opportunities. With water lurking, longer par 3s and no short par 4’s, scores always remain high here.
The Honda Classic PGA DFS Slate Preview
There is not as big of an offering this week from DraftKings, but $200,000 to first is not chump change by any stretch.
Previous Year PGA DFS DraftKings Results
I’ll cover two buy-in levels: The large-field GPP and the high-dollar GPP. I’ll also provide a couple of notes on the overall scoring of the event.
DraftKings Notes & Lineups
Typically one of the lowest- PGA DFS scoring events of the year with only two par 5s and tons of water.
$5 Buy-In, $555,555 Guaranteed
- Total ownership of 86%.
- It was not the optimal lineup.
- The lineup wasn’t duplicated, but the score was.
- The cash line for the contest was 330.
$444 Buy-In $350,000 Guaranteed:
- Total ownership of over 100.
- It was not the optimal lineup.
- The lineup was not duplicated.
- The cash line for the contest was 345.
The Honda Classic Player Preview
While there isn’t anyone in the top 10 and only three in the top 25, there are still almost 40 of the world’s top 100 here. That is still a ton of talent even if there aren’t the top-end names we expect. Defending champion of the event, Sungjae Im, will likely be the odds favorite of the event. He and Daniel Berger both played well on Sunday at The Players and are the lowest-rated golfers at the event.
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