Purse: $9.2 million (€8.7m)/ $1.68m (€1.6m) to the winner.
Where: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
The course: PGA National has five golf courses in the resort with The Champion – 7,167 yards par 71 – originally designed by Tom Fazio but subsequently upgraded by Jack Nicklaus, aka The Golden Bear, who was involved in the redesign of the course which is why the famed late stretch of holes (from the 15th to the 17th) is known as the Bear Trap. The tough stretch starts with the 180 yards par 3 15th which has water down the right and to the rear of the green; the 16th is a dogleg right par 4 with the approach played over a lake to the green; and the 172 yards par 3 17th is again played mostly over water to the green. A few changes have been made to the bunkering systems, with a reduced number of sand traps on the 13th and 16th holes while the 10th hole, increased in yardage to 550 yards, is now a par 5. There is water in play on 15 of the 18 holes.
The field: With next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational (a signature event) and The Players (the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament) on the horizon, many of the world’s top players have opted to factor in a break from tournament play. There are four players from the world’s top 20 playing – Russell Henley (17), Shane Lowry (18), Sepp Straka (19) and Billy Horschel (20) – who each have great track records on the course that Jack built. Austin Eckroat is the defending champion.
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Irish in the field: Shane Lowry was hard done by in 2023 when a squall on the final hole in the final round proved costly as he finished second to Sepp Straka and he contended again last year, when finishing tied-fourth. For his latest appearance, and with the chance to sleep in his own bed, Lowry has been grouped with Gary Woodland and Min Woo Lee (off the 1st, at 5.40pm Irish time). Lee has Lowry’s former caddie Brian Martin on the bag. Séamus Power is not yet exempt into next week’s API at Bay Hill and needs a big week to gatecrash that party through the AON Swing 5. Power is in a group with Kurt Kitayama and Brandt Snedeker (off the 10th, at 5.29pm).
Quote-Unquote: “At the end of the day, I’m fighting. The last thing I’m going to let this do is let this thing in my head stop my dreams, and that’s why I fight every day. I want to be there for my kids and my family, but I want to chase my dreams, too. I’ve got a lot of dreams out here. I’m starting to understand what I need to do every day to function in life, but the things I’m doing to help with my brain are also helping me play golf, and I’m knocking on the door. I know my game is close. It’s coming, and I’m going to keep knocking on that door until I bust through, and then we’ll see what happens” – Gary Woodland, who is currently 73rd on the FedEx Cup standings, on his recovery from surgery for a brain tumour and his goal to win again.
Betting: Local knowledge and a good track record are worth their weight in gold around PGA National and Shane Lowry, with top-5s on each on his last three appearances, is the market leader at odds of 18-1 ahead of former champions Daniel Berger (20-1), Sungjae Im (22-1), Russell Henley (25-1) and Sepp Straka (25-1). Lowry has shown good form this season (highlighted by a runner-up finish to Rory McIlroy in the Pebble Beach pro-am) and should again contend on one of his favourite tour stops, further down, there is some each-way value to be found with Denny McCarthy rated a 33-1 chance and defending champion Austin Eckroat priced at 50s.
On TV: Live coverage from 4pm on Sky Sports Golf.
