The Honda Classic added a couple of prominent golfers to the 2021 field on Sunday.
Sungjae Im, a South Korean who won the 2020 Honda Classic with two massive birdies down the stretch during the final round, and Englishman Lee Westwood, the winner of last year's Race to Dubai as the top player on the European Tour, have committed to play in this year's tournament at PGA National on March 18-21.
Im, the 17th-ranked player in the world, and Westwood, 37th, join a field that already includes three of the last four winners on the PGA Tour - Waste Management Phoenix Open champion Brooks Koepka, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am champion Daniel Berger and Genesis Invitational champion Max Homa.
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The two International players lead a foreign contingent that also includes 2005 and 2015 Honda Classic champion and European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington, fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, Englishmen Ian Poulter and Luke Donald and Swede Henrik Stenson,
Im began the final round at Honda last year three strokes out of the lead, but made birdies on four of his first five holes. The middle of his round included three bogeys and a birdie, so Im was one off the lead as he arrived at the Bear Trap.
That's where he hit precision irons to exactly 7 feet, 10 inches at both the par-3 15th and par-3 17th holes to set up the makeable birdie putts he drained. An up-and-down for par from the front bunker at No. 18 ended up being the difference.
"I've been in this spot many times. ... I just felt like the experience really helped," Im said.
Westwood clinched the Race to Dubai title to end the 2020 season as the European Tour’s No. 1 player for the third time.
Westwood got his 2020 momentum going at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which he won in January, and then finished fourth two months later at The Honda Classic. He was second in the Race to Dubai standings behind Patrick Reed heading into the DP World Tour Championship in December and claimed the Race to Dubai by leapfrogging Reed down the stretch.
“It’s difficult to take it all in right now,” Westwood said. “Obviously, it’s been a bizarre year for so many reasons. The combination of it all here, it was a great finish. It was an exciting finish to the year, it’s really hard to quantify.”
The Honda Classic has released a limited allotment of tickets for public sale as it welcomes a reduced number of fans to this year’s tournament due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Honda Classic
PGA National
March 18-21
The Link LonkMarch 01, 2021 at 06:30PM
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Honda Classic: Defending champion Sungjae Im, Lee Westwood commit to 2021 tournament - Palm Beach Post
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