The TOUR Insider: Honda Classic

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Mark Wilson didn't do anything special when he won the 2007 The Honda Classic in a four-man playoff. At least he didn't think he had, until the congratulatory e-mails started pouring in.

Mark Wilson has already reeled off three top-25 finishes in 2008. (WireImage)

Power Rankings

Dave Shedloski's top players for the Honda Classic:

1. Angel Cabrera 2. Justin Leonard 3. Boo Weekley 4. Camillo Villegas 5. Justin Rose

Last year at the Champion Course at PGA National Resort, Wilson, 33, defeated Jose Coceres, Camillo Villegas and Boo Weekley in a Monday playoff for his first PGA TOUR title. But his reputation as a winner was secured three days earlier when he called a two-stroke penalty on himself after his caddie, not thinking, surreptitiously gave advice to another competitor by revealing Wilson's club selection on the par-3 fifth hole.

"I probably got 500 e-mails from people congratulating me," Wilson was quoted as saying in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "The most touching were the ones I got from fathers who said their sons were watching, and it was a great example of what they were trying to teach their children about the game."

It wasn't just about the game, but about sports and sportsmanship, a good lesson in an era of Congressional hearings about performance enhancing drugs in baseball, alleged spying in pro football, and gambling by a referee in the NBA.

"I do like to think we're a little different in this game," Wilson said.

Wilson admits his victory at the Champion Course, a 7,241-yard, par-70 layout renovated by Jack Nicklaus, "changed my life." And, he added, "It changed the way I perceive myself."

It also changed the arc of his career. No more visits to Q-School. Instead, he got to visit revered Riviera Country Club for the first time at the Northern Trust Open. He qualified for his first PLAYERS Championship and first PGA Championship. He played in two World Golf Championships events.

Wilson said that he is a more consistent player, and that he has learned how to grind out a score better. Thus far he has missed just one cut. He admits the year since his victory has flown by, but you know how fast time can go when you're having fun.

"It's gone by really quick. I'm surprised it's already coming up," said Wilson, who last month tied for ninth at the FBR Open and finished joint 11th at the Northern Trust Open. "I'm excited to go in there with a frame of mind to just enjoy being there. I've had some success there and try to keep my expectations low but know that I played well there the year before. And hopefully the people in Palm Beach will be behind me and remind me of my good play the year before, and I'll try to feed off of that."

Also going rather quickly is the PGA TOUR season, which already is in its ninth week and heading for four straight tournaments in the state of Florida. The Honda Classic is the 10th of 33 regular season events on the FedExCup schedule. Justin Leonard, who won The Honda Classic in 2003 at the Country Club at Mirosol across the street from PGA National, is the highest ranked player in FedExCup points this week at No. 4.

FEDEXCUP Pointers:

• Last year's runner-up finishers, Camillo Villegas, Boo Weekley and Jose Coceres all have returned for another go at the Champion Course at PGA National. Only Weekley, who three-putted the final green to create the tie at the top, has played regularly since the start of the season and has two top-10 finishes. Villegas will be making his fifth start of '08, and has yet to finish better than 13th. Coceres finally teed it up last week at the Mayakoba Classic after a false start at Riviera Country Club, where he withdrew before hitting a shot.

Hank Kuehne led the PGA TOUR in driving distance in 2004, but injuries have stalled his career. (WireImage)

• Former U.S. Amateur champion Hank Kuehne is back in action for the first time since last year's St. Jude Championship, just one of three events he tried to compete in during an injury plagued 2007. Kuehne, in fact, has played in just 15 tournaments, including three on the Nationwide Tour, since 2005 as he battles a nagging back injury. Playing out of the major medical extension category, Kuehne has 18 events to earn $636,221 and retain his card for the rest of '08.

• Americans have won 28 of 34 editions of The Honda Classic, but foreign-born players have captured six of the last 14, and international players have figured in the top two in four of the last six.

• Seven of the last 12 winners of The Honda Classic hadn't previously won a PGA TOUR event, including the last four: Wilson, Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, and Todd Hamilton. The others are Matt Kuchar (2002), Stuart Appleby (1997) and Tim Herron ('96). Appleby and Harrington are absent this week. Kuchar finished third last week at the Mayakoba Classic.

• David Toms and David Duval should be watched closely. Each withdrew from his last start. Toms, who finished 20th last year, pulled out of the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship with a bad back. Duval ducked out after nine holes of the Northern Trust Open with a neck injury. Duval has never before played in The Honda Classic.

• Four players in this week's field have the distinction of participating in last year's The Honda Classic and before that in the last TOUR event at PGA National's Champion Course, the 1987 PGA Championship. They are: Fred Funk (T-47), Paul Azinger (missed cut), Mark Calcavecchia (MC) and Davis Love III (MC).

• Love and Calcavecchia each have five top-10 finishes in The Honda Classic, most among the 144 players in the field. Calcavecchia collected his in 22 starts and has two wins and two seconds among them. Love, who tied for 13th last year, has never missed the cut in 13 appearances, and he was runner-up in 2003 and '04.

• Tadd Fujikawa, the 17-year-old from Hawaii who turned pro last year, has garnered his third sponsor exemption of the season and seeks to make his first cut as a professional. Fujikawa, who played in the U.S. Open at age 15, got the last sponsor exemption available.

• Also making his debut this week is a more prominent name: Sergio Garcia, who hasn't won the TOUR since 2005 when he captured the now defunct Booz Allen Classic. Meanwhile, fellow European Tour members Ernie Els and Retief Goosen of South Africa are also making rare appearances. Els has played four times at The Honda Classic, but his last start was in 1999. Goosen, who has slumped to 34th in the world rankings, is making his second start in the event.