Rory McIlroy is the rightful favourite to win the Honda Classic
Published:Rory McIlroy’s solid start to his season looks set to get even better at the Honda Classic this weekend.
The US Open champion heads into the event as the 7/1 favourite following another good showing at the Accenture World Match Play last weekend.
McIlroy may not have won – he lost in the final to American Hunter Mahan – but he continued to build on the good form that has seen him move up to second in the world rankings, just 0.53 points behind current World No.1 Luke Donald.
A win in the Honda Classic would see him claim the top spot and McIlroy himself believes it’s only a matter of time before he is looking down on the rest of the golfing world.
Speaking to the Telegraph, McIlroy said: “Getting to the top of the rankings is hopefully inevitable, if I keep ¬playing the way I am at the minute.”
He will certainly be the man to beat this week and the 7/1 offered for him to triumph could prove to be a very shrewd bet – especially considering the way he saw off Lee Westwood in the semi-final of the Accenture World Match Play.
Second favourite is, of course, Tiger Woods at 10/1.
The 14-times major champion crashed out in the World Match Play to Nick Watney in the second round following 18 holes in which his putting was far from the fail-safe weapon we’ve become used to.
He missed a five-foot putt on the 18th to take the match to a 19th hole and he will need to improve on the greens to claim a maiden Honda title.
However, he’s finished in the top 15 of all three of the strokeplay events he’s played in this season and looks well worth an each-way punt.
Elsewhere, Westwood is also 10/1, while Graeme McDowell is out at 33/1 to win his first tournament of the year.
