Big hitters make call to skip Honda Classic

THREE of the world’s top 10 will contest this week’s Honda Classic, but the focus has centred on the names missing from the first event of the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing. Local residents Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods are among the star names to skip the £5million tournament, despite previously enjoying success at Palm Beach Gardens, as the effects of changes to the schedule begin to bite. One local player who is in the field is world number 23 Gary Woodland, but he admits the new schedule has made it hard for players to choose which events to play or miss. ‘It’s unfortunate because it’s a great course and usually in the past, they’ve had some really big names and there’s a lot of guys that live down here,’ Woodland said. ‘But with tournaments moving around, there’s a lot of tournaments right now that are really good in a row. I skipped Riviera, which is one of my favourite golf courses of the year, but you just have to find a time. ‘I’m in a stretch of playing five out of six right now. I’ve played Bay Hill, I want to say seven years in a row, and since I moved down here two years ago I switched them out, and now I’m playing here instead of Bay Hill, and that’s tough since I love Bay Hill, as well.’ World No3 Justin Thomas will defend the title he won by beating Luke List in a play-off last year, but the likes of Masters champion Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood and Ian Poulter are among those who played 12 months ago but are not this year.