Philadelphia, PA – PGA TOUR – THE HONDA CLASSIC, PGA National (Champions Course), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida – The PGA Tour heads east for the first time all year for the The Honda Classic.
The west coast swing saw delays for wind, fog, rain, frost and yes, snow. The
locusts weren’t far off, so thankfully the tour is headed to Florida for the
first of four straight events in the Sunshine State.
After their first-round losses last week at the Match Play Championship, Rory
McIlroy and Tiger Woods, the top-two ranked players in the world, will be at
PGA National this week.
Woods posted a scorching 10-under 62 in the final round last year to put a
scare into McIlory, but it wasn’t enough. Woods shared second with Tom Gillis
two strokes behind McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman posted four rounds in the 60s en route to the win, which
gave him the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. McIlroy and Luke Donald traded
the top spot four times in the next two months, but it has been all McIlroy
since.
Despite his struggles in May and June last year, McIlroy still has a 2.83
average point lead over Woods. That lead has dipped as McIlroy has played just
twice this year.
He missed the cut in Abu Dhabi, then lost in the first round at the Match
Play. Woods matched those two finishes, but snuck in a victory in between at
the Farmers Insurance Open.
Along with the top-two players in the world, 11 of the top 25 in this week’s
world rankings are in the field at PGA National.
Golf Channel will have coverage all four days. Their coverage on Saturday and
Sunday will be early, before they hand off to NBC for the rest of the round.
The PGA Tour has a pair of events next week. The top players in the world will
be at Doral for the WGC – Cadillac Championship, where Justin Rose rallied
past Bubba Watson for the win last year. The remainder of the tour will be in
Rio Grande for the Puerto Rico Open, where George McNeill beat Ryo Ishikawa by
two shots last year.
LPGA TOUR
HSBC WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS, Sentosa Golf Club (The Serapong Course), Singapore –
The LPGA Tour wraps up its’ overseas swing this week in Singapore with the
HSBC Women’s Champions.
The exclusive field event came down to a four-way playoff last year. Angela
Stanford parred the third extra hole to earn her fifth LPGA Tour title.
Stanford, who shared the lead after the second and third rounds, had to endure
a lengthy weather delay late in her final round. Jenny Shin led Stanford by
one on the 18th tee in regulation after the delay.
However, Shin drove into the woods and walked off with a double-bogey.
Stanford 3-putted for a bogey of her own. Those two headed to a playoff with
Shanshan Feng and Na Yeon Choi.
Feng and Choi were eliminated on the first two holes, so it was again down to
Shin and Stanford. After Shin missed a 4-foot par putt, Stanford converted her
short par attempt to grab the victory.
That was Stanford’s fifth LPGA Tour title, but she had just five top-10
finishes the remainder of the season.
Ariya Jutanugarn lost the lead on the final hole last week in Thailand, but
she is in the field this week as she and Michelle Wie both were given sponsors
invitations.
Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.
After a week off, the LPGA Tour will return to action in Phoenix with the RR
Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, where Yani Tseng won by one stroke last year.
EUROPEAN TOUR
TSHWANE OPEN, Copperleaf Golf Country Estate, Centurion, South Africa – The
European Tour returns to action this week with a new event, the Tshwane Open.
The field includes three former major champions in Michael Campbell, Darren
Clarke and Jose Maria Olazabal. Also competing this week will be Jeev Milkha
Singh, Edoardo Molinari and Niclas Fasth.
This is the sixth and final event in South Africa this year for the European
Tour.
Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.
The European Tour will be back in the United States next week for the WGC –
Cadillac Championship, before heading to India the following week.
WEB.COM TOUR
COLOMBIA CHAMPIONSHIP, Country Club de Bogota, Bogota, Colombia – The Web.com
Tour is in South America this week for the Colombia Championship.
Skip Kendall carded an even-par 71 in the final round last year to hang on for
his fourth Web.com Tour title. He held off Andrew Svoboda and Andres Gonzales.
Svoboda shared the third-round lead with Kendall, but tripped to a 1-over 72
to share second.
Kendall is back in the field this week to defend his title. Former British
Open champ Todd Hamilton is making his second straight Web.com Tour start,
while Jason Gore, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth are also competing.
There is no television this week.
The Web.com tour shifts to Santiago next week for the Chile Classic, where
Paul Haley II won by three strokes last year over Joseph Bramlett.
This Week in Golf -- Feb. 28 through March 3
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