Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches
Purse: $9.6M
Winner's Share: $1.728M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Course: PGA National Resort - Champion Course
Yardage: 7,223
Par: 71
Previous Winners
2025 – Joe Highsmith
2024 – Austin Eckroat
2023 – Chris Kirk
2022 – Sepp Straka
2021 – Matt Jones
2020 – Sungjae Im
2019 – Keith Mitchell
2018 – Justin Thomas
2017 – Rickie Fowler
2016 – Adam Scott
Recap: The Genesis Invitational
The 100th anniversary of The Genesis -- previously known as the LA Open when it debuted in 1926 -- saw a new champion emerge. Jacob Bridgeman -- who dropped from runner-up contention to eighth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am after a bogey on the 72nd hole -- dominated over the first three days at Riviera with a 19-under cumulative score, and it looked like the 26-year-old was a lock to break the course record set by Lanny Wadkins in 1985 (20-under).
Bridgeman entered Sunday with a six-shot lead over Rory McIlroy. Despite Bridgeman carding a one-over 72 score in the final round, he had built enough of a cushion to withstand late pushes from McIlroy and Kurt Kitayama. McIlroy (four-under 67 final round) struggled with his putter during the final round, and Kitayama (seven-under 64) had two opportunities to tie Bridgeman at the top of the leaderboard with an eagle putt on the par-5 17th hole and a birdie putt on the par-4 18th, both of which barely missed. Bridgeman had a one-stroke lead heading into the final round and sealed the deal with two-putt par on the 18th, and in doing so he became the first player to win in his Riviera debut since Pat Fitzsimons in 1975 (Adam Scott did the same in 2005, though the event was shortened due to inclement weather).
Kitayama wasn't the only player to surge up the leaderboard, as Adam Scott jumped to solo fourth after firing an eight-under 63 (he scored the same in the second round, though he went even across the first and third days of the tournament). Jake Knapp (T7) extended his top-10 streak to four PGA Tour events. Young South African Aldrich Potgieter came away with his first top-5 finish of the season, an encouraging sign given his MC-MC-MC-T60 start to the 2026 season. Reigning FedExCup winner Tommy Fleetwood (T7) snuck into the top-10 thanks to a furious finish that included a slam-dunk eagle on the par-4 15th hole. Finally, Scottie Scheffler's recent trend of starting tournaments slowly came back to bite him, as his streak of top-10 finishes came to an end at 18. Notable players to miss the cut at The Genesis included Justin Rose, Chris Gotterup, Russell Henley, J.J. Spaun and Keegan Bradley.
Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches Tournament Preview
Following the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational, most of the top players will take a break before teeing off at the Arnold Palmer Invitational that kicks off March 5. There isn't a single player this week that sits in the top-25 of the OWGR, with Ryan Gerard (26th) being the top-ranked player in the field this week. That will make this week's Underdog drafting strategy that much more interesting.
That doesn't mean the event lacks firepower; Brooks Koepka is back in action after missing the last two signature events and will be in the field in three of the next four tournaments as he gears up for The Masters in April. Other notable names include Shane Lowry, defending champion Joe Highsmith (whose 72-hole score of 264 tied a course record set by Justin Leonard in 2003) and previous winners in Austin Eckroat, Chris Kirk and Keith Mitchell.
The way that "a chip in a chair" relates to tournament poker, making the cut at any event is enough to have a chance at a PGA Tour win. That was the case for Highsmith last year; his birdie putt on the par-3 17th in the second round was enough for him to barely make the cut at five-under, and he made the most of it by carding back-to-back seven-under 64 rounds (the lowest weekend score in PGA National history) to capture his first (and only) PGA Tour victory, winning by two strokes over Bridgeman and J.J. Spaun.
PGA National was historically one of the tougher courses in the circuit, but scoring has improved over the last three years. As RotoWire's Len Hochberg notes, no score was better than 12-under in the dozen years prior to the Cognizant's last three winners in Highsmith (19-under), Eckroat (17-under) and Kirk (14-under). The course was lengthened by 100 yards for this year's event and the rough has increased to three inches in length, but we'll see if that's enough to drop the top scores by a stroke or two. Whereas Riviera last week lacked hazards, bunkers are strategically placed throughout the course and 15 of PGA National's 18 holes have water in play, none more so than the three-hole Bear Trap (holes 15 to 17). That'll make approach play and scrambling out of trouble the key factors in this week's event, and given how the course has become more scoring-friendly, converting on birdie opportunities, rather than avoiding bogeys, will also be crucial.
Underdog Contest Overview
Underdog hosts drafts every week at three buy-in amounts; The Par 3 at $3, the featured draft at $10, and "The Sandbagger" at $100. Each entrant will be paired up with five other participants and participate in a six-man snake draft of teams made up of six players (36 total selections), with each selection on a 30-second timer. For example, the person lucky with the first overall pick and lucky enough to get Scheffler (unless you like to live dangerously) will have to wait until 2.6 and 3.1 to make their next selections. Points are allocated to golfers based on their performance on every hole, with bonus points available for golfers who make consecutive birdies or finish a round bogey free.
First Two Rounds
Nicolai Hojgaard (1.9 Average Draft Position)
Lowry and Hojgaard are likely going 1-2 in your drafts this week, but I'll go with the latter at the Cognizant. Hojgaard didn't participate in the last two signature events, with his last outing being a T3 finish at the WM Phoenix Open. His approach game is one of his strong suits, as he finished 11th in SG: Approach-the-Green in 2025, and he leads the Tour this season in SG: Off-the-Tee. Hojgaard finished T18 at last year's Cognizant Classic, which was his second appearance at the event (MC in 2022).
Ryan Gerard (3.0 ADP)
Gerard has cooled off after his hot start to the 2026 season. He opened with back-to-back runner-up finishes before a T11 at the Farmers Insurance Open, but he went T45-T28 at the last two signature events. He ranks eighth in the PGA Tour in SG: Approach-the-Green and specifically ranks fifth in approaches from 150-to-175 yards. Gerard has enjoyed previous success at PGA National, having finished solo fourth in 2023 and T25 in last year's event.
Brooks Koepka (7.8 ADP)
Like it was for his first two outings, Koepka's name is inflating the ADP this week. He hasn't had a stellar start in his return to the PGA (T56-MC over his first two outings), but seeing as he didn't play in either of the signature events the past two weeks, Koepka has had additional time to work on his game. He's been fairly good in his approach to the green and scrambling, but it's been his putter that has let him down this season (he lost 2.12 strokes on the green across his two Tour appearances). PGA National is a prime opportunity for Koepka to shine in a field lacking the big names.
Daniel Berger (9.6 ADP)
Berger failed to make the cut at The Genesis last week and finished T75 the week before at Pebble Beach (where no players were cut). However, he has a couple of things going for him heading into this week. For one, he's had previous success at the Cognizant, having made the cut in six of nine appearances that included a runner-up finish in 2015 and finishes of fourth in both 2020 and 2022. He also ranks in the top-40 in the PGA this year in SG: Approach-the-Green and 12th in GIR. This could be the week where Berger gets back into the kind of form that led to him finishing T6 and T16 at the Sony Open and the WM Phoenix Open, respectively.
Middle-Round Value
Davis Thompson (16.2 ADP)
Thompson ranks 21st in the PGA this season in SG: Approach-the-Green (including ninth in Approaches from 125-150 yards) and in the top-50 in GIR and SG: Off-the-Tee. Like Koepka, Thompson's shortcomings this season have largely come from his putter (1.10 strokes lost on the green). Given the lack of starpower in the field, Thompson is a contender for a stronger finish at PGA National -- so long as he can solve his putting game in time.
Johnny Keefer (17.9 ADP)
Keefer earned his PGA card for 2026 after a strong 2025 season on the Korn Ferry Tour, when he had nine top-10 finishes in 23 tournaments that included victories at the Veritex Bank Championship and the NV5 Invitational. He doesn't have a top-25 finish under his belt this season but has made the cut in all four of his Tour appearances. Keefer ranks ninth in SG: Off-the-Tee and 10th in SG: Approach-the-Green this season, and improved scrambling play and putting would put the 25-year-old in contention for a top-10 finish at PGA National.
Haotong Li (20.2 ADP)
Li missed the cut in his last Tour outing at the WM Phoenix Open but went T8-T11 in the two prior events. He ranks seventh this season in SG: Off-the-Tee, 17th in both total driving and GIR and top-25 in both scrambling and SG: Approach-the-Green. Given the weaker field, Li's strong play off the tee and with his irons could be enough to mask his shortcomings with the putter (129th in SG: Putting).
Late-Round Targets
Chris Kirk (25.2 ADP)
Kirk got off to a rough start with three straight missed cuts before finishing T52 at Pebble Beach two weeks ago. A return to PGA National could be what the 40-year-old needs to get his 2026 Tour season on track, as he's made the cut in 10 of 14 outings at the Cognizant, including a T7 in 2022 and a victory in 2023 over Eric Cole on the first playoff hole. Kirk's approach game has been one of his few strong suits this season, as he ranks 13th in SG: Approach-the-Green and 23rd in GIR percentage.
Austin Eckroat (33.9 ADP)
Another Cognizant Classic winner, Eckroat emerged victorious at PGA National in 2024 by three strokes over Erik van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee. It was the first of two Tour victories for Eckroat in 2024, and while he's missed the cut in three of four tournaments in 2026, he does rank 23rd in driving accuracy and 44th in SG: Approach-to-Green (including fourth in Approaches from 150-to-175 yards).
Sam Ryder (35.6 ADP)
Ryder has that rare combination of success in his approach game and putter this week, ranking third and fifth this season in SG: Approach-the-Green and SG: Putting, respectively. Granted, it's a small sample size (he's finished T27-T59 in two tournament outings in 2026), but he's also made the cut in all five of his appearances at PGA National, including T8 in 2021 and T9 in 2022.
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