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Pamela Maldonado breaks down her top picks for the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Video Transcript
PAMELA MALDONADO: The PGA heads across country, from California to Florida, to the Palm Beach Gardens for the Honda Classic. The course, it is a bit of a difficult one, PGA National, a par-70, over 7,000 yards. When I say difficult, literally any player on TOUR can win this tournament.
As example, for Matt Jones last year, It was his first win in seven years. Prior to that, he had just four top 20s and seven missed cuts in his previous 26 starts. Sungjae Im, who is fifth in the FedEx cup ranking, he is the +1200 favorite right now. He actually won this event back in 2020.
PGA National is one of the toughest courses on TOUR. You’ve got narrow fairways, water on 15 of the 18 holes, lots of bunkers. So for that reason, I’m looking for players who are good with avoiding bogeys, who can save themselves from the traps if they end up in the sand, and a really good iron player. I’m Pam Maldonado, and these are the players that I like to contend for this week’s PGA event.
Because this is such a difficult course, it’s best to keep your card light. Player 1, Louis Oosthuizen, on TOUR, he ranked fourth in bogey avoidance and 12th in sand saves. He just made his 2022 debut last week at the Phoenix Open with a T-14 finish, gaining 3 and 1/2 strokes ball striking.
His best here, unfortunately, is just a T-21 back in 2017. But I’m not weighing course history as much in this tournament. Oostie had a fantastic 2021 season. He was one of the best ball strikers and putters on TOUR with 13 top 20 finishes, seven top tens, and no missed cuts. If it’s a difficult course, I love Oostie to contend.
Player 2, Keith Mitchell, who actually won this event back in 2019. He does rank top 25 in both bogey avoidance and in sand saves. Mitchell has gained strokes ball striking in six of his last nine events, and has stayed pretty neutral with his putting. That’s interesting to note, because…
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Source : yahoo
