The Honda Classic has become one of the PGA Tour's best events, and this year will be no different as world No. 1 Rory McIlroy makes his 2015 debut.
It's almost March and that means the PGA Tour has swung to Florida and the Masters rapidly approaches. The Honda Classic is the first Tour event this year on the east coast. It's also the most loaded and international field of the year, as the unofficial Masters prep season begins. The two-week opener in Hawaii and the West Coast swing, which boasts probably the best stretch of venues the entire season, have come and gone and now most players have Augusta on their mind.
The Honda Classic was once an afterthought of the Florida swing. Most players would pass on the stop at PGA National, preferring the more exclusive WGC event at Doral and the more popular Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Those are, no doubt, two of the bigger events on the regular schedule, but now the Honda Classic is right there with both of them.
The rise of the Honda is due in large part to its location. For tax purposes and practice advantages, many of the best players in the world live in Florida. In recent years, an increasing number have re-located to South Florida specifically. The short driving distance to the Honda Classic venue has added to the appeal for many top pros. The Jupiter, Palm Beach, and Hobe Sound areas are loaded with world-class players, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who both moved into the area in the last four or five years.
Tiger won't be here this year but Rory will be and he's a heavy favorite to win his 2015 PGA Tour debut. Woods, of course, is taking some time away from golf and trying to get his game in acceptable "tournament ready" shape. It was at this event last year that Tiger's season started to wash out, a Sunday withdrawal due to back pain the beginning of a completely lost year. Rory, on the other hand, led for almost the entire weekend before giving away a few shots down the stretch and losing in a playoff. It was a disappointing loss for McIlroy, but it came after four rounds of incredible shotmaking that demonstrated the young Ulsterman was back in form and far from the guy whose game was in shambles with his new Nike sticks and quit this tournament the year before.
While last year's Honda Classic signaled a hobbled and horrendous year for Tiger, there were signs all over the place that Rory was coming for 2014. The 5-wood he hit from 236 yards on the 18th to force a playoff (and nearly win it in regulation) was a shot that simply few others have in the bag.
That was just the start of not only a bounce back season, but a dominant one in which he ascended to the clear best player on the planet. Now, instead of trying to redeem an embarrassing WD from a made-up toothache, he arrives at this year's Honda Classic as the global face of the game and playing as sharp as ever. He looked like the same force in two early-season starts over in the Middle East, one resulting in a win and the other a second-place finish.
Tiger is gone but for those following the game, McIlroy is now the one to watch anyway. He'll play with Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson for the first two rounds, which is a tasty group of pros who absolutely demolish the ball off the tee. They're three of the longest hitters ever, and they're all considered top talents for this next generation.
That marquee group will be off at 12:45 p.m. ET on Thursday and should be the focus of much of Golf Channel's 2 to 6 p.m. first-round broadcast. The marquee group in the morning draw is Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, and Martin Kaymer. They're out at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday so they will be done well before the broadcast goes live but expect those three to be featured on Friday afternoon's coverage. Here's the full tee sheet for the opening round:
Morning wave off No. 1:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 6:45 a.m. | Lee Westwood | Chad Campbell | Chad Collins |
| 6:55 a.m. | Charlie Beljan | Jason Bohn | Spencer Levin |
| 7:05 a.m. | Nicholas Thompson | Colt Knost | Daniel Berger |
| 7:15 a.m. | Woody Austin | David Toms | Louis Oosthuizen |
| 7:25 a.m. | Chris Kirk | Seung-Yul Noh | Mike Weir |
| 7:35 a.m. | Brian Harman | Derek Ernst | Ryan Palmer |
| 7:45 a.m. | Chesson Hadley | Scott Piercy | Mark Wilson |
| 7:55 a.m. | Matt Every | Keegan Bradley | Victor Dubuisson |
| 8:05 a.m. | Padraig Harrington | Jason Kokrak | S.J. Park |
| 8:15 a.m. | Carl Pettersson | John Huh | Scott Langley |
| 8:25 a.m. | Tim Petrovic | Zac Blair | Joost Luiten |
| 8:35 a.m. | Kyle Reifers | Jim Herman | Paul Scaletta |
Morning wave off No. 10:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 6:45 a.m. | Cameron Tringale | Ryo Ishikawa | Morgan Hoffmann |
| 6:55 a.m. | Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano | Danny Lee | Thomas Bjorn |
| 7:05 a.m. | Sean O'Hair | Jeff Overton | Adam Hadwin |
| 7:15 a.m. | Ben Crane | Zach Johnson | Nick Watney |
| 7:25 a.m. | Michael Thompson | Ian Poulter | Stewart Cink |
| 7:35 a.m. | Russell Henley | Rickie Fowler | Graeme McDowell |
| 7:45 a.m. | Martin Kaymer | Phil Mickelson | Sergio Garcia |
| 7:55 a.m. | Angel Cabrera | Rory Sabbatini | Charles Howell III |
| 8:05 a.m. | Brian Davis | Martin Flores | Hudson Swafford |
| 8:15 a.m. | Brendan Steele | Y.E. Yang | Brendon de Jonge |
| 8:25 a.m. | Chris Stroud | Roberto Castro | Steve Wheatcroft |
| 8:35 a.m. | David Lingmerth | Fabian Gomez | Jhared Hack |
Afternoon wave off No. 1:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 11:45 a.m. | Daniel Summerhays | Graham DeLaet | Dudley Hart |
| 11:55 a.m. | George McNeill | Robert Garrigus | Andrew Svoboda |
| 12:05 p.m. | Marc Leishman | Justin Hicks | David Hearn |
| 12:15 p.m. | Jason Dufner | Ken Duke | Ernie Els |
| 12:25 p.m. | Camilo Villegas | Jonas Blixt | Boo Weekley |
| 12:35 p.m. | Patrick Reed | Billy Horschel | Justin Rose |
| 12:45 p.m. | Brooks Koepka | Rory McIlroy | Dustin Johnson |
| 12:55 p.m. | J.J. Henry | Alex Cejka | William McGirt |
| 1:05 p.m. | Paul Casey | Francesco Molinari | Jim Renner |
| 1:15 p.m. | Robert Allenby | Stephen Gallacher | Justin Thomas |
| 1:25 p.m. | Freddie Jacobson | Jamie Donaldson | Erik Compton |
| 1:35 p.m. | Max Homa | Blayne Barber | Jamie Lovemark |
Afternoon wave off No. 10:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 11:45 a.m. | Will MacKenzie | Andres Romero | Carlos Ortiz |
| 11:55 a.m. | Luke Guthrie | Brian Stuard | Brice Garnett |
| 12:05 p.m. | Jhonattan Vegas | Russell Knox | Tim Wilkinson |
| 12:15 p.m. | Sang-Moon Bae | D.A. Points | Vijay Singh |
| 12:25 p.m. | Scott Stallings | Lucas Glover | Retief Goosen |
| 12:35 p.m. | Robert Streb | Harris English | Scott Brown |
| 12:45 p.m. | Ben Martin | Luke Donald | Charl Schwartzel |
| 12:55 p.m. | Ricky Barnes | John Peterson | Tony Finau |
| 1:05 p.m. | Jerry Kelly | Billy Hurley III | Kevin Kisner |
| 1:15 p.m. | Bo Van Pelt | Shawn Stefani | Andres Gonzales |
| 1:25 p.m. | Alex Prugh | Derek Fathauer | Patrick Rodgers |
| 1:35 p.m. | Ryan Armour | Jon Curran | Wes Homan |
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