A plaque greets players as they enter “The Bear Trap” for the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.(Photo: Sam Greenwood, Getty Images)
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — There is the potential for danger everywhere you look on the Champion Course at PGA National — water, heavy rough, deep bunkers, pitched greens.
But no three-hole stretch will make the players in the Honda Classic sweat more than the Bear Trap — the 179-yard par-3 15th, the 434-yard par-4 16th, and the 190-yard par-3 17th. Named in honor of Jack Nicklaus, the 803-yard stretch starts with an inscription on a tee marker at the 15th hole — “It should be won or lost right here.” It ends with most players walking toward the 18th tee after making bogey or worse.
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“That stretch is about precision,” Nicklaus once said. “That stretch is about guts.”
At No. 15, a deep pot bunker to the left is but one of the dangers. Water also flanks three-fourths of the green.
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The 16th doglegs right over water to a severe two-tiered green. Nicklaus added a lengthy fairway bunker on the right that swallows up most tee shots destined for the water.
The par-3, 190-yard 17th is the 15th’s twin brother. Water borders more than half the green, while a large, deep bunker protects most of the rest of the putting surface.
Now add strong south Florida winds.
Last year Rory McIlroy moved to No. 1 in the world with his win in the Honda Classic. In the final round, as he was holding off a charge by Tiger Woods and Tom Gillis to win by two shots, he made two huge up-and-down pars out of bunkers on the 15th and 17th.
“It’s tough,” McIlroy said of the Bear Trap. “So you’ve got 15 and 17 are the obvious tough holes of that stretch. Sixteen, if you get your drive away is an OK hole. But obviously missing it right isn’t very good, and then missing it in that left bunker on both 15 and 17, isn’t a good place to miss it, either.
“So you have to be pretty precise and you get through that stretch in even par for the week, you’ve done very well.”
