The Honda Classic Picks, Predictions, Odds

Daniel Dobish Sports Betting Expert

2 minute read

Our VI PGA handicapping experts have compiled their best bets for The Honda Classic, which is set to
take place on Thursday, Feb. 24 and ends on Sunday, Feb. 27 at The PGA National (Champion) in Palm
Beach Gardens, Fla.

• Sungjae Im Top 20 Finish (-150)
• Cameron Young Top 40 Finish (-110)
• Matthew Wolff – Tournament 3-Ball (+190)

SUNGJAE IM TOP 20 FINISH (-150)

The PGA Tour leaves the west coast and heads to the southeast for the Florida swing. PGA National is a rather short course at 7,261 yards and Par 70, but there is plenty of water and other hazards to derail things in a hurry. Areas of focus for the best success will be Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach, SG: Around the Green and SG: Putting. You won’t necessarily need a banger off the tee, but accuracy is a plus, and Greens In Regulation (GIR) doesn’t hurt.

That’s where Sungjae Im comes in. He checks off all the boxes that are needed for success at this course. He isn’t short off the green, either, as 304.9 average yards, ranking 58th on Tour. He harnesses that power, however, ranking 34th in Driving Accuracy Percentage at 65.97%. In addition, he is 11th in GIR at 74.51%, hitting 456 of his 612 total holes across 31 measured rounds.

Im is also seventh in SG: Tee-to-Green, 2nd in SG: Around-the-Green, and 10th in SG: Off-the-Tee. The only area of concern is his work on the greens, where is is 60 th in Putts Per Round (28.53), but that’s not horrific. His Round 1 putting numbers are atrocious, but he tends to improve as the weekend goes along. If he can not be terrible in the first two rounds, he’ll have success as he acclimates.

CAMERON YOUNG TOP 40 FINISH (-110)

Another player who checks off plenty of the boxes for potential success at Riviera is the South Korean Im. He checks in seventh in SG: Off-the-Tee, while ranking eighth in GIR, hitting 412 greens in 540 total holes across 30 rounds this season. That's good for a solid 76.30% in GIR. He also brings a strong short game, ranking 3rd in SG: Around-the-Green, while registering a 5th-place ranking in SG: Total.

Im has that combination of driving distance (304.5 yards per drive) with a solid driving accuracy percentage (68.10%), hitting 286 of a possible 420 fairways. While his putting leaves a lot to be desired, he still ranks a solid 9th with a scoring average of 69.807.

You could make the case for Im (+330) for a Top 10 finish, too, and that's worth a roll of the dice for a chance to more than triple your potential winnings. I also like Im (-140) in a head-to-head matchup against Paul Casey (+115), too.

MATTHEW WOLFF TOURNAMENT 3-BALL (+190) 

At near even-money, it’s worth a roll of the dice on Young. He does well in some of the targeted areas, while in others, well, bettors will be holding their breath.

Young is a banged off the tee, which isn’t necessarily needed at this short course, but it cannot be ignored, especially on the Par 5 holes. He is fourth in Driving Distance (320.2 yards), while ranking second in SG: Off-the-Tee and 46 th in SG: Off-the-Tee. 

However, where those drives go, that’s a different story. He isn’t terribly accurate, and his GIR isn’t very good. That’s because he isn’t a very good scrambler. Still, he has a solid SG: Total (1.016) number, ranking 28th, and he is a sharp putter. Once he is
on the green he is fine. And he ranks 24th in Scoring Average (70.125), too.

Young is coming off a runner-up finish at The Genesis Invitational, just behind Joaquin Niemann last week, and he has made the cut in four straight events, finishing 40th or better in each. The runner-up was Young’s second of the 2022 season, so he has been on point despite some accuracy issues off the tee.

Daniel Dobish

Dan is a handicapper and sports betting expert for VegasInsider with years of experience writing for a number of top publications in the industry. More from Daniel Dobish