Signature City Winter 2023

The Honda Classic: Then & Now

Written by Craig Dolch | Photographs courtesy of The Honda Classic

In 2002, the Honda Classic arrived in Palm Beach Gardens, the PGA TOUR event moving north after spending three decades in Broward County. Ten years later, on March 4, 2012, the Honda Classic truly arrived on the world golf scene. That’s the day Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods – the faces of golf during the last two generations – dueled down the stretch of a scintillating final round at PGA National.

The Bear Trap.

Woods closed birdie-eagle to shoot 62 on the Champion course – his lowest final round – to apply the pressure on McIlroy. The Northern Irishman was up to the task: Hearing the roars from Woods’ exploits, McIlroy made a birdie and three clutch pars around the Bear Trap to shoot 69 and beat Woods and Tom Gillis by two shots.

McIlroy’s victory moved him into the No. 1 spot in the world ranking for the first time. At 22, McIlroy became the youngest player to reach No. 1 since … Woods, who did so when he was 21. The exciting finish gave the Honda Classic the type of drama major championships can’t dream about. It was the first time Woods had played in the Honda Classic since the then amateur was offered an exemption when he was 17.

Longtime tournament Executive Director Ken Kennerly was brought to tears when he announced Woods would be playing. Woods’ presence certainly brought out the fans to PGA National – more than 100,000 showed up during the week to witness history and have a blast doing so. It was the greatest highlight, but not the only one for the Honda Classic, fittingly played in the “Golf Capital of the World.”

It brought back the thrills that were evident when the tournament started a half century ago. In 1972, thanks in large part to a host who also knew how to put on a show – comedian Jackie Gleason – a new PGA TOUR event in South Florida debuted. It immediately made noise when future Hall of Famers Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus battled down the stretch near Fort Lauderdale to win the inaugural Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic.

Weiskopf made a 30-foot birdie putt on the penultimate hole to beat his Ohio rival and claim the $52,000 first prize, one of the richest on the PGA TOUR. And away we went, to modify Gleason’s catchphrase.

That was the start of 51 years of incredible golf, fabulous finishes, decorated winners, lots of laughs and cheers along the way, and tens of million dollars raised for charity. From the beginning, what we know as the Honda Classic has captivated fans while becoming one of South Florida’s top sporting events.

Gleason wasn’t the only Great One involved with the tournament. Not when the list of winners includes a wing of the

World Golf Hall of Fame legends such as Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Fred Couples, Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, and Ernie Els; proven winners such as Mark Calcavecchia, Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. Winning the Honda Classic was so nice, Nicklaus, Miller, Calcavecchia and Harrington did it twice. Nicklaus remains the only one to win back-to-back (’77 and ’78).

If a tournament is judged by the pedigree of its winners, the Honda Classic could be ranked among the four major champions. The tournament certainly knew how to put on an entertaining show, the most scintillating finish coming when Nicklaus birdied the last five holes to steal a victory from Grier Jones in 1978.

“That’s the first time I finished a tournament with five birdies,” said Nicklaus, who started his birdie barrage by holing an 80-foot chip on the 14th hole. “I couldn’t do it (make birdie) the easy way, so I thought I would do it the hard way.”

But changes were on the way: In ’81, Gleason stopped hosting and American Motors Company became the sponsor in ’81 with American Honda Motor Company taking over in ’82, beginning the longest-running sponsorship on the PGA TOUR. The tournament left Inverrary in 1984 for neighboring TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs – a stadium course the PGA TOUR owned – and officially became known as The Honda Classic.

The tournament remained in Broward County for the next 18 years, but it struggled to gain traction because it shifted from TPC Eagle Trace, TPC Heron Bay and Weston Hills Country Club four times. In 2003, the PGA TOUR steered the Honda Classic to Palm Beach Gardens and convinced Nicklaus and wife Barbara to serve as unofficial hosts with the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation becoming the primary sponsor. Last year’s Honda Classic raised a record $6.45 million for charities, pushing the total to $46 million in the 16 years it has been held at PGA National.

If a tournament is judged by the pedigree of its winners, the Honda Classic could be ranked among the four major champions.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after winning the Honda Classic at PGA National on March 4, 2012 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

The TOUR’s decision to move to Palm Beach Gardens was akin to Nicklaus making those five closing birdies to win in 1978 – it changed the direction and success of the tournament. The Honda Classic was held at the Country Club at Mirasol from 2003-06, and it produced four splendid winners: Three eventual major champions (Leonard, Harrington and Todd Hamilton as well as a future world No. 1 (Luke Donald).

The Honda Classic reached another level when it moved across PGA Boulevard in 2007 to PGA National’s Champion Course, which had hosted the 1983 Ryder Cup and the 1987 PGA Championship. The Champ, as the course was known, also had been renovated by Nicklaus and, with his children’s healthcare foundation’s involvement, he became a caretaker of the course, tweaking it every year. Thanks in large part to Nicklaus’ involvement, many of the game’s top players – who had followed Jack’s lead of moving to Palm Beach County in the mid-1960s – started playing in the Honda Classic.

After McIlroy’s seismic victory in 2012, the Honda Classic became one of the best non-major events on the PGA TOUR. It started attracting most of the top players in the world rankings, while producing elite winners on a very tough golf course. During the Honda Classic’s 16-year run at PGA National, the winners have included six major champions (Els, Yang, McIlroy, Harrington, Scott and Thomas), as well as constant major contender Fowler.

Nicklaus gave the Honda Classic a more dramatic closing stretch in 2014 when he re-designed the 15th, 16th and 17th holes, which became known as the Bear Trap because of their difficulty. Fans flocked to the Bear Trap to see which players could handle the formidable finish. There is a plaque next to the 15th that notifies golfers: “You are about the enter the Bear Trap.” Below it are these words: “It should be won or lost right here,” with Nicklaus’ signature and a statue of a bear next to it.

Honda recently announced it will stop its longest-continuous sponsorship on the PGA TOUR after the tournament is held on February 23-26. But the show, started by the entertainer Gleason, will go on. Under the leadership of Kennerly and new Executive Director Andrew George, the Honda Classic has become more than a golf tournament; it has become a happening with ancillary events held throughout the year. Moreover, the Honda Classic has done far more than entertain golf fans. It also has raised millions of dollars for local charities.