Australian-born Matt Jones confident as he vies to repeat as Honda Classic champion

Matt Jones, the defending champion of the Honda Classic, paid a visit to Palm Beach Gardens on Tuesday.

And, surprisingly, he did not even hit one practice ball on the PGA National course that he torched a year ago.

Well, maybe that’s not so surprising. He went without playing any golf since the visit was on Zoom or one of the many, many other communication entities these days.

Jones, 41 years old and Australian born, has already signed up to defend his Honda championship in this year’s tournament, which runs February 24 through 27.

In the 2021 Honda, Jones posted a first-round 61 and then played steadily – and “very calmly” according to him -- in the final three rounds as he gained his second PGA Tour victory.

Jones was jokingly asked what he might shoot in this year’s first round … 58, 59, 60 maybe.

With a smile, he responded, “I think another 61 would be just fine.”

Nerves were not much of a factor a year ago. He ended up winning by a comfortable five strokes and with little drama over Brandon Hagy.

More importantly, he also gained $1,260,000. Not bad for playing four rounds of golf.

Not everything has been easy for Jones. At one point in his PGA career he went 174 tournaments without winning.

With that behind him, Jones indicated Tuesday how “crazy” life on the PGA Tour can be: “The good thing about golf is you can miss the cut one week and win the next week. I’ll just say that winning on the PGA Tour is so, so tough.”

About defending his championship at Honda, he added, “Anytime you defend a title, it’s kind of scary.”

OTHER CONTENDERS

There will be plenty of big and scary names Jones will be contending with:

Among those signed up to play so far are Brooks Koepka (nearby Jupiter residence and holder of four major titles and ranked No. 20 in the world). Then there is Rickie Fowler (also a Jupiter residence and holder of nine professional victories). Also scheduled to be in the field are No. 12 Louis Oosthuizen, No. 16 Harris English, No. 22 Billy Horschel and No. 24 Jason Kokrak.

TICKET INFO

Grounds tickets for this year’s Honda Classic and Bear Trap seating can be purchased by calling 1-844-846-6328 or over the internet at thehondaclassic.com.