Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches
The West Coast Swing is over and the Florida Swing begins!
It's hard to say it does so with a bang, as thanks to several Monday withdrawals, the top-ranked player in the field is Ryan Gerard, who checks in at No. 26 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
The Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches is in a nice spot when it comes to weather, but not so on the calendar, as it is sandwiched between three Signature Events and THE PLAYERS Championship. The top golfers simply will not play every week, and this is a pretty easy skip for most of them, even with many of the PGA Tour's best residing in the Palm Beach area.
This creates an interesting strategic situation in one-and-done contests. With this being a standard event with a weak field, the door is open to take a chance -- especially if you find yourself needing to make up ground after a pair of Signature Events. While this week's tournament may seem inconsequential over the course of the season, a winning pick is still going to net over $1.7 million, which will definitely vault you up in the standings -- particularly if you stray from the pack.
The Cognizant Classic has seen plenty of long shots win in recent years, so it certainly wouldn't be a surprise if it happens again in 2026.
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Course Tidbits
- Course: PGA National Champion Course (7,223 yards, par 71)
- Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
- Purse: $9.6 million -- $1.728 million to winner
- Defending Champion: Joe Highsmith (-19)
- 2025 Scoring Average: 69.26
- Average Winning Score Last 5 Years: -14.4
PGA National used to be among the toughest tracks on the PGA Tour. You can always expect the wind to pick up here, and those gusts make a lot of shots very intimidating, especially when there's water in play like there is on "The Bear Trap" -- the name given to holes No. 15-17. Interestingly enough, the tournament has taken action to make the course easier over the last few years after some player feedback. The width has increased on many fairways, several fairway bunkers have been taken out, and this will be the second straight year in which the course will be overseeded. The last aspect has had the largest impact on the scoring, as overseeded rye is much easier to play on from the fairway, the rough or on the putting surface. The course looks better on TV being much more green, but it also has decreased some of the shot values. Golf balls stop quicker on the fairways and coming into the greens, and it's one less thing for players to be concerned about.
The PGA Tour has added close to 100 yards of distance this year to try to give the course a little more bit. The average driving distance on this course is a bit lower than Tour average. That means we will see a high percentage of approaches coming in the 150-200 yard range. Mid-to-long iron play has always been a key at PGA National. Scrambling used to be as well, but with the overseed that was a lot easier than it had been in the past.
We are expecting to see some precipitation over the weekend, which should soften the course up. Scoring has been trending lower and lower here, and that means you will have to make more mid-range putts to have a chance Sunday. Players who putted well on the overseeded Bermuda at TPC Scottsdale will likely find similar success on the PGA National greens.
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RotoWire One and Done Tools
Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches: One and Done Picks
Hojgaard is trending towards that first PGA Tour victory. He posted a T3 in his last start at the WM Phoenix Open and finished T22 or better in six of his last seven tournaments since last fall. The wider fairways and softer conditions should fit Hojgaard's game extremely well. He will have room to really be aggressive with the driver, and the rough shouldn't be overly penal. Hojgaard leads the PGA Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee and he has been one of the best iron players over the last 12 months. This is his third season with a PGA Tour card, and going back to places a third time should help. Hojgaard posted a T18 last year at PGA National. --Ryan Andrade
Hojgaard struggled mightily in his first two seasons on Tour. This season, though, he seems to have found his footing. He tied for 22nd at the Farmers, then for third at Phoenix. Hojgaard leads the Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee, is 17th on Approach, seventh in Tee-to-Green and 30th in Putting. That's good work through the bag. He tied for 18th here a year ago, and the key for him this week will keeping his booming drives in the fairway. --Len Hochberg
Shane Lowry is the easy pick as well as the safe pick -- and maybe even the smart pick. I have been taking a lot of popular plays early on, and I think it's time to break away a bit. Thorbjornsen might be popular given his pedigree, but he should be nowhere near as targeted as Lowry. Thorbjornsen is off to a good start and is undoubtedly on the way up, so I think this is a great spot for both us and him to make a move. He will need to get his putter figured out, but his ball striking is so solid that only a slight improvement on the greens is needed to contend this week. --Greg Vara
While Berger isn't someone you have to use in one-and-done before the season wraps up, it's hard to find a better venue to use him at. This will be a home game for Berger, who lost in a playoff in his debut here 11 years ago and posted top-5s in both 2020 and 2022. Last year was a tale of two seasons in which he looked like his old self for the first half of the year before tapering off over the summer. He got back on track early in 2026 with a T6 in Hawaii, and he led the field in SG: Approach at TPC Scottsdale. He makes for a nice pivot away from the most popular choices. --Ryan Pohle
Due to the volatile nature of PGA National along with the Cognizant's feeble strength of field, OAD is basically a free-for-all this week, becoming even more of an ownership/game theory task than usual. With the likes of Ben Griffin, last week's winner Jacob Bridgeman and Adam Scott dropping out, popularity figures to condense even more around names like Lowry, Gerard and Hojgaard, but none of them have particularly robust win equity, so it's fine to look further down the board -- especially if you're well behind in the standings. Making his PGA National debut on the heels of a missed cut during his most recent outing at the WM Phoenix Open, I think Li flies under the radar despite earning a 40-1 price at most shops in the outright market. The ceiling is there for Li, who ranks first among the Cognizant field in SG: Tee-to-Green, second in SG: OTT and 10th in scrambling. --Bryce Danielson
I'm on the other Hojgaard this week, specifically as the pivot off Nicolai, who should be the more popular target. The difference comes down to touch on Bermuda and precision with the irons. Rasmus has been elite on the greens and solid from 150-175 yards, a range that accounts for 22 percent of approach shots at PGA National. Nicolai carries the motivation with a Masters invitation on the line, but his Bermuda putting struggles are a concern. I'll take the leverage play and try to make up some ground. --Lauren Jump
It's tough to separate twins, but it's not called two-and-done, so Nicolai will be the brother I'm rolling with. Hojgaard has been racking up top-25s around the globe for months, and although he has tallied only seven measured rounds since the 2026 season began, he has been particularly on point, ranking first in both SG: Off-the-Tee and bogey avoidance. In a watered-down field I like his chances to pick up that first PGA Tour victory. --Kevin O'Brien
Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches: One and Done Fades
Koepka is without question the biggest star in this field, and his odds are inflated to match that at 29-1. Even with the weaker field, he does not feel worthy of a number less than 30-1 at this point. I imagine a fair amount of OAD players will gravitate to Koepka given the other options out there, but I think that would be a mistake. He is still just 159th on DataGolf after a T56-MC start to his 2026 season. There are plenty of players behind him on the betting board who played much better over the last six months, so I'd rather wait on Koepka until after he has his feet under him on the PGA Tour. --Ryan Andrade
Mitchell is the sixth choice at the DraftKings Sportsbook at 26-1. He's a very steady player -- he has made all five cuts so far this season -- but doesn't possess the game to go low very often. Only one of those five finishes has been inside the top 40. The obvious conclusion from that is he's poor on the greens, which is, in fact, true. He's ranked 132nd in SG: Putting. I'm aware Mitchell won here in 2019, but I'm going to look past that. --Len Hochberg
We're all waiting for Homa to get back on track, and I for one have not given up on him, but this doesn't seem like the spot where he's going to find his game. Homa has posted a top-20 here, but that was seven years ago. After that he never returned, which leads me to believe he's not a big fan of this course. In addition to the lack of course history, Homa's form is not great. He has just one top-30 in four starts, and three of those starts were in California, where he usually thrives. --Greg Vara
I've seen McGreevy's name floating around a bit in one-and-done circles, largely because he posted a top-5 here last year. While it's nice to have some positive course history, you have to consider he's not showing the same form we saw last fall, having failed to post a top-25 across six starts in 2026. We could see some fatigue as well, as he will be playing for the seventh week in a row. --Ryan Pohle
Lowry is a fine click if you're near the top of the standings and simply looking to tread water. He bring strong approach play and the guise of course history, but it's otherwise astute to fade this much chalk on Lowry, who hasn't won an individual event in the United States since 2015. That being said, he is No. 1 among this field in SG: Approach over the last 12 months, so I'd rather gain Lowry exposure elsewhere, such as betting markets and in the DFS streets. --Bryce Danielson
The T3 at Phoenix stands out, but Thorbjornsen followed it with a T78 at Pebble Beach, ranking dead last in SG: Putting. That's the exact boom-or-bust profile you don't want for OAD. His inconsistency on the greens could magnify as we shift from West Coast Poa to Bermuda at PGA National, and while his ball striking should keep him in it, this course tends to punish even one weak link. --Lauren Jump
Only two players in this field rank higher than Rai in the OWGR, so you might be tempted to lean on the sustained success. However, neither the results nor the stats have been there early this season, and he has not found success at PGA National, finishing 7-over-par en route to a T66 in 2022, missing the cut at 5-over in 2023 and skipping this stop altogether the last two years. --Kevin O'Brien
Don't get burned by late withdrawals. Visit RotoWire's PGA tournament field page for a live-updated summary of the field for the current week and list of players who have dropped out.
