South Florida will host the 2019 Honda Classic as some of the world's top PGA Tour players converge on the Champion Course at PGA National Resort & Spa. Play gets underway on Thursday, with 2019 Honda Classic tee times beginning bright and early at 6:45 a.m. ET. Defending champion Justin Thomas begins his title defense at 12:35 p.m. ET on Thursday and will be paired alongside 2017 champion Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel. Meanwhile, back-to-back U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka tees off at 7:45 a.m. ET and is looking for his second PGA Tour victory of the season. Thomas enters this week's event as the Vegas favorite at 5-1, while both Koepka and Fowler are close behind at 10-1 in the latest 2019 Honda Classic odds. With so many big names taking aim at this $6.8 million purse, you'll want to look at the 2019 Honda Classic picks and PGA predictions from SportsLine's advanced computer model before making any of your own.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed four of the past eight majors entering the weekend and called Tiger Woods' deep run in the PGA Championship despite being a 25-1 long shot. The model has been spot-on early in the 2018-19 season. Last week, it was high on eventual winner Dustin Johnson at the 2019 WGC-Mexico Championship, projecting him as one of the top two contenders from the start. It also correctly predicted Brooks Koepka's (9-1) victory at the CJ Cup earlier this season. Additionally, it correctly called Bryson DeChambeau's (9-1) seven-shot victory at the 2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Anyone who has followed the model is up huge.
Now that the 2019 Honda Classic field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times and the results were surprising. One huge shocker the model is calling for: Adam Scott, a former champion of this event and one of the top Vegas favorites, doesn't even crack the top five.
Thus far in the 2018-19 PGA season, Scott has already racked up three top-10 finishes. Although he has 13 career PGA Tour victories, he's only finished on top of the leaderboard once since winning the 2016 Honda Classic, which was the WGC-Cadillac Championship that same year.
Plus, Scott enters this week's tournament ranked 141st on the PGA Tour in greens in regulations percentage (67.99), which could cause major trouble. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in this loaded field.
Another curveball: Cameron Smith, a 20 -1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
Smith proved he can play with golf's biggest stars last week at the WGC-Mexico Championship, finishing sixth in an event that featured the likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson. In fact, he enters the 2019 Honda Classic as one of the most talented young golfers on the PGA Tour and now gets a chance to battle the sport's elite once more.
Smith has already earned three top-10 finishes this season and enters the Honda Classic 2019 ranked eighth on tour in total strokes gained this season. The 25-year-old Australian is also averaging 4.47 birdies per round and is lethal on the green. In fact, Smith is 10th in putting on the PGA Tour at 28.19 putts per round and is No. 1 in approach putt performance at 1'10". He has all the skills needed to ascend the 2019 Honda Classic leaderboard in a hurry.
Also, the model says four additional golfers with 2019 Honda Classic odds of 18-1 or longer make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the Honda Classic 2019? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the Honda Classic odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full Honda Classic projected leaderboard from the model that nailed the winners of four golf majors, and find out.
Justin Thomas 5-1
Rickie Fowler 10-1
Brooks Koepka 10-1
Adam Scott 16-1
Sergio Garcia 16-1
Gary Woodland 18-1
Webb Simpson 20-1
Cameron Smith 20-1
Daniel Berger 33-1
Emiliano Grillo 33-1
Luke List 33-1
Byeong Hun An 40-1
Russell Knox 40-1
Alex Noren 40-1
Scott Piercy 40-1
