The Honda Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in south Florida. It was founded 45 years ago in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic, and is usually the first of the Florida events in late winter following the "West Coast Swing."
National Airlines was the sponsor in 1973 with Gleason and American Motors Corporation (AMC) backed it in 1981. Since 1982, American Honda Motor Company (Honda) has been the title sponsor.
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Tournament history
Its predecessor, the National Airlines Open Invitational, ran for just three seasons (1969-71); all at the Country Club of Miami in Hialeah in late March. The Gleason tournament replaced it on the schedule a month earlier in 1972 at the Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, it was among the richest events on tour with an inaugural purse of $260,000 and a $52,000 winner's share. The regular event was not played in 1976, as Inverrary hosted the Tournament Players Championship in late February, won by Jack Nicklaus. Gleason's nine-year affiliation ended after 1980, but the event continued at Inverrary through 1983. It moved to the TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs in 1984 for eight editions.
From 1992 to 1995, the event was held at the Weston Hills Golf & Country Club in Weston. 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 Palm Beach Gardens, first at the Country Club at Mirasol through 2006, then began its current run at PGA National Golf Club's Champion Course in 2007.
Since 2007, the tournament's main beneficiary is the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, chaired by Barbara Nicklaus, wife of golf legend Jack Nicklaus.
IMG bought the tournament's management company in 2013.
Player participation
Some celebrated golfers have won this tournament, including Nicklaus in 1977 and 1978, the only consecutive winner in its history. However, the tournament had acquired a reputation for struggling to attract the top players as it moved from course to course in South Florida. Since 2007, The Honda Classic has seen a vastly improved player field, largely due to the decision to make PGA National the tournament's permanent home.
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 purse was $6.4 million in 2017, with a top prize of $1.152 million (this can be contrasted to the total purse in 1981 of $300,000 (the equivalent of only $790,300 in 2016 dollars). The original winner's share of $52,000 in 1972 made it one of the richest stops on tour, greater than for any of the four majors; it was more than double that of the Masters, which had a first prize of $25,000 in 1972.
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Tournament hosts
Winners
*Weather-shortened to 54 holes
Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Source:
Multiple winners
Four men have won the tournament more than once.
- Jack Nicklaus: 1977, 1978 (consecutive)^
- Johnny Miller: 1980, 1983
- Mark Calcavecchia: 1987, 1998
- Pádraig Harrington: 2005, 2015
^ Nicklaus also won the 1976 Tournament Players Championship at Inverrary, which displaced the event.
Tournament highlights
- 1972: Tom Weiskopf outduels Jack Nicklaus to win by one shot in the first edition of the tournament.
- 1974: Leonard Thompson wins his first ever PGA Tour title by one shot over Hale Irwin. After his victory, Thompson donated $10,000 of his winnings to the Boys Clubs of America.
- 1978: Jack Nicklaus birdies the last five holes to defeat Grier Jones by one shot, for his third consecutive win at Inverrary.
- 1980: Johnny Miller wins his first tournament since his 1976 Open Championship triumph. He finishes two shots ahead of Bruce Lietzke and Charles Coody.
- 1986: Kenny Knox wins by one-shot over Clarence Rose, Jodie Mudd, Andy Bean, and John Mahaffey in spite of shooting a third round 80.
- 1987: Mark Calcavecchia wins his first Honda Classic title. Only the year before he worked as a caddy at the tournament.
- 1991: Steve Pate shoots the worst last-round score by a PGA Tour tournament winner in ten years, a 75, but still holds on to win by three shots over Paul Azinger and Dan Halldorson.
- 1992: Corey Pavin defeats Fred Couples in a sudden-death playoff only after holing a 136-yard 8-iron shot for eagle on the 72nd hole to tie for the lead.
- 1996: Tim Herron becomes the first PGA Tour rookie in 13 years to win a tournament wire-to-wire. He defeats Mark McCumber by four shots.
- 2000: Dudley Hart birdies the last four holes to defeat J. P. Hayes and Kevin Wentworth by one shot.
- 2004: Thirty-eight-year-old PGA Tour rookie Todd Hamilton wins by one shot over Davis Love III. Hamilton would go on to win The Open Championship later that same year.
- 2007: Mark Wilson wins the biggest playoff in the history of the tournament. His birdie on the third hole of sudden death defeats José Cóceres. Camilo Villegas and Boo Weekley, the other participants in the four-man playoff, had been eliminated on the second playoff hole.
- 2012: Rory McIlroy wins and claims the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. Brian Harman shot a second round 61 to set a new course record.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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