Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches
The Champion Course
PGA National
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
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Top of the Board (odds via Bet365)
Shane Lowry and Daniel Berger would lead my card. Both have had a taste here, and both players have played well on the West Coast to start the season, each with a runner-up finish.
Russell Henley returned last year with T41 after back-to-back Top 10 paydays in 2021-22. The Georgia-Florida contingent should be littering the leaderboard.
Luke Clanton needs to make the cut to earn enough points through PGA TOUR U to secure his TOUR card for later this summer. He won last week in Panama City playing for Florida State University.
Players to consider for Top 10, Top 20, or Top 40 action:
Ben An, Taylor Moore, and course horse Keith Mitchell should fill plenty of cards this week.
Longer shots Ryan Gerard, Chan Kim, and Gary Woodland can produce.
Luke Donald was an AUTO PLAY a decade ago here. Let’s see if he can sneak into the weekend and the top 40.
Zach Johnson is also a frequent weekender around here, including T21 and T12 the last two years.
NOW PLAYING:
| Host Course | The Champion Course |
| Yards (per official scorecard): | 7,167 |
| Par: | 71 (35-36). |
| Greens: | TifEagle Bermuda; 7,000 square feet. |
| Stimpmeter: | 12 feet. |
| Rough: | Overseeded ryegrass at 2.5 inches. |
| Bunkers/Water Hazards/In-Play | 60/20/15 |
| Architect(s): | George Fazio (1981); Jack Nicklaus (2002, 2014 redesign; 2018). |
| Defending Champion (event): | Austin Eckroat (-17) |
| Multiple Champion(s) Entered: | Zero in 18 events at this course. |
| Course Record: | 61; Brian Harman (2012) only player entered to post this score. |
| 72 Hole Tournament Record | 17-under (Par-71) Austin Eckroat 14-under (Par-70) Chris Kirk and Eric Cole 2023. |
| Fact of the Week: | 4 of the last 6 winners are first-time TOUR champions. |
| Fact of the Week II: | 3 of the last 6 winners played college golf at UGA. |
The biggest defenses of the course are the Florida breeze and water penalty areas seemingly everywhere. Better be able to shape and control the golf ball.
Jack Nicklaus is the only player to win this event in consecutive seasons on the same course (1977, 1978).
Nobody has won twice since moving to The Champion Course (19th edition 2025).
A dry February produced less than an inch of rain before .65 inches fell this week.
Notes:
- Field of 144.
- The cut will be made after 36 holes. The top 65 and ties play the weekend.
- The OWGR is represented by 16 of the top 50.
- $9.2 million – $1.656 million – 500 FedExCup points – Sentry, PLAYERS, and Masters ticket punched.
Recent Winners
- 2025 Season Winners
| Event | Winner |
| The Sentry | Hideki Matsuyama |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Nick Taylor |
| The American Express | Sepp Straka |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Harris English |
| AT&T Pebble Beach | Rory McIlroy |
| WM Phoenix Open | Thomas Detry (first time) |
| The Genesis Invitational | Ludvig Aberg |
| Mexico Open at VidantaWorld | Brian Campbell (first time) |
- 2024 Season Winners
| Event | Winner |
| The Sentry | Chris Kirk |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Grayson Murray (Rest in Peace) |
| The American Express | Nick Dunlap (a) |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Matthieu Pavon (rookie) |
| AT&T Pebble Beach | Wyndham Clark (54 holes) |
| WM Phoenix Open | Nick Taylor |
| The Genesis Invitational | Hideki Matsuyama |
| Mexico Open at Vidanta | Jake Knapp (rookie) |
| Cognizant Classic | Austin Eckroat (first time) |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | Scottie Scheffler |
| THE PLAYERS Championship | Scottie Scheffler (2) |
| Valspar Championship | Peter Malnati |
| Texas Children’s Houston Open | Stephan Jaeger (first time) |
| Valero Texas Open | Akshay Bhatia |
| 88th Masters Tournament | Scottie Scheffler (3) |
| RBC Heritage | Scottie Scheffler (4) |
| Zurich Classic | Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry |
| THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson | Taylor Pendrith (first time) |
| Wells Fargo Championship | Rory McIlroy (2) |
| 106th PGA Championship | Xander Schauffele |
| Charles Schwab Challenge | Davis Riley |
| RBC Canadian Open | Robert MacIntyre (first time) |
| The 49th Memorial Tournament | Scottie Scheffler (5) |
| 124th United States Open | Bryson DeChambeau |
| Travelers Championship | Scottie Scheffler (6) |
| Rocket Mortgage Classic | Cam Davis |
| John Deere Classic | Davis Thompson (first time) |
| Genesis Scottish Open | Robert MacIntyre (2) |
| 152nd Open Championship | Xander Schauffele (2) |
| 3M Open | Jhonattan Vegas |
| 2024 Paris Olympics | Scottie Scheffler (7) |
| 3M Open | Jhonattan Vegas |
| Wyndham Championship | Aaron Rai (first time) |
| FedEx St. Jude Championship | Hideki Matsuyama (2) |
| BMW Championship | Keegan Bradley |
| The TOUR Championship | Scottie Scheffler (8) |
| FedEx Cup Fall | |
| Procore Championship | Patton Kizzire |
| Sanderson Farms Championship | Kevin Yu (first time) |
| Black Desert Championship | Matt McCarty (first time) |
| Shriners Children’s Open | JT Poston |
| ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP | Nico Echavarria |
| World Wide Technology Champ | Austin Eckroat (2) |
| Butterfield Bermuda Champ | Rafa Campos (first time) |
| The RSM Classic | Maverick McNealy (first time) |
Recent Winners – Cognizant Classic
Italics – not entered this week.
| Year | Winner | Notes |
| 2024 | Austin Eckroat (-17) | Making his second start, he set the new standard for scoring at the now Par-71 track. Won by 3 and became the fourth first-time winner in six events. |
| 2023 | Chris Kirk (-14) | Needed an extra hole to defeat Eric Cole and produce the lowest winning total on the Par-70 layout in its final season. |
| 2022 | Sepp Straka (-10) | Outlasted Shane Lowry, Kurt Kitayama, and Daniel Berger in a deluge late on Sunday to win for the first time on TOUR. |
| 2021 | Matt Jones (-12) | Won by five in the big breezes. |
| 2020 | Sungjae Im (-6) | Became the youngest winner (21 yrs) and won for the first time on TOUR. |
| 2019 | Keith Mitchell (-9) | Held off Rickie Fowler by a shot to add his name to the list of four UGA Bulldog winners since 2014. |
Notables
- Brian Harman (+6500), another UGA grad, is one of two players to post 61, the course record, and is the only player to sign for this score in the field this week.
- From 2018 through 2022, The Champion Course ranked in the top 10 most difficult courses on TOUR. The last two years, it ranked as the easiest of the four courses on The Florida Swing.
- 15 holes provide water penalty areas.
- The fairways have been reduced from 32 yards in width to 28 yards across on average. Two and a half inches of overseeded ryegrass awaits when the fairways are missed.
- The last five winners have ranked T7 or better in GIR.
- TifEagle Bermudagrass greens average 7,00 square feet and will run 12 feet on the Stimpmeter.
- Eckroat is the only winner since 2014 to rank outside the top 20 in Scrambling.
One and Done – Spotter’s Game
1 player per event (plus a backup pick if your guy gets kidnapped on Wednesday night and doesn’t make it to the first tee Thursday).
1 use per year.
| Event | Selection | Place | Earnings |
| The Sentry | Sungjae Im | 3rd | $1,360,000 |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Russell Henley | T10 | 195,025 |
| The American Express | Adam Hadwin | MC | |
| Farmers Insurance | Jason Day | T32 | 52,080 |
| AT&T Pebble Beach | Ludvig Aberg | WD | |
| WM Phoenix Open | Rasmus Hojgaard | T12 | 195,500 |
| Genesis Invitational | Will Zalatoris | T24 | 168,857 |
| Mexico Open | Patrick Rodgers | T25 | 59,350 |
LAST WEEK – Mexico Open at Vidanta
MY CHOICE: Patrick Rodgers – T25
He was one of two players in the top 25 to post a round ABOVE par (72) on Sunday.
The only upside from another terrible selection is that I have Bhatia to use down the road.
We go again.
This Week – Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches
MY CHOICE: Daniel Berger
The Floridian just pips Lowry for the top spot this week. I’ll focus on the Irishman as McIlroy’s partner in New Orleans or use him across the pond. Berger knows this layout better than most, and I will argue he probably should have won here twice already. Running second at TPC Scottsdale, I don’t have to worry about him finding form in front of friends and family this week.
Just Missed
Shane Lowry, Russell Henley, Cameron Young, Luke Clanton
Glass Houses 