Honda Classic

Infobox_Golf_Tournament
tournament_name = Honda Classic
nickname =


location = Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
establishment = 1972
course = PGA National Resort and Spa (Champion Course)
par = 70
yardage = 7,241
tour = PGA Tour
format = Stroke play
purse = $5,500,000
month_played = March
aggregate = 264 Justin Leonard (2003)
to-par = -24 Justin Leonard (2003)
Current Champion = Ernie ElsThe Honda Classic is a PGA Tour golf tournament that is played each March in Florida. It was founded in 1972 as the Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic. In 1981, American Motors (AMC) backed the tournament. Since 1982, Honda has sponsored it.

The event was originally played at the Inverrary Golf Club in Lauderhill, Florida. In 1984, it moved to the TPC at Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Florida, where it stayed until 1991. From 1992 to 1995, the event was held at the Weston Hills Golf & Country Club in Weston, Florida. It then returned to Coral Springs, first at the TPC at Eagle Trace in 1996 and then at the TPC at Heron Bay from 1997 to 2002. In 2003, the event moved to its current location in Palm Beach Gardens, first at the Country Club at Mirasol through 2006, and starting in 2007, at PGA National Resort and Spa's Champion Course, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The 2007 event had a new executive director, Ken Kennerly, who oversees a newly formed tournament organizing committee.

Some celebrated golfers have won this tournament, including Jack Nicklaus in 1977 and 1978. However, it has acquired a reputation for struggling to attract the top players. Tiger Woods has never taken part, Ernie Els was an absentee from 1999 until 2008, and Phil Mickelson since 2002. This is despite the fact that the prize money is comparable to other PGA Tour events outside of the "big nine" (the majors, the World Golf Championships individual events, the Players Championship, and the Tour Championship). The total was US$5,500,000 in 2007, with a top prize of $990,000 (this can be contrasted to the total purse of $300,000 for the match held in 1981).

Part of the problem is this event's place on the schedule. It is the least-heralded of the PGA Tour's "Florida Swing" that includes the Bay Hill Invitational and the CA Championship (a World Golf Championship event). Between these two popular events plus the The Masters in early April, many of the world's top players choose to take the week of the Honda Classic off. However, the hope is that the field will be strengthened by the change in venue to PGA National, a well-regarded course that has twice hosted the PGA Championship.

The tournament will have a new beneficiary - the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, which is chaired by Barbara Nicklaus, wife of golfing legend Jack Nicklaus.

Winners

*2008 Ernie Els
*2007 Mark Wilson
*2006 Luke Donald
*2005 Pádraig Harrington
*2004 Todd Hamilton
*2003 Justin Leonard
*2002 Matt Kuchar
*2001 Jesper Parnevik
*2000 Dudley Hart
*1999 Vijay Singh
*1998 Mark Calcavecchia
*1997 Stuart Appleby
*1996 Tim Herron
*1995 Mark O'Meara
*1994 Nick Price
*1993 Fred Couples
*1992 Corey Pavin
*1991 Steve Pate
*1990 John Huston
*1989 Blaine McCallister
*1988 Joey Sindelar
*1987 Mark Calcavecchia
*1986 Kenny Knox
*1985 Curtis Strange
*1984 Bruce Lietzke

Honda Inverrary Classic
*1983 Johnny Miller
*1982 Hale Irwin

American Motors Inverrary Classic
*1981 Tom Kite

Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic
*1980 Johnny Miller
*1979 Larry Nelson
*1978 Jack Nicklaus
*1977 Jack Nicklaus
*1976 "No tournament"
*1975 Bob Murphy
*1974 Leonard Thompson

Jackie Gleason Inverrary-National Airlines Classic
*1973 Lee Trevino

Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic
*1972 Tom Weiskopf

External links

* [http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r010 Coverage on the PGA Tour's official site]
* [http://66.128.148.121/cgi.pan$winners&Honda_Classic&&pga?golfstats Results and stats on the Honda Classic]
* [http://www.wfpccvideo.com/jl/pga_national/ Information about the courses and Resort]