Event staying put through ’21
Honda Classic, PGA National announce five-year extension.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — The Honda Classic isn’t going anywhere for the next five years.
C h i l d r e n ’ s H e a l t h - c are Charit y, the tournament’s host organization, announced Wednesday that it has entered into a five-year extension with PGA National Resort & Spa to stage the tournament on the resort’s Champion course through 2021.
PGA National has been the home of the Honda Classic since 2007.
“PGA National is just the perfect home for the Honda Classic,” Children’s Healthcare Society president Joe Steranka said. “The phenomenal success the tournament has enjoyed since it moved here is a reflection of an extraordinary golf course and world-class service experience for PGA Tour players and their families, fans and sponsors.”
Attendance for the event has grown from 97,000 in 2007 to the 202,128 who attended in 2016, while charitable contributions have gone from $430,000 in 2007 to $3.212 million in 2016.
The tournament has also enjoyed a relationship with American Honda, which at 36 years is the longest-running sponsorship on the PGA Tour.
“Our continued success is a tribute to the immense commitment from American Honda, our two founding partners Tire Kingdom and United Technologies, other sponsors, volunteers and our great fan base that continues to support the tournament every year at PGA National,” Honda Classic executive director Ken Kennerly said.
T h e p r e s e n c e o f T h e H o n d a C l a s s i c h a s a l s o helped fuel growth at PGA National Resort & Spa. The resort has undergone more than $125 million of improvements since the tournament arrived in 2007. The famed Champion course has continued to be upgraded to benefit The Honda Classic. The reputation of the legendary “Bear Trap” at the 15th through 17th holes has been elevated even further by the battles the world’s greatest players have to survive the stretch.
“PGA National Resort & Spa is honored to be the official home of The Honda Classic for the next five years,” said Greg Saunders, vice president and managing director of PGA National. “We are very excited about this year’s tournament and the years ahead.
“The positive impact that this prestigious tournament makes in our community is tremendous.”.”
C o u r s e e x p e c t e d t o be ready: About all PGA National Director of Agronomy Brad Nelson was ready to concede as rain continued to fall late Wednesday afternoon was that the Champion course would be a little softer for the first t wo days of the Honda Classic than he had hoped for earlier in the week.
“I’m about the only one who’s whining about (the rain),” he admitted, as lakes and canals that had fallen to the lowest levels seen in years were slowly rising toward normal.
Nels on s a i d hi s c rew ’s work on the course in recent weeks had brought the conditions to almost exactly where he wanted them.
“The firmness matched what we had last year on Saturday and Sunday. Now we’re sure (today) will be a softer course on the greens and fairways.”
The storm stirred memories of 2015, when a much more destructive storm toppled scoreboards, destroyed bunkers and brought sighti ng s o f a l l i g a t o r s o n t he course on the Saturday of the event. Nelson’s predecessor, Lukas Harvey, was in charge then, and Sunday’s round came off as scheduled.
“They did such a great job. They put it all together and presented a pretty good piece of property on Sunday,” Nelson said.
“T h a t s t o r m was a l o t worse than this,” volunteer Mark Zembrowski of Jupiter said. “A lot worse. They had 70 mph gusts. This is minor.”
Nelson wasn’t ready to go that far. He said a damage assessment would be made at a late-afternoon meeting and expected work to continue an hour or two past midnight to ready the course. His staff was then scheduled to begin its workday at 3:30 a.m. today.
“The biggest damage will be bunker damage,” he predicted. “That will have to be repaired. We’ll get the debris out of the bunkers (Wednesday night) and try to reset the clock in the morning.”
He h o p e d t h a t , i f t h e w e a t h e r s t a y s n i c e a s expected through the weekend, the course will respond quickly.
“I don’t know if we can quite get back to where we were,” he said. “But Saturday and Sunday will be close, because it looks pretty good.”
Marino out: Tequesta’s Steve Marino withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Marino, also who withdrew midway through last week’s Genesis Open, was replaced by Andres Gonzalez.