Honda Classic breaks attendance record

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PALM BEACH GARDENS , Fla. -- The 2010 Honda Classic, buoyed by a large crowd that attended the Kenny G Gold Pro Am on Wednesday to watch a celebrity-laden featured pairing, broke the 100,000 spectator barrier for the first time in the tournament's history.

The event attracted 101,200 confirmed spectators between Monday's Fins Cup Pro-Am and Sunday's final round which saw Camilo Villegas emerge as the new Honda Classic champion with an impressive five-stroke victory over Anthony Kim. Approximately 94,000 fans attended The Honda in 2009.

The biggest attendance jumps came during Sunday's final round and also on Wednesday when Pro Am host Kenny G played alongside golf legend Jack Nicklaus, Super Bowl MVP and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and former Dolphin quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino.

Sunday's final round was attended by approximately 31,500 golf fans compared to 25,800 in 2009. The Wednesday crowd was 9,300 compared to approximately 4,000 Pro-Am attendees in 2009. Attendance totals were comparable to 2009 on all other days, with a slight increase on Friday and minimal decreases on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday that tournament officials attributed to the cold weather that cast a chill on South Florida during tournament week.

"We are obviously thrilled with the way our entire tournament week unfolded and how the community responded," Honda Classic Executive Director Kenneth R. Kennerly said. "We spend our entire year developing a calendar of events that we feel provides great value to our fans and this year we were very fortunate to add that fantastic foursome that played in the Kenny G Gold Pro-Am on Sunday. It was very cold at times and people still came out and showed their support for the players and our tournament charities."

The Honda also benefited from a slight change in the PGA TOUR schedule in 2010 that placed the FBR Open in Phoenix in the weekly slot before the tournament and created space between the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play event, a week earlier on the schedule, and the World Golf Championships-CA Championship at TPC Blue Monster at Doral.

The tournament attracted a stellar field that included several top International names such as Lee Westwood (fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking), along with Paul Casey (sixth), Rory McIlroy (ninth), Padraig Harrington (10th), Sergio Garcia (13th), Robert Allenby (15th), Ernie Els (19th), Villegas (22nd), Angel Cabrera (27th), and defending champion Y.E. Yang (29th).