NBC Sports begins five consecutive weeks of PGA TOUR coverage with the Honda Classic this Saturday and Sunday from 3-6 pm E.T. from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The tournament’s 2009 champion Y.E. Yang – who also won the 2009 PGA Championship – returns to defend his title against a field that includes Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington (2005 winner), Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els (2008 winner), and Vijay Singh (1999 winner).
The Honda Classic enters its fourth year at the Jack Nicklaus re-designed PGA National Championship Course with its signature 15th, 16th and 17th holes, a daunting test known as “The Bear Trap.” The 17th hole is a 190-yard par three over water. The course played host to the 1983 Ryder Cup and 1987 PGA Championship.
Host Dan Hicks and analyst Johnny Miller, in their 11th season together as NBC’s lead golf team, will anchor the coverage from the 18th hole tower. They are joined by tower reporters Gary Koch and Mark Rolfing; course reporters Roger Maltbie and Dottie Pepper; and interviewer/essayist Jimmy Roberts.
HICKS: “The quality of the field in recent years illustrates that the Honda Classic is one of the tournaments that players really want to compete in and win. PGA National is such a great course with some of the most exciting finishing holes in golf. It makes for great drama on Sunday when the final holes can make or break a winner.”
MALTBIE: “The Bear Trap is dramatic. We’ve seen tournaments thrown away on those holes. The two par threes can be brutal. Whoever can maneuver through ‘the trap’ under pressure is going to win.”
FIVE CONSECUTIVE WEEKS OF GOLF: NBC Sports has coverage of the PGA TOUR for each of the next five weeks. In addition to this weekend’s Honda Classic, NBC Sports will also broadcast the WGC-CA Championship, the Transitions Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard and the Shell Houston Open. Below is the schedule following this weekend’s Honda Classic (all times ET):
