Justin Thomas put on a show last week at the PLAYERS Championship beating back Lee Westwood who tried to regain the lead. This week the PGA Tour heads to the Champion Course at PGA National and Thomas is not in the field – but Westwood is and he’s among the favorites!

Westwood comes in at +2000 following two back-to-back second place finishes. One last week and the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week before. Despite the impressive run, Westwood is not the favorite to win the Honda Classic outright. That honor goes to Daniel Berger at +1000.

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Berger could consider the tournament as being on his home turf, as could many PGA players. His finishes at the Honda Classic include a T2 and then a T4 in 2020. He also has a win this year at Pebble Beach.

The problem is that Berger is nursing a nagging rib injury that made last week at the PLAYERS tough event.

“Kind of struggling this week,” said Berger after the event. “Was surprised actually that I was able to play all four days. I’m kind of just happy to have played golf all four rounds.” With Berger being a bit iffy, I’m fading him a bit and looking back towards Westbrook and a few others. Here are the top-five favorites according to Intertops.

Daniel Berger +1000

Sungjae Im +1200

Joaquin Niemann +1800

Lee Westwood +2000

Adam Scott +2500

2021 Honda Classic Preview

Where: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Course: PGA National Resort and Spa Champion Course

Format: Stroke Play

Par: 70

Length: 7,140

When: March 18 –21, 2021

Purse: $7 Million.

TV Coverage: NBC/Golf

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The Champion Course can lift you up or knock you down. Don’t be fooled by the Par 70 when the wind is blowing. And it looks like there will be some wind and possibly wet conditions this week in the Palm Beach Area.

As for the course, it is always beautiful and in mint condition during Tour events. Heavy hitters can back off their swing a bit and concentrate on hitting landing areas. This is a second shot course of there ever was one approach shots may be more important than putting for many players.

One factor is that the rough at the Champion Course are 2” plus Bermuda overseeded with Rye grass. If you miss off the tee, get ready to dig the ball out with a bit off muscle – especially if it rains.

Then there’s the “Bear Trap” which is considered among the toughest three consecutive holes on the PGA Tour and consists of holes 15, 16 and 17. How tough are they? Water comes into play on all three which are two par three holes and a par four. All of which can turn a three hole stretch into three bogeys.

A plaque and bear statue, homage to Jack Nicklaus.

2021 Honda Classic Predictions

Lee Westwood +2000

Lee Westwood has finished in second place the last two weeks putting a string of bad outings that included two cuts in 2021. Seems as if he’s put those struggles behind him. Last year Westwood finished T4. Last week he was in striking distance of winning the PLAYERS Championship and could pull off the Sunday win this week if he stays hot.

Joaquin Niemann +1800

Joaquin Niemann has not had stellar results at this event, but his game has been solid this year including a 2nd place finish at the Tournament of Champions. He also had a T2 at the Sony Open. He’s currently ranked 10th in GIR which is an important stat this week.

Talor Gooch +3000

Talor Gooch was a ball striking wonder at TPC Sawgrass finishing with a T5 he also had a T12 several weeks ago at Riviera. If he remains solid with his irons, he could be hard to beat – especially with expected windy and wet conditions.

Others I Like: If Daniel Berger was not having an issue with his ribs, he would be an easy pick. But the Champion Course will require precision play this week and that may be hard if you’re hurting. Matt Wallace (+5000) has had a solid putter the last few outings. He’s also a threat from anywhere around the greens as of late.

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2021 Honda Classic Betting Odds

Daniel Berger +1000

Sungjae Im +1200

Joaquin Niemann +1800

Lee Westwood +2000

Adam Scott +2500

Shane Lowry +2800

Russell Henley +2800

Talor Gooch +3000

Chris Kirk +4000

Gary Woodland +4000

Brendan Steele +4000

Cameron Tringale +4000

Cameron Davis +4000

Keegan Bradley +4000

Rickie Fowler +5000

Doug Ghim +5000

Dylan Frittelli +5000

Matt Wallace +5000

Martin Kaymer +5000

Brandon Wu +6000

Byeong-Hun An +6000

Wyndham Clark +6000

JT Poston +6000

Ian Poulter +6000

Mackenzie Hughes +6600

Russell Knox +6600

Aaron Wise +6600

Adam Hadwin +6600

Alex Noren +6600

Kevin Streelman +6600

Luke List +6600

Patton Kizzire +7000

Jhonattan Vegas +8000

Zach Johnson +8000

Matt Jones +8000

Michael Thompson +8000

Harold Varner III +8000

Richy Werenski +8000

Kyoung-Hoon Lee +8000

Ryan Moore +8000

James Hahn +8000

Henrik Norlander +8000

Erik Van Rooyen +8000

Adam Long +8000

Phil Mickelson +10000

Keith Mitchell +10000

Lucas Glover +10000

Matthew Nesmith +10000

Maverick McNealy +10000

Rafael Cabrera Bello +10000

Rory Sabbatini +10000

John Huh +10000

Will Gordon +10000

Nick Taylor +10000

Tom Hoge +10000

Chez Reavie +10000

Lucas Herbert +12500

Patrick Rodgers +12500

Jim Furyk +12500

Wesley Bryan +12500

Mark Hubbard +12500

Tom Lewis +12500

Charl Schwartzel +12500

Nate Lashley +12500

Cameron Percy +12500

Peter Malnati +12500

Harry Higgs +12500

Denny McCarthy +12500

Sepp Straka +12500

Ted Potter +15000

Grayson Murray +15000

Henrik Stenson +15000

Steve Stricker +15000

Bronson Burgoon +15000

Rafael Campos +15000

Padraig Harrington +15000

Adam Schenk +15000

Kristoffer Ventura +15000

J.B. Holmes +15000

Stewart Cink +15000

Jason Dufner +15000

Scott Stallings +15000

Vaughn Taylor +15000

Bo Hoag +15000

Chesson Hadley +17500

Kramer Hickok +17500

Robby Shelton +17500

C T Pan +17500

Tyler McCumber +17500

Rob Oppenheim +20000

Graeme McDowell +20000

Brian Stuard +20000

Joseph Bramlett +20000

Roger Sloan +20000

Ryan Armour +20000

Scott Brown +20000

Brice Garnett +20000

Pat Perez +20000

Jamie Lovemark +20000

Chase Seiffert +20000

Sung Kang +20000

Hudson Swafford +20000

Austin Cook +20000

Tyler Duncan +20000

Andrew Landry +20000

Sam Ryder +25000

Kevin Chappell +25000

Anirban Lahiri +25000

Luke Donald +25000

Brian Gay +25000

Scott Harrington +25000

Beau Hossler +25000

Sean O'Hair +25000

Jimmy Walker +25000

Troy Merritt +25000

Robert Streb +30000

Camilo Villegas +30000

Satoshi Kodaira +30000

Ryo Ishikawa +30000

Jim Herman +30000

Kelly Kraft +30000

Vijay Singh +50000

Michael Gligic +50000

Xinjun Zhang +50000

David Hearn +50000

Michael Kim +50000

William McGirt +50000

Bo Van Pelt +50000

K J Choi +50000

Hank Lebioda +50000

Seung-Yul Noh +50000

Chase Koepka +50000

Vincent Whaley +50000

Hunter Mahan +50000

Martin Trainer +100000

Alan Morin +150000

Kamaiu Johnson +200000