The PGA Tour begins its month-long stint in the state of Florida this week at the 2024 Cognizant Classic. A tournament which had fallen on hard times in terms of field strength due to its place on the calendar, the Cognizant Classic will welcome a surprisingly stout field to the treacherous PGA National.
McIlroy goes off as the betting favorite at a fair price of +800 and is the only player listed below +2000. Players like Henley, J.T. Poston, Eric Cole and Cameron Young are among those between +2000 and +3000.
2024 Cognizant Classic Odds
| Golfer | Odds |
|---|---|
| Rory McIlroy | +800 |
| Byeong Hun An | +2200 |
| Cameron Young | +2200 |
| Russell Henley | +2500 |
| J.T. Poston | +2500 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | +2500 |
| Eric Cole | +2500 |
| Tom Kim | +2800 |
| Min Woo Lee | +3000 |
| Sungjae Im | +3000 |
| Shane Lowry | +3000 |
| Corey Conners | +3500 |
| Stephan Jaeger | +3500 |
Odds as of February 27
Known as one of the most difficult golf courses on the PGA Tour, PGA National features water on 16 of 18 holes and wreaks havoc on competitors. The blend of distance and accuracy is needed off the tee which is music to the ears of world No. 2 Rory McIlroy who returns to the tournament for the first time since 2018.
Beginning his march to the Masters at Augusta National in less than 50 days, McIlroy will experience a busy Florida Swing playing the next three weeks. He looks to win his second career Coginizant Classic as will players like Russell Henley, Keith Mitchell, Sepp Straka and Chris Kirk – all of whom attended the University of Georgia.
2024 Cognziant Classic Betting Picks
Byeong Hun An To Win (+2200): After a strong start to his season with a pair of top-five finishes in the two Hawaii tournaments, An struggled a smidge in California. He found his footing at the Genesis Invitational and could be enough to push him into the winner’s circle in Florida.
Over the last six months, the South Korean ranks fourth in total strokes gained, first in strokes gained tee-to-green, seventh in strokes gained off the tee and third in strokes gained around the green. A player who much prefers the putting surface of Bermuda grass, An should see an uptick with his broomstick putter with the PGA Tour’s move to the Sunshine State.
He has been great at PGA National throughout his career as he finished T-21 last season to add to a resume that included a T-4 in 2020 and T-5 in 2018.
J.T. Poston To Win (+2500): Poston’s form is very much going under the radar as he leads this field in total strokes gained over the last six months.
A solid driver of the golf ball, Poston’s uptick in quality is due to his iron play finally matching the consistency and form of his short game. Over the last half year, he ranks 12th in strokes gained tee-to-green, eighth in strokes gained around the green and sixth in strokes gained putting.
While Poston has not found too much success around PGA National, he has found some good finishes at correlated courses that include Bermuda grass and numerous water hazards.
Corey Conners To Win (+3500): The Canadian will be relieved to get off the bumpy putting surfaces of California and onto the smooth Bermuda grass of Florida. Conners continued to strike the ball beautifully on the West Coast Swing, but he fell short on and around the greens ultimately failing to put together solid tournament results. Still, he ranks fifth in strokes gained tee-to-green, second in strokes gained off the tee and 11th in strokes gained approach over the last six months.
Conners also ranks inside the top 20 in terms of driving accuracy which will come into play given the amount of trouble that lurks around PGA National. He’ll make his first start at PGA National since 2020 when he missed the cut in just his second attempt at the par-71 layout.
Sepp Straka To Win (+4000): The winner from 2022 may not have had a great start to his season, but the signs of Straka beginning to heat up are there.
Over the last six months, he ranks ninth in driving accuracy, fifth in total strokes gained, eighth in strokes gained tee-to-green, eighth in strokes gained approach and 25th in strokes gained putting. He obviously has a great history around PGA National having won this tournament and put together a nice title defense with his T-5 finish a season ago.
Straka has also played great at windy golf courses in the nearer future when looking at his runner-up finishes at The Open and the Hero World Challenge which should bode well for his chances if the weather turns which it is known to do.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout To Win (+5500): Bezuidenhout put together a very nice start to his season and nearly cracked the winner’s circle in Palm Springs. Finishing runner-up to Nick Dunlap at The American Express, the South African carried the momentum to quality outings at Pebble Beach and Riviera where he finished inside the top 25 of both signature events.
During those tournaments, Bezuidenhout continued to strike his irons with pace and that skillset should be welcomed at PGA National. Over the last six months, Bezuidenhout ranks 10th in total strokes gained, third in strokes gained approach and 14th in strokes gained putting.
PGA National has often found a way of catering to strong mid-to-long iron players and competent putters on Bermuda grass which should allow an avenue in for Bezuidenhout to claim his first career PGA Tour victory.
