Honda Classic

The Honda Classic is a PGA Tour golf tournament which is played each March in Florida. It was founded in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic and has been sponsored by Honda since 1982. It has been hosted by a number of venues and is currently played at the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Related Topics:
PGA Tour - Florida - Jackie Gleason - Honda - Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

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The Honda Classic has been won by some celebrated golfers including Jack Nicklaus in 1978 and 1979, but in recent years it has acquired a reputation for struggling to attract the top players. Tiger Woods has never taken part, Ernie Els has been an absentee since 1999 and Phil Mickelson since 2002. This is despite the fact that the prize money is at good as at most other PGA Tour events outside of the "big nine" (the majors, the World Golf Championships individual events, the Players Championship and the Tour Championship), that is $5,500,000 in 2005, with a top prize of $990,000. Part of the problem is the Honda Classic's place on the schedule. It is played two weeks before The Players Championship (the "fifth major" to some in the media) and four weeks before The Masters (one of the four genuine majors), and is sandwiched between the more successful regular tour events, the Ford Championship at Doral which has attracted very strong fields in recent years and the Bay Hill Invitational, which has the advantage of being associated with Arnold Palmer. Therefore many of the top contenders for the Players and the Masters find it makes sense to choose Honda Classic week to take a break.

Related Topics:
Jack Nicklaus - Tiger Woods - Ernie Els - Phil Mickelson - Majors - World Golf Championships - Players Championship - Tour Championship - The Players Championship - The Masters - Ford Championship at Doral - Bay Hill Invitational - Arnold Palmer

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In 2005 only three of the top ten players in the World Golf Championships entered. In fairness it should be noted that there are many other PGA Tour events which attract comparatively weak fields as the top players only compete in about half of the events. The Honda Classic has had a fairly high number of first time Tour winners, including Larry Nelson and Todd Hamilton, who have gone on to win majors.

Related Topics:
World Golf Championships - Larry Nelson - Todd Hamilton

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