Bonk
Golf's tour through the Sunshine State is usually rife with storylines. Thomas Bonk has some ideas of what to expect
By Thomas Bonk
Golf Digest Digital, Writer-at-Large
The Florida Swing is where it all changed last year for Ernie Els, whose first PGA Tour victory in four years was at the Honda Classic. Honk if you saw that one coming.
A week later, Els revealed that his son was autistic, was immediately embraced by the golf community and beyond, and then somehow got back on track to being a major factor again on the pro golf tour.
It was one of the best moments of the year. Now that the four-tournament trip through Florida is underway again, it's probably a good time to take a guess on what we might see, what we definitely won't see and also try to figure out what the whole thing means.
The Honda, Doral, the Transitions and Bay Hill -- they're just four weeks out of 47 official money events this year, but as they've shown in the past, you can't sell them short. Anything can happen and we should be ready. Here's what to look for . . . or not. Let's study.
• Both Erik Compton and Tadd Fujikawa have sponsor's exemptions into the Honda. Compton is obviously a fighter -- he has had two heart transplants -- and Fujikawa shares a similar drive to achieve, since he's only a shade over 5-feet-1.
• Sergio Garcia formally took possession of the Vardon Trophy on Tuesday. How many times did he re-grip it?
• Three of the courses being played this month ranked among the toughest last year on the PGA Tour. Innisbrook and the then-PODS ranked eightth-hardest, PGA National and the Honda ranked ninth-hardest and Bay Hill ranked 18th-hardest. Honda and Innisbrook actually played more difficult last year than Augusta National, in relation to par.
• Rory McIlroy, 19, and Ryo Ishikawa, 17, golf's answer to the Jonas Brothers, are both playing -- McIlroy at the Honda and Ishikawa at the Transitions and at Bay Hill. If you combine their ages, they're still younger than one Honda entry, 44-year-old Davis Love III, which probably doesn't make him feel all that great. They had to double the size of the press tent at Riviera to make room for all the reporters following Ishikawa, but the young prodigy missed the cut there. McIlroy fared better, last week making it to the quarterfinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship. He also had won the European Tour event at Dubai, even though he looks sort of harmless. His cap seems to be sitting on top of some very tall rough. The mop-haired teen from Northern Ireland won at Dubai, which leaves this question: Which will come first, a PGA tour victory, a haircut, or an offer to play Bobby Brady in the next Brady Bunch reunion movie?
• Speaking of Innisbrook, that tournament has had more different sponsors than a NASCAR driver's shirt. It only started in 2000, but it's gone from the Tampa Bay Classic to the Chrysler Championship to the PODS Championship. So yes, Transitions sounds like the perfect sponsor.
• A couple you won't see tournament-time at Tampa: ex-Buccaneer Coach Jon Gruden and John Daly. Gruden got fired and Daly got suspended. But they cut a wide swath in grander times. Who can forget the sight of Gruden carrying Daly's bags during the round, following a time out for beer during a rain delay last year? Here's somebody who can't forget: Tim Finchem.
• Tiger Woods hasn't officially announced he's playing either one, but expect him to show up at both Doral and at Bay Hill. Why he would play Doral: He can stay on his boat. Why he would play Bay Hill: It's the only non-major that Woods has played every year since he turned pro.
• Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill course seems to get tougher and tougher. Since Fred Couple's 269 in 1992, the only other time the winning score has been under 270 (with a par of 72) was Woods' 269 in 2003. Woods won it for a fifth time last year with 270, the second year of Palmer's reduction of par to 70.
• Jack Nicklaus lives about five miles from the PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. He isn't expected to make an appearance at Honda, but Nicklaus' presence is still going to be felt. That's because he's left behind a little present, called the Bear Trap. It's a trap with identifying numbers: the 179-yard par-3 15th, the 434-yard par-4 16th and the 190-yard par-3 17th.
Two years ago, when Mark Wilson won, those three holes played a total of 245 over par. Gavin Coles had it the worst. He sent four balls into the water at the 15th and made 11. Last year, Mark Calcavecchia doubled the 15th and Els moved past him on his way to winning. The 15th was the fifth most difficult par three on the PGA Tour last year, after the 17th at Quail Hollow (Wachovia), the 9th at Oakland Hills (PGA Championship), the 13th at Sawgrass (Players) and the 17th at Oakland Hills.
