From triple-bogey to trophy: A look at the last 10 players to win after making triple in the first round

For each of the first 14 seasons of the FedExCup era, PGA National's Champion Course set the tone for the Florida Swing. Home of The Honda Classic since 2007, it launched a strenuous, month-long sojourn for the PGA TOUR in the Sunshine State. Because of the reconstructed 2020-21 PGA TOUR season, and for the first time since PGA National assumed host duties, the Honda was shifted to the anchor position of the Florida Swing. It's another way of rerouting the more familiar march - in like a lamb and out like a lion. The stern test in Palm Beach Gardens has been the hardest par 70 in a non-major three years running and five of the last six. More on it, how breakthrough champion Sungjae Im prevailed a year ago and other details can be found beneath the ranking of projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: THE HONDA CLASSIC Tuesday's Fantasy Insider will include reviews of 2017 champion Rickie Fowler, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Ian Poulter and other notables. Since its inception as the Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic in Lauderhill in 1972, the PGA TOUR has set up shop for this tournament in south Florida in the window of late February through mid-March. However, for its 49th edition this week - if you're doing the math to understand why it's not the 50th, in 1976, Inverrary hosted the third edition of what today is known as THE PLAYERS Championship, so there was a gap year in the history of the Honda - it'll begin later (March 18) than any previous edition ended (March 16 of 1997 and 2003). Although the move was triggered by the pandemic, it's worth a mention because there's a natural curiosity for how the winds will impact ball flight at a time never experienced for this tournament. Every edge matters. Alas, breezes will be omnipresent throughout as usual. However, with a system encroaching on Friday's action, winds will rotate to push in from a southwesterly direction. Come the weekend, they'll be blowing in from the opposing north and rain could fall during part of Sunday's scheduled finale. The bright side to the swirl is that daytime highs will drop from the upper 80s on Thursday and into the 70s by Saturday. Ordinarily, years of experience would be a prerequisite to contend in gusts on a treacherous track, but since Michael Thompson captured the title in 2013, four of the eight champions were in their second appearance, including the last two. In a general sense, the combination of these factors favors ball-strikers over putters. Im's winning pace of 6-under 274 was just one better than Mark Wilson's record high in PGA National's debut in 2007. As expected with a high degree of difficulty, Im checked all of the necessary boxes. He ranked T10 in fairways hit, T2 in greens in regulation (50 of 72) and led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He also finished T5 in scrambling and inside the top 10 in par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring. Despite all of that sparkle, he was just T38 in Strokes Gained: Putting. The Champion Course gives away nothing, except to tease on the pair of par 5s. Among 41 courses used in the truncated 2019-20 season, it slotted 21st in driving accuracy, fourth in GIR, sixth in proximity, second in putting: birdies-or-better, third in scrambling, T2 in par-3 scoring and third in par-4 scoring. It was T23 in par-5 scoring. Not unlike how most of TPC Sawgrass sets up, the majority of PGA National doesn't require weight training to excel. At just 7,125 yards and averaging but 277.2 yards in distance of all drives (fourth-shortest clip last season), the field of 144 can focus on the rest of the exam. Of course, it includes The Bear Trap - the par 3-4-3 sequence of holes 15, 16 and 17. For the week, it yielded a scoring average of 10.652, which aligns with its expectation over time. Im scored 1-under with four birdies to outbalance a trio of bogeys. Only the two-inch bermuda rough is overseeded (with rye). The TifEagle bermuda greens are prepped to their customary 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Charles Howell III knew what you were thinking when that drive went into the water right of Sea Island’s second fairway. He was thinking the same thing. He thought he’d blown it again. His chances of winning were over. Another Sunday would end in frustration, not elation. “I just honestly thought I had shot myself in the foot again,â€� Howell said. He started The RSM Classic’s final round with a one-shot lead. It was the sixth 54-hole lead of his career. He’d lost the previous five, another frustrating statistic in a career defined by what he hasn’t achieved. Howell trailed by three shots when he arrived at the third tee. “Sometimes you wonder, well, maybe you just don’t have it in you,â€� he said. “Maybe today is just not the day. More than likely I won’t be winning the golf tournament.â€� Howell has heard all of the criticisms levied against his long and consistent career. He’s brought the same charges against himself. Sunday was different, though. He proved his harshest critic – himself – wrong. The 39-year-old won his third PGA TOUR title with an unprecedented performance. He summoned his best golf at the most important moment. Now he will take the FedExCup lead into the New Year. “I thought I had it in me, but I had never seen me do it,â€� Howell said. “It’s kind of like the guy who thinks he can dunk, but if you can’t dunk, you just can’t do it.â€� The comeback began quietly, with birdies at Nos. 5 and 6. Then he started the back nine with another birdie. But with a jammed leaderboard on a low-scoring day, he would need more than the occasional birdie. He two-putted the par-5 15th for birdie. Then he holed an 18-footer birdie on 16. He hit his tee shot to 5 feet on the par-3 17th. Two groups ahead, Patrick Rodgers birdied the 18th hole to go a shot ahead. Howell knew he needed to make his putt if he wanted to win. He did. His work wasn’t over, though. His birdie putt on 18 missed by the smallest of margins. He fell to his knees and dropped his putter in despair. “I thought, man, I’ve seen this movie before and I know how it ends,â€� he said. Last year, he barely missed a birdie putt on the final hole of the Quicken Loans National, then lost a playoff to Kyle Stanley. After watching Rodgers miss a birdie putt on The RSM’s first playoff hole, Howell barely missed a 15-footer from the fringe for the win. Rodgers putted first on the second playoff hole. He missed again. This time, Howell poured in his 15-footer. Overwhelmed with relief, he sank to the ground and grabbed his face with his hands. “Quite honestly, I didn’t know if I would ever win one again,â€� Howell said. “I had come up short so many times.â€� Howell has been a pro for nearly two decades. He’s won more than $35 million. He’s never lost his card and he’s qualified for every edition of the FedExCup Playoffs. He is known more for what he hasn’t accomplished, though. He has played 529 PGA TOUR events. Only two men needed more starts before winning for the third time. He has 16 runner-up finishes on TOUR. He’s finished third nine times. “Playing with a lead isn’t one thing I’ve really done a whole lot of. I could talk to you about finishing second or third a lot,â€� he said Friday after shooting consecutive 64s. His first win came at an event that no longer exists. His second win was more than a decade ago. The standards were high when he turned pro after a dominant win at the NCAA Championship. He finished third in his third PGA TOUR start as a pro. Few players can match Howell’s fascination with the game, though. He recently was investigating the discrepancy between his two launch monitors, calling the two manufacturers for answers. His college roommate, Web.com Tour player Edward Loar, remembers Howell leaving the house on Saturday to practice while his teammates watched college football. He could be found at Bodyworks, the Stillwater gym where the Oklahoma State team trained, on Friday nights. The Cowboys’ coach, Mike Holder, gave the team 100 practice balls for the year. Players had to run for every lost ball. “The only thing that would interrupt Charles is that we had to shag our own balls,â€� Loar said. “He was just getting warmed up and he had to go shag. Most guys would just hit wedges because they didn’t want to walk that far or were afraid to lose them.â€� Howell said he’d work in finance if he wasn’t a golfer. He’s enthralled with data. His analytical nature can be his biggest downfall – “I’ve often thought one of my flaws is I enjoy practicing and preparing more than playing,â€� he said – but also the source of solace in the long years between wins. “I always go back to, okay, how do I improve, how do I get better, what do I need to work on,â€� Howell said. “That’s the part I really, really enjoy.â€� And that’s what means the most to Howell after his long-awaited win. “The things that I’ve been working on and practicing held up. In the playoff, I was able to hit nice drives off that tee in a left-to-right crosswind,â€� he said. “I was able to hit a nice 8-iron on 17 in regulation to make birdie. “That bit means more to me than beating somebody.â€� Howell did that Sunday. More importantly, he learned something about himself. Winning was worth the wait.

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HILTON HEAD, S.C. – Webb Simpson’s reaction was just like the rest of ours. He was stunned when he saw Bryson DeChambeau 2.0 at the Charles Schwab Challenge. “I put my hands on his shoulders last week, just because he looks like a different person,â€� Simpson said. RELATED: Analyzing bulked-up Bryson’s big drives DeChambeau came off the COVID-19 break about 40 pounds heavier. But he certainly wasn’t sitting on the sofa eating junk food during the hiatus. He was working out, downing five protein shakes a day and transforming his body into one that would make an NFL linebacker proud. Thank goodness Puma had some extra XL shirts on hand. At Colonial Country Club, DeChambeau averaged 340.4 yards off the tee and tied for third, missing a putt on the 18th that would have put him in a playoff. He now leads the PGA TOUR in driving distance at 323.8 – which leaves him on pace to snap the highest single-season total in history. “It’s really impressive to be able to change your body that fast and put on that — you know, that much weight and still not have it affect your game in a negative way,â€� Simpson said. “… I mean, he was tearing apart Colonial in terms of distance and still hitting it really straight. “So, a lot of props to Bryson for being able to do that and letting his body handle it.â€� Not everyone sees the weight gain – DeChambeau expects to settle in at 230 pounds now that the TOUR has resumed play – and power surge as sustainable, though. He says his spin rate is now in the 4,000 range, and the man they call the Mad Scientist has had to deloft all his irons. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy saw the transformation up close and personal when he played with DeChambeau on Sunday. The SMU grad hit several drives that afternoon that left the Northern Irishman and his caddie stunned – like the one into the wind on the 11th hole that flew McIlroy’s own lengthy poke by an estimated 40 yards. “It was nuts. It’s unbelievable,â€� he said. “I mean, it’s impressive what he’s doing. There’s going to be courses where it works, and there’s going to be courses where it won’t. I can’t see him hitting that many drivers this week, for example.â€� Whatever happens at Harbour Town, the tight Pete Dye layout, during the RBC Heritage, don’t expect McIlroy to start the same kind of fitness regimen. He says he feels more supple and has more speed when he is lighter. As for DeChambeau, well, more power to him. “Look, it’s impressive,â€� McIlroy said. “He’s big. He’s sort of gone down a path, and he’s …. got a conviction, and he’s following it. That’s what he’s done. He’s always thought outside the box and thought a little differently to most people. “He’s really put his mind at wanting to get longer, and he’s definitely done that.â€� Rickie Fowler appears to be of the same mindset. He spent the first month of the three-month break working out six days a week. During those sessions, he often used a weight vest that clocks in at 45 or 50 pounds – and he says he wouldn’t want to carry that much extra weight around all day long. “Just walking a golf course with that extra weight, let alone doing some workout at the house, that’s enough for 45 minutes to an hour,â€� Fowler said. “It’s been really impressive to see what he’s done over, say, the last year or so with his transformation and obviously some serious gain in speed and power. “But it will be interesting to see kind of … where the peak is. Where does it become almost counterproductive as far as like too much speed, where dispersion becomes too great?â€� Simpson joked that he’d probably put on 75 pounds if it meant he could add 20 mph in ball speed. He has tried to get stronger in recent years and has seen some more modest gains. “But our games are different,â€� Simpson said. “I have to rely on shot making, distance control, more than Bryson. He was already long before he did all this. I’ve never really been long. “So, I’ve got to go about it, I think, in a more methodical way than he’s doing. Yeah, it definitely makes me think it’s possible. We’ll see. He thinks he can get stronger. So, time will tell.â€� Jim Furyk, the two-time RBC Heritage champ who recently turned 50, also plays a game predicated on accuracy rather than length. But that doesn’t mean he’s not intrigued by the game’s power players like the beefed-up DeChambeau. “I think what he’s doing is really interesting, to be honest with you,â€� Furyk says. “… I only saw him hit one shot on TV last week. It was, I think, on the second day off the first tee. I think his ball speed was 185. The player that hit right in front of him was Dustin Johnson, and his ball speed was 177. “So, for me, that was kind of an eye-raiser. Dustin is pretty big, pretty strong, athletic, hits it pretty far. If you’re gaining 8 miles an hour on Dustin Johnson, that’s moving it. “It’s interesting. I think we’re in an era right now with golf, the way it’s played, the way our golf courses are set up, it’s quite an advantage to be able to hit the ball far like that. I can see why so many guys are kind of chasing distance, using technology, using launch monitors for launch and spin for equipment to gain distance. “It’s definitely affecting the game.â€�

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