Dominant Europeans to show their class at the Honda Classic - PGA Tour Preview
The much awaited Professional Golfer’s Association Tour event of Honda Classic waits to tee off today at the picturesque par-70 Spa-Champion course in Florida with world number two Lee Westwood vying for top honours in the world golf rankings.
The field will be featuring the top European golfer’s like Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy. The defending Champion Camilo Villegas will be hoping to retain his title this year as well.
At times it becomes very difficult for the top European players, who also have to compete on the PGA Tour, as well as near to their homes. It is a challenge for a few golfers to be travelling all the time and participating in the major championships.
Currently, the top four slots are occupied by the Europeans, who have been dominating the golf arena for the past few months. They also lifted the Ryder Cup trophy against the USA last year which was a morale booster for all the players in Europe. As the
players are all charged up with victories coming in their region, handling jet lag is not a great problem for them. All the top four players also redefined history after almost 19 years by leading the rankings with Martin Kaymer of Germany occupying the top
spot followed by Westwood, Donald and Graeme McDowell. The top four ranked players were also involved in the victorious Ryder Cup team of Europe last year.
Westwood, in his pre-tournament interview commented on this and said, "It's a reflection of the development of European golf at the moment. You've got established players winning a few tournaments and young players like McIlroy coming through."
This tournament will be not a new outing for these players, rather the world number three Donald has won this championship in 2006. Last year’s title was also won by the European Villegas.
The top players like Kaymer and Tiger Woods will be absent from this event, as they are practicing for next week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship and are hoping to improve their record. Especially for Woods, who has always been in the highlights, whether on or
off the field. Next week will be crucial for him, as he was eliminated in the first round in his previous outing of Match Play Championships.
The weather conditions will be extremely windy for all the players on the field and the back-nine holes will not be easy to play. The player who wins, will have to play extremely well to curb the challenging conditions, as there is a possibility of a thunderstorm
on the final day of the tournament.
Course history on the scores is not too good, as the average score on the first day is one-over par and the winning score this year can be around eight-under par. All the Europeans participating in this Championship already have the experience of playing
in tough windy conditions. They will be looking forward to bring the title back to Europe as all eyes will be on Westwood.
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