DraftKings preview: The Honda Classic

Chan Kim ... The most recent winner on the Japan Golf Tour rose to second in its Order of Merit with the season-ending victory at the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup in December. It was his fifth title on the circuit. He already was in terrific form leading up to it with a trio of top-five finishes in Japan. Overall, he paced the JGTO in scoring average and ranked T2 in greens in regulation and converting GIR into par breakers. The 30-year-old was born in South Korea but he was raised in Hawaii and went to high school near Phoenix before playing collegiately at Arizona State University. So, he represents America abroad. Currently 88th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Daniel van Tonder ... You can't ask for anything more than beating the competition directly in front of you. That's what the 29-year-old from South African did four times in a 10-week period on his native Sunshine Tour late in 2020. He'd finish second on the circuit's Order of Merit to qualify for the WGC-Workday. Expanding the perspective that includes the quad-Ws, in a 12-start stretch that spanned seasons and a global shutdown, he recorded 11 top 10s. Rasmus Højgaard ... The sweet-swingin' Dane was born on van Tonder's 10th birthday, so he won't turn 20 until March 12, but he's already a two-time winner on the European Tour. Højgaard also has opened 2021 with a surge. After a T25 in Abu Dhabi, he finished T9 in Dubai and T6 in Saudi Arabia. With that form in tow as he sizes up The Concession in his World Golf Championships debut, his go-to asset of power off the tee and precision on approach projects success since very few have even a semblance of a working knowledge of the greens. Thomas Detry ... Here's another WGC first-timer from Europe, but the 28-year-old Belgian already has a record of first-hand experience at The Concession. It was here in the 2015 NCAA Men's Championship when he placed T3 representing the University of Illinois. Nowadays, he's 90th in the Official World Golf Ranking thanks most recently to a pair of runner-up finishes on the European Tour in 2020. (Coincidentally, Sam Horsfield prevailed in both.) Detry finished 18th in the Race to Dubai to qualify for this tournament. Also ranked sixth in scoring average last season. Laurie Canter ... Snuck inside the top 20 of the 2020 Race to Dubai at 19th to qualify for his first World Golf Championship. Three tournaments into the 2021 European Tour season, he's 15th in the R2D with a T4 in Dubai and a T21 in Saudi Arabia. In his last dozen starts in the circuit, he's risen for a pair of runner-up finishes among five top fives. It's rarefied air for the 31-year-old from England since he hadn't cracked the top 150 in the R2D in three prior full seasons. With 10 rounds contributing, he ranks sixth in greens hit on his home circuit. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions. Odds will be updated on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 10:30 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. CO, IA, IN,MI, NJ, NV,PA, TN, VA or WV only. Excludes Michigan Disassociated Persons. Please Gamble Responsibly. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700 (CO, NV, VA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA & WV), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), Call or Text the Tennessee REDLINE: 800-889-9789 (TN), or call 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN).

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THE OVERVIEW Cameron Champ is making his professional debut at this week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He doesn’t yet have his PGA TOUR card, but once he secures it, expect the following prediction to come true at some point during his career. He will lead the TOUR in driving distance. OK, we’re not exactly going out on a limb with that one. Champ, the former Texas A&M star, showed earlier this year at the U.S. Open that he can outdrive the best players in golf. Not only did he lead the field at Erin Hills in driving distance, his 324.4-yard average (all drives) was 10 yards longer than the next players on the list, Trey Mullinax and eventual U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka. On the measured holes (two per round), Champ averaged 337 yards. That was Champ’s first start in a TOUR event. His second came at last month’s 2017-18 season opener, the Safeway Open. Playing in a threesome that included former long-distance driving champion Jamie Sadlowski and former TOUR driving distance leader John Daly (the first TOUR pro to average more than 300 yards in a season), Champ averaged 311.9 yards on all drives in his first two rounds before missing the cut. Sadlowski averaged 317.9 yards while also missing the cut. Patrick Rodgers led the field on all drives for the entire week with a 306-yard average. Although Champ certainly relies on his strength off the tee, he knows that to succeed on TOUR, he’ll need a well-rounded game. At the U.S. Open, he was in contention through two rounds (tied for 4th) and eventually finished T-32 by finding Erin Hills’ generously wide fairways at a 75 percent clip. At the narrow Silverado layout, he hit the fairway just 35.7 percent of the time. Champ arrived early at El Camaleon to give himself more prep time. Despite the tight layout, he said the course “fits my eye and suits me well.� He’s figured out that it will again be important to find the fairway this week. Thus, his gameplan includes keeping his biggest weapon in the bag most of the time. “I’ll probably hit 2-iron on the majority of the holes,� Champ said. “Par 5s, obviously I’ll hit drivers.� Last week at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, California, Champ played in the second stage of Web.com Tour Q-School and finished inside the top 20 who will advance to the final stage in December. With at least some status secured, Champ opted to turn pro this week in the middle of his senior season at A&M. He’s playing on a sponsor’s exemption, one of the maximum seven that he can utilize. “I learned a lot from the first two pro events I played in,� Champ said. “Just have to get into my own groove and how to prepare right, how many practice rounds, how much practice, when to practice, when to leave the course, when to get there. I think I’ve kind of got it down for myself.� The one thing he definitely has down is his length off the tee. Until further notice, it will be his calling card. “I’m a pretty quiet, humble kid,� Champ said. “I don’t say much, but whenever I tee off, it kind of says it all.� THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER 1. PAT PEREZ: Defending champ. Current FedExCup points leader. Already a winner on TOUR this season. It’s a good time to be Pat Perez. 2. RICKIE FOWLER: His first career start in the OHL Classic is also his season debut. Time to start sending JT and Jordan a few messages. 3. CHESSON HADLEY: Top-five finishes in each of his first three starts this season. The only thing he hasn’t done thus far is finish first. Maybe that happens this week. THE FLYOVER The Mayan-influenced clubhouse offers a unique view for players as they stand on the tee at El Camaleon’s finishing hole, the 458-yard par-4 18th. Two years ago, the hole was the second-toughest on the course, playing to a stroke average of 4.214. Last year, it was a little friendlier, playing to a stroke average of 4.087 that ranked seventh most difficult. That made it the 21st most difficult finishing hole out of the 50 that were played on TOUR last season. Here’s a look at the 18th green and the clubhouse. WEATHER CHECK There should be some interesting weather this week at Mayakoba, with rainy conditions and challenging wind gusts for most of the week. PGA TOUR meteorologist Joe Halvorson reports that “instability increases Friday through the weekend as a cold front approaches and stalls out just north of the Yucatan Peninsula. This feature will bring chances for scattered showers and thunderstorms, in addition to increased northeasterly winds. Temperatures are forecast to reach highs in the middle 80s.� For the latest weather forecast from Playa de Carmen, Mexico, click here for the Travelers Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I can’t believe what’s transpired in 12 months … I was just hoping, you know, not to get hurt and hopefully get my card back and that kind of stuff – and here I am, I won twice and now I got to 18 in the world. I just can’t believe it. ODDS AND ENDS 1. NOTABLE NAMES. Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed are each making their first appearances in this event, helping to raise the quality of the field. In fact, eight of the 24 players who competed at last month’s Presidents Cup are at Mayakoba this week – U.S. teammates Fowler, Reed, Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell, along with International players Emliano Grillo, Jhonattan Vegas, Anirban Lahiri and Si Woo Kim. 2. STROUD’S STREAK. The OHL Classic is in its 11th year, and Chris Stroud has yet to miss a start. He’s the only player in the field to have competed in all 10 of the previous events. During that span, he has three top-15 finishes – his best a T3 in 2014 – and has missed the cut just twice. 3. HOME-GROWN FAVORITES. There are five players from Mexico in the field this week – Abraham Ancer, Roberto Diaz, Oscar Fraustro, Carlos Ortiz and Jose de Jesus Rodriguez. Ancer, ranked 287th in the world, is the highest-ranked of those five. “I think it’s great for Mexico that since we have this tournament here, it’s helping more Mexican players come out and play and see where their game is,� said Perez, who is of Mexican-American descent. “I think it’s awesome.�

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Note: This file has been updated after the completion of the second round Saturday morning at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Jordan Spieth hopes to complete 20 holes on Saturday. He’ll need to do it on two different courses. Spieth was the only player among the five co-leaders who failed to finish the second round before play was suspended Friday afternoon due to wet conditions at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The 2017 champ is one of 44 golfers facing an extended day Saturday as the tournament seeks to get its schedule back on track. Play resumed at 10:10 a.m. ET (7:10 a.m. local) with Spieth having two holes left at Spyglass Hill. He’d completed his second round after finishing the ninth hole, then shuttled to Pebble Beach for the third round. “I’ve got a shot from the fairway on eight, and then the ninth hole trying to make two pars there – and then go on to Pebble and kind of see what the day gives you,â€� Spieth said on Friday.  Unfortunately, he was unable to produce two pars. Spieth bogeyed his last hole, the par-4 ninth at Spyglass Hill, early Saturday morning to finish off a 4-under 68 that left him at 9 under through 36 holes. That left four players at 10 under and tied for the lead after 36 holes — Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Lucas Glover and Scott Langley. Looking ahead to the rest of the forecast Saturday, meteorologist Joe Halvorson said there will be on-and-off periods of light rain, “with considerable dry time between the showers.â€� Winds could gust to 18 mph in the afternoon, and then another wave of rain is expected overnight Saturday. The heavy stuff on Friday didn’t appear until early afternoon. With tee times moved up an hour, it allowed 111 players and their amateur partners to finish the second round before play was suspended at 2:11 p.m. locally. Mickelson, Casey, Glover and Langley each finished their 36 holes on Friday at 10 under, with Spieth at the same mark after 34 holes. Jason Day was at 9 under with three holes remaining on his round – he bogeyed his first hole Saturday but bounced back with a birdie to join Spieth in a tie for fifth. Scott Piercy, solo seventh, is at 8 under after playing his three holes Saturday in even par.  “I’m so happy to get done,â€� Casey said after his 7-under 64 at Monterey Peninsula, the low score on Friday. “We were on the last hole and I heard that horn go. And then there was a second one and then a third one. … I had to think for a minute because you get one long blast, you’re done. But the three means, I guess, it’s bad conditions but you can finish the hole. I’m like, ‘We can finish the hole?’ “I’ve never been so happy. I went from upset to happy in an instant.â€� Langley, whose best finish in six starts in this event was a T-62 a year ago, had to play his last three holes at Spyglass Hill in the rain. He three-putted the 17th for bogey and eventually finished with a 3-under 69 after shooting a 64 at Monterey Peninsula on Thursday. “Thankfully we got pretty much 15 holes rain-free, which I felt pretty lucky to get,â€� Langley said. “So count it as a good break, and obviously really happy with my score. Spyglass always seems to be the course that I’ll call it the toughest out of the three.â€� Of the top six players on the leaderboard, Mickelson, Langley, Spieth and Day will play their third rounds at Pebble Beach, where most of the crowd will be with the amateur celebrities also on site. Casey will be at Spyglass Hill, and Glover will be at Monterey Peninsula. If there is an advantage, it would go to Glover. The stroke average for Monterey this week is 1.060 under par, while Spyglass Hill is 0.140 under par and Pebble Beach is 0.191 over par. But Glover is not looking at it that way. His approach will be the same as the first two rounds. “Just get the ball in the fairway first and then go from there and be aggressive where we can,â€� he said. Mickelson, a four-time winner of the AT&T Pebble Beach, has 83 career rounds in this event and is a collective 140 under – the most under par of any player in the last 20 years. He knows the rain and wind and cold — temperatures will hover around 50 on Saturday — can challenge anybody’s gameplan. “You just don’t know how it’s going to play or what the weather’s going to be,â€� said Mickelson, who was the solo leader for much of his round until three late bogeys brought him back to the pack. “You end up trying to shoot as low a round as you can because everybody else is facing the same conditions.â€� But not every player has the same number of holes to play. Ask Spieth, who must start his Saturday earlier than his four co-leaders. At least the course should be drier than when he left it on Friday.

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