Thomas out to defend his Honda title

The first tournament of what is known as the Florida Swing gets underway this week with Justin Thomas (5/1 outright winner) defending his title at the Honda Open Classic at the PGA National.

A dozen players from the top 30 in the FedEx Cup rankings will be on show with the likes of Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler amongst those in attendance.

There will be a large contingent from Europe as well, as they continue their preparations for The Players Championship and Sergio Garcia starts, so too does Alex Noren, Martin Kaymer, Lucas Bjerregaard and Padraig Harrington, who is returning from injury.

Whilst Thomas is many experts selection to pick up the win, the odds appear against him as he will be looking to become only the second player in history to win back-to-back titles in this event, the only other player to have done that is the great Jack Nicklaus.

Nicklaus is responsible for the redesign of the course itself and it now has the legendary Bear Trap from holes 15 to 17, a par three then a four and finally a three where accuracy is vital.

Thomas (12/1 Masters outright) goes into the tournament with his confidence high and he thinks he is hitting form at the right time with the US Masters around the corner.

“I feel I’m really, really close to reeling off some wins,” said Thomas. “All I can do is just keep doing the best I can.”

Odds subject to change