Honda needs Tour’s help
Fowler wins; Classic suffers from weaker field caused by Doral’s loss
PALM BEACH GARDENS — A couple cases of beer rolled into The Honda Classic press room midSunday afternoon on one of those luggage carriers hotels use. Jhonattan Vegas hit a hole-in-one at the Honda Classic and, bless him, wanted to share his good fun.
Maybe this is the best place to start with the current predicament of pro golf in South Florida. This gesture meant Vegas went from being known only to dedicated golf fans to being a media favorite.
We’re easy thatway. Beyond that, it didn’t take much of a nudge to become a favorite this Honda Classic. Rickie Fowler won it going away, thank goodness, because hewas the only one of two players near the top of the leader board you’ve likely ever read about.
And the other player sent a case of beer to the press room.
This is the first year since 1962 that the PGA Tour doesn’t have a tournament in Doral, and the effect is obvious and unfortunate to the Honda and local golf fans. To put it succinctly: The best golfers weren’t here.
The Honda remained an impeccably run and heavily
attended tournament thatwas kissed by perfectweather. But this wasn’t theHonda of recent years. Too many golfers didn’twant to come fromCalifornia to South Florida for a one-week trip before jetting to the next stop inMexico City.
Therewere no players ranked in the top five and only three in the top 10. Thiswas, judging by the field, the Quad City Open. And it’s going to remain that unless something changes.
Does it matter? Well, if you like good golf and big-time competition it matters. Fowlerwas undramatic in victory. He had five birdies and four bogeys on a relatively uninspired final round to beat MorganHoffmann and Gary Woodland by four strokes.
“I didn’t play great,” he said. “It wasn’t a pretty round. But I got the job done. A win is a win.”
Maybe there’s more drama if RoryMcIlroy, whowas hurt, played as scheduled. Certainly therewould be if TigerWoods also had played. But it says something about golf that Tiger has barely played and certainly not won in five years but remains the bell-cowgolf. It’s like Mike Tyson at the end of boxing.
Honda executive directorKen Kennerly built this into at topnotch event over the last several years and knows it needs some help fromthe PGA now. When the currentWorld Golf Classic moved fromDoral toMexico City, the initial thoughtwas itwould help theHonda.
Wasn’tHonda the only PGA Tour golf outlet now? Wouldn’t all the attention center on it?
Therewas a short-term benefit, too, as roughly $200,000 in sponsorship money fromlocal companies that previouslywas directed to Doral’s events, Kennerly said.
But the big picture shows top players stayed away. Theyweren’t coming to South Florida for one week. Kennerlywants to swap tournament dates withMexico City so makeHonda and tournaments in Tampa and Orlando in successiveweeks.
That makes sense. But when Cadillac pulled sponsorship of the World Golf Classic at Doral last year for financial or political reasons, the fall-out hit all South Florida.
Donald Trump, a common citizen and Doral owner, said when the tourmove toMexico was announced, “likeNabisco, Carrier and so many other American companies, the PGA Tour has put profit ahead of thousands of American jobs, millions of dollars in revenue for local communities and charities and the enjoyment of hundreds of thousands of fans who make the tournament annual tradition.’’
It isn’t lost on anyone Trump’s tournamentwent toMexico, of all places. It’s South Florida’s loss not to have a Doral event coming up thisweek. Fowler typicallywould stay at home in Jupiter before and after Doral.
“Now I’ll hop on a charter,” he said of the tour’s jet services. “That’s whatwe do. We travel.”
Golf fans in South Florida? Theywatch their fun fly away. It’s bad enough there’s a void this week at Doral. But theHonda, well-run as itwas, didn’t have the field to be theHonda of recent years.