The Cognizant Classic at PGA National – 2024 Preview

The PGA Tour journeys north to Florida for the newly-named “Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches” and the start of the Florida Swing. Previously known as the Honda Classic, the tournament will be hosted once again by the Champion course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Not only does it have a new name but the layout has been changed from a par-70 to a par-71 course with the 10th hole now playing as a par 5 instead of a par 4.

PGA National is not an easy introduction to the Florida Swing as it has annually ranked as one of the most difficult courses on Tour, averaging 1.14 strokes over par the last five years. The average winning score over the past 13 years has been 10-under par. It has been the toughest non-major course on the PGA Tour in six of the past 10 seasons. With fewer trees than other parkland courses and only seven miles off the Atlantic coast, PGA National is exposed to gusty conditions as winds often affect this event and make scoring that much more difficult. Add in narrow fairways, firm greens, and water everywhere you turn and it is one of the toughest tee-to-green tests on the Tour.

The winner has either been a favorite or a longshot in 12 of the past 14 years. Part of the reason for the disparity in winners is that this tournament is one of the most volatile events on the Tour. Famous for its 15 holes with water danger. PGA National will favor golfers with a balance of short game and ball-striking who can avoid penalty areas, scramble for pars, and manage any windy conditions. It plays similarly to a major tournament and favors those players who demonstrate patience. As past champion, Keith Mitchell remarked, “You’ve got to stay so patient. A lot of times par is a good score. I don’t think you can play aggressively out here. If you do, I think it will eat you because this golf course is tough.”

Success here will also depend highly upon the player’s ability to navigate the closing stretch of intimidating holes, which is famously known as the “Bear Trap”. The 15th and 17th holes are long par-3s over water, while the 16th is a forced layup to another approach shot over water.

The Field

This year’s tournament provides the last opportunity for players to qualify for next week’s Signature event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Even though this event has not drawn the deepest of fields in the past, we have seen numerous high-profile winners including Sungjae Im, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Russell Henley, and Rory McIlroy. This year, however, one of the deepest fields in recent memory will assemble on the west Florida coast.

The field for this year’s Honda Classic is set at 144 golfers and includes 19 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. 2012 champion and world No. 2, McIlroy headlines the field along with Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Kim, Cameron Young, Sepp Straka, Henley, Fowler, Im, last year’s runner-up Eric Cole, and last year’s champion, Chris Kirk.

PGA National (Champion) – History

Designed by Tom and George Fazio, the Champion Course at PGA National first opened in November of 1981. It was built with the specific purpose of hosting major tournament play and has become the home course for this event since 2007. The course has lived up to its purpose as it has hosted the 1983 Ryder Cup, the 1987 PGA Championship, and the Senior PGA Championship from 1982-2000.

The Champion course received a complete redesign in 1990 from Jack Nicklaus. He returned for further renovations in both 2002, 2014, and 2018. By the end of the third renovation, the course had been completely changed to the point that instead of a “Fazio-designed” course it is now known as a “Nicklaus-designed” course. Even the closing trio (holes 15-17) is now called the “Bear Trap” after the “Golden Bear” himself.

As Nicklaus himself said, “We didn’t just change the golf course, we basically designed a new one. For the most part, we kept the previous routing intact because most of the original land usage including the changes in direction were fine and it also made good economic sense. The basic objective of the redesign was to try to make the Champion course a more playable golf course.”

Nicklaus has become one of the premier course architects in the world of golf. This includes courses played on the PGA Tour such as Muirfield Village, The Concession Golf Club, and Valhalla, each of which is similarly demanding and penal like PGA National.

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Finish Position and Strokes Gained Course History (2016-2023)

This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round since 2016 for each of the categories. Players are sorted by SG: Total. PGA National is the 18th-most (out of 44) predictive annual course on Tour.