The First Look: The Honda Classic

Denny McCarthy … Don’t forget about this guy. After finishing atop the money list in the Web.com Tour Finals, he stumbled and missed the cut at the season-opening Safeway Open. After a two-week break, the 25-year-old regrouped and finished T7 in Mississippi and T15 in Vegas. That kind of extended confidence makes sense both in the context of how he performed in the Finals and with the added comfort of fully exempt status north of the graduate reshuffle category throughout 2018-19. Making his return to Mayakoba where he eked out a T68 thanks primarily to a bogey-free, 6-under 65 in the second round when no one went lower. Adam Hadwin … Now that he’s again outside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking (at 61st), he’s back on the radar to qualify for this space. After a tough three-month run to close out 2017-18, he recorded three straight top 25s in the FedExCup Playoffs to total 10 on the season. Since, he’s added a T10 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. That matches the result of his last trip to Mayakoba in 2016 when he ranked T4 in fairways hit, T3 in greens in regulation at T1 in par-5 scoring. Nick Taylor … Since rallying to keep his job by finishing the 2017-18 regular season with six consecutive cuts made, he’s turned the page and opened the new campaign by going 3-for-3. The 30-year-old Canadian opened last fall similarly strong before signing for a second-round 75 at Mayakoba to miss the cut by two, but he had connected five straight red numbers at El Camaleón dating back to a share of 15th place in 2016. Adri Arnaus … The 24-year-old from Barcelona was the recipient of one of the four designated sponsor exemptions reserved for golfers of Latin descent, and he’s comin’ in caliente! He traveled from the United Arab Emirates where on Sunday he captured his breakthrough title on the Challenge Tour at the Ras Al Khaimah Grand Final. It vaulted him to season-ending second on circuit’s order of merit and yielded a European Tour card in 2019. He also paced the 2017 Alps Tour in earnings on the strength of two victories, including at its season finale as well. Currently 134th in the Official World Golf Ranking, he’s making his PGA TOUR debut in the same field as former Texas A&M teammate and recent Sanderson Farms Championship winner Cameron Champ. Viktor Hovland … The last amateur to make his PGA TOUR debut with arguably as much fanfare was Joaquin Niemann at the 2017 U.S. Open. Hovland, a 21-year-old from Oslo, Norway, doesn’t splash with the same pedigree as the Chilean who turns 20 on the Wednesday before the Mayakoba Golf Classic begins, but you’ll be seeing quite a bit of him all season as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. The title yielded exemptions into the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship in 2019 as long as he remains an amateur, as well as others invitationals. The junior at Oklahoma State University currently sits No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and he’s fresh off tri-medalist honors at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate in Texas where his Cowboys prevailed by 32 strokes. (Senior teammate Zach Bauchou also received a sponsor exemption to compete this week.)

Click here to read the full article…

Because THE PLAYERS Championship is operated by the PGA TOUR, its qualifying criteria for the 2023 edition has been set since the beginning of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR season, but none of the majors have released theirs. The ongoing assumption is that all traditional criteria will be honored, but this page will not reflect qualifiers until they are official. The R&A announced that it will release the criteria for The Open Championship in February. That could change, of course – which is another reason why the disclaimer atop REMAINING QUALIFYING CRITERIA at the bottom of this page always has included the phrase, “subject to change” – but The Open Qualifying Series got underway in South Africa last week, so three official qualifiers have been added to the alphabetical list below. The top three finishers at the Joburg Open gained entry. They were led by champion Dan Bradbury of England, who went wire-to-wire in just his third career DP World Tour start. (He gained entry via a sponsor exemption.) Bradbury concluded 72 holes in 21-under 263 at Houghton Golf Club, three clear of Sami Välimäki of Finland. Each will be making his debut in The Open. Bradbury did it all as a collegian at Lincoln Memorial University before transferring and teeing it up as a super senior at Florida State. The Brit never has competed in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event. Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Daniel van Tonder tied for third another stroke back, but the battle among of the fellow South Africans for the final exemption went to Bezuidenhout because he has a better Official World Golf Ranking (74th) than van Tonder (230th). It will be Bezuidenhout’s fourth career appearance in The Open. He finished T68 at St. Andrews this year. Should any of the three qualifiers gain entry into The Open another way, van Tonder will serve as the replacement via a special list of alternates. This process will be repeated for every stop in the OQS. The next is this week’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open. NOTE: Golfers are omitted if they recently haven’t competed in majors for which they are eligible (e.g., The Open Championship=Justin Leonard). TPC = THE PLAYERS Championship MAS = Masters PGA = PGA Championship US = U.S. Open OPEN = The Open Championship Recent Additions TPC — none MAS — none PGA — none US — none OPEN — Christiaan Bezuidenhout; Dan Bradbury; Sami Välimäki REMAINING QUALIFYING CRITERIA Criteria are listed in chronological order where possible. Best estimates are given but all are subject to change. THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP (TPC) @ TPC Sawgrass (Stadium) – March 9-12 • Winners of PGA TOUR events thru the final week before THE PLAYERS. • Top 10 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of The Honda Classic (Feb. 26). • Top 50 of Official World Golf Ranking (Feb. 27). • If necessary to complete the field of 144, golfers outside the Top 10 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the Honda Classic on Feb. 26 will gain entry in order of position. MASTERS (MAS) @ Augusta National Golf Club – April 6-9 • TBD PGA CHAMPIONSHIP (PGA) @ Oak Hill Country Club – May 18-21 • TBD U.S. OPEN (US) @ The Los Angeles Country Club (North) – June 15-18 • TBD THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP (OPEN) @ Royal Liverpool – July 20-23 • TBD

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…