Round 1, The Honda Classic

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Mar. 5, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM staff

The first group will soon tee off in today's first round of The Honda Classic. Here's how it sets up:

Groups We're Watching

Tee time	Players
8:03 am ET No. 10		Camilo Villegas, Carl Pettersson, Ernie Els Defending champ Els is ready for another big week, playing alongside two guys with success in Florida. Track 'em
12:34 pm ET No. 10		Boo Weekley, Brandt Snedeker, Robert Allenby Weekley lost in a playoff two years ago and tees it up with Snedeker and the always consistent Allenby. Track 'em
12:43 am ET No. 1		Chez Reavie, Sergio Garcia, Andres Romero Garcia makes his first full-field start of the season with fellow 2008 winners Reavie and Romero. Track 'em

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR Network on-site correspondent Bob Stevens previews Thursday's first round:

It's always hard to take the pulse of a tournament before the first balls are struck, but not many players I ran into Wednesday were in a happy mood, either because of the state of their game, the realization that the difficulty of the Florida Swing courses is going to make the next month more of a grind-fest than a grin-fest, or maybe it was just the waves of dark clouds rolling in from the ocean side with a chilling wind from the northeast. Six-under par won last year, 5 under got into a playoff the year before and even shorter rough and greens that were not overseeded this winter don't have the guys as excited as you might guess...

Thursday's forecast

Mostly Sunny
Temp: 74 high/58 low
It will be mostly sunny, but windy throughout the day. Winds will come out of the east, northeast at 18 mph.

...Except for Mark Wilson. The winner last week at Mayakoba, Wilson comes back to the site of his other PGA TOUR win, two years ago atThe Honda Classic. Wilson's caddie, Chris P. Jones, told me he gave Mark the name of Kevin Weeks, the great teaching pro in Wilson's adopted hometown of Chicago, after Wilson missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open. So while Phil Mickelson was winning at Riviera, Wilson was home getting a tip from Weeks to put more weight on his front leg and move the ball up a bit in his stance. Last week, he started stroking the ball in the center of his putter and voila! He should also like the blustery weather early in the tournament -- Jones says his Chicago background makes him a good "mudder." Unfortunately for him, the weather is supposed to improve every day of the weekend.

This year's schedule that leads off the Florida Swing with the Honda Classic sandwiched between two World Golf Championships has strengthened the field considerably. More of the European stars are playing here than have in the past (like Sergio, Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy) and even TOUR regulars are at PGA National for the first time (Stewart Cink, Stuart Appleby and Steve Elkington among them). Next year, the Phoenix tourney will slide back to a spot between the Match Play and the Honda, but with this tourney still in front of the CA Championship at Doral, and word-of-mouth on the strength of the layout, the field should only continue to get better. And when Tiger finishes his house just up the highway near Jupiter?

Players are always tinkering with new clubs or putters, especially early in the week. Bill Haas was trying out a different style of Titleist putter than he'd ever used before and David Duval is likely to play a new driver that might catch on -- at least it's different. Duval told our Mark Carnevale he absolutely loves a prototype Nike driver that's actually smaller than what others are playing -- about 380cc instead of the huge 450-460cc waffle irons most players are hitting.

The one stat(s) you need to know

Until his win at The Honda Classic in 2008, Ernie Els had limited success when the event was played at other venues. Last year was the first time Els teed it up in The Honda Classic at PGA National and ended a three-year win drought on the PGA TOUR.

FEDEXCUP NOTES: ROUND 1
• No player in the field this week can pass Geoff Ogilvy for first place in the FedExCup standings.

• There are nine players in the field that can move into second place in the standings with a victory.

• Only five players can move into the top-10 in the standings with third place finish.

Boo Weekley
FedExCup Rank: 51
FedExCup Points: 177

• Weekley could move as high as fifth with a victory this week.

• Weekley has finished in the top 20 in each of his three starts this season.

• Weekley enters this week ranked first in greens in regulation, averaging 79.2 percent, but he is 186th in putts per round, averaging 30.8 putts per round.

Brandt Snedeker
FedExCup Rank: 168
FedExCup Points: 26

• Last season, Snedeker started with two top-10s in his first four starts, but this year, he has missed the cut three times and finished T42 in the other.

• Despite hitting the fairway on almost 70 percent of his drives, Snedeker only ranks tied for 168th in greens in regulation percentage.

Robert Allenby
FedExCup Rank: 118
FedExCup Points: 73

• Allenby could move into the top-10 with a victory this week.

• Allenby is the only player to finish in the top five in each of the first two years that The Honda Classic has been played at PGA National (2007 & 2008).

• Last season, Allenby ranked second on the PGA TOUR in greens in regulation and finished eighth in scoring average.

Mark Wilson
FedExCup Rank: 23
FedExCup Points: 296

• The winner last week in Mayakoba, Wilson is the only player in the field that has won a PGA TOUR event this season.

• Wilson could move as high as second in the FedExCup points with a win.

Sergio Garcia
FedExCup Rank: 174
FedExCup Points: 23

• Garcia finished in the top five in four of his last five starts on the PGA TOUR in 2008 -- including three of the four playoff events and was third in the final 2008 FedExCup standings.

• Garcia had the top scoring average on the PGA TOUR in 2008.

-- Mike Vitti, PGA TOUR Staff

The Film Room

	Opening Shot Marc Fein and Brian Katrek discuss where Geoff Ogilvy should be ranked among golf's best players, and preview what to expect from the Florida Swing. Watch it
	Defending champ 2008 Honda Classic champion Ernie Els talks to the press and recaps his win prior to the start of the 2009 event. Watch it
	Weekley ready to go Even though he is not playing as well as he would like, Boo Weekley told the press at the 2009 Honda Classic he is ready to get started. Watch it