There’s an eclectic group at the top of the leader board at the Honda Classic entering the final round. Journeyman Matt Jones holds a three-stroke lead over fellow journeyman J.B. Holmes and talented but inconsistent up-and-comer Aaron Wise. Four back are a trio of young players looking to raise their profiles—C.T. Pan, Cameron Tringale and Sam Ryder—followed by a threesome of past tour winners in Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im and Robert Streb, two more former major winners in Zach Johnson and Stewart Cink, and dark horse Brice Garnett, all trailing by five.
In a situation like this, you’d expect flag hunting would be the likely course strategy come Sunday, but the Champions course at PGA National does not usually lend itself to birdie barrages. During Saturday’s third round, the scoring average on the par-70 layout was 71.426. Take out the U.S. Open and Masters, and that’s the fourth highest scoring average of any third round during the 2020-21 season, behind the Farmers Insurance Open (73.570), the Genesis Invitational (73.343) and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (71.657).
In many ways the final-round leader board at the Honda fits in well with the event’s history. Take a look at the top 10 all-time tournament money earners and you’ll notice a similarly eclectic mix of names and playing styles.
1. Luke Donald, $2,359,963.08
2. Rickie Fowler, $2,324,590
3. Padraig Harrington, $2,308,421.75
4. Vijay Singh, $1,928,203.72
5. Geoff Ogilvy, $1,841,608.33
6. Y.E. Yang, $1,776,416.21
7. Camilo Villegas, $1,729,242.66
8. Rory McIlroy, $1,609,014.62
9. Justin Thomas, $1,583,110
10. Russell Henley, $1,552,589.71
This week’s overall prize money payout is $7 million with the winner earning $1.26 million. Here’s breakdown of prize money payouts for every player who makes the cut this week.