After a thrilling California Swing that saw multiple changes in the No. 1 ranking, the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing begins this week at the 2023 Honda Classic, and we have our money on the defending champion. Here’s our pick, the betting favorites and everything else you need to know for the week.
Honda Classic odds: Long-shot bet
It’s very rare that a defending champion receives long odds-to-win when he returns to the site of his victory, but that’s the case this week at the Honda.
Sepp Straka held strong while Daniel Berger collapsed on Sunday at last year’s Honda Classic, capturing his first PGA Tour victory in style with a final score of 10 under. He then collected four more top-10 finishes through the remainder of last season.
So far this season, Straka has earned a runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a T10 at the limited-field Hero World Challenge. In his last two starts, he finished T21 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and a T45 at the Genesis Invitational. Despite all of those solid results, Straka sits at +5000 odds-to-win the Honda.
With many PGA Tour stars sitting this week out, and with his winning memories from last year fresh in his mind, Straka is a great long-shot pick this week. Should he pull off a victory, he could turn a $10 bet into $500.
How last week’s long shot fared
For last week’s Genesis Invitational, we identified 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott as our long-shot bet of the week. Scott began the week with +5500 odds-to-win, and he was looking great after an opening-round 69.
But three-straight rounds over par followed, including a 75 in Saturday’s third round. So while he made the cut, Scott fell to a solo-65th finish, putting another L on the scoreboard.
PAST RESULTS
2023 Genesis Invitational: Adam Scott (Odds: +5500; Finish: 65)
2023 WM Phoenix Open: Rickie Fowler (Odds: +8000; Finish: T10)
2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Beau Hossler (Odds +8000; Finish: T11)
2023 Farmers Insurance Open: Rickie Fowler (Odds: +10000; Finish: T11)
2023 Sony Open in Hawaii: Kurt Kitayama (Odds: +5000; Finish: T73)
2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions: Ryan Brehm (Odds: +75000; Finish: T35)
Honda Classic odds: The favorites
Another former Honda Classic champion is this week’s pre-tournament betting favorite: Sungjae Im. The No. 18-ranked player in the world won the 2020 edition of the event and comes in this year with +850 odds-to-win.
Two-time PGA Tour winner and 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry, who finished runner-up to Straka at last year’s Honda, registers in second with +1600. Aaron Wise wraps up the top-3 with +2200 odds-to-win.
You can see the top 10 in Honda Classic betting odds as of Wednesday morning at the bottom of this post, or head over to BetMGM to see the full list of odds and bets for this week.
2023 Honda Classic betting odds (Top 10 and ties)
Sungjae Im (+850)
Shane Lowry (+1600)
Aaron Wise (+2200)
Chris Kirk (+2500)
Deny McCarthy (+2500)
Matt Kuchar (+2500)
Min Woo Lee (+2500)
Adam Svensson (+2800)
Billy Horschel (+2800)
Harris English (+3300)
J.T. Poston (+3300)
Jhonattan Vegas (+3300)
