The PGA Tour stops in Palm Beach Gardens this week for the first of four events on the Florida Swing: The Honda Classic at PGA National.
Mark Wilson won the 2007 Honda in a playoff against Jose Coceres, Camilo Villegas and Boo Weekley for his first PGA Tour title.
In a field that doesn't include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh but does have a strong international contingent, Wilson (+4000 on WagerWeb.com) certainly could defend his title. He has finished in the top 35 of every event he has played this year but one - with a high of ninth at the FBR Open.
"I've had some success there and try to keep my expectations low but know that I played well there the year before. And hopefully the people in Palm Beach will be behind me and remind me of my good play the year before, and I'll try to feed off of that," said Wilson, who ranks 27th on the money list with $435,599 and is in the top 25 in driving accuracy and greens in regulation.
All three runners-up will return this week as well, but only Weekley has played regularly since the start of the season and has two top-10 finishes.
While American Justin Leonard (+1700 on WagerWeb.com) is the highest-ranked player in FedEx Cup points set to tee it up this week, look for a winner to come from the international group led by Ernie Els, Justin Rose, Angel Cabrera, Luke Donald, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia. While Americans have won 28 of 34 editions of the Honda Classic, foreign-born players have captured six of the last 14, and international players have figured in the top two in four of the last six.
Els is coming off a humiliating 6-and-5 first-round loss in the Match Play. He is playing his first Honda Classic since 1999 and is the WagerWeb.com favorite this week at +650.
"I think it's a golf course that I can do well on," Els said. "I feel like I'm striking it quite nicely and I just want to play some solid golf now.
"Some people can easily get on your case a little bit when things aren't going so well," said Els, whose last victory in the U.S. was the 2004 Memorial tournament. "But I don't ever take any notice of that. I've just got to keep fighting and keep working hard on my game."
Two off-the-radar Americans to watch are Davis Love III and Mark Calcavecchia, who both have five top- 0 finishes at the Honda Classic in their careers. Calcavecchia has won twice and been runner-up on two occasions, while Love has never missed the cut and finished second in 2003 and '04.
LPGA TOUR: The HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore features a stellar field; only winners from tours around the world were invited to play, leading to a field that consists of the top 15 players in the world rankings and 18 of the top 20.
And for the first time this year, Annika Sorenstam, who has a victory and a fourth-place finish already, and world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa will be in the same event.
Ochoa is the overwhelming favorite at +180 on WagerWeb.com, with Annika second at +600.
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