We're jumping into the Florida Swing with a trip to PGA National for this year's edition of the Cognizant Classic, or the artist formerly known as the Honda Classic.
Once upon a time, this event was seen as a truly special event, with past winners including Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, and Justin Thomas. Recently, mainly due to the emergence of the signature events and The Players moving back to March in 2019, the field strength of the event has taken a big hit and failed to draw the same number of star players as they were once able to. While it may not feel like the big event it once was, the Bear Trap come Sunday afternoon is always a fun watch.
Man, I really thought we had another winner last week in Mexico, especially after Potgieter fired off his second-round 61. Brian Campbell is not allowed to complain to the golf gods ever again after getting the break of his life on his tee ball on the last playoff hole. I refuse to feel bad about not having Brian Campbell in the rankings because there was no way I was ever going to pick the shortest hitter on Tour to win in Mexico, so we're just going to move on and probably forget about this event ever happening because no one wanted to actually win this tournament based on how everyone played on the back nine on Sunday.
Luckiest break ever?!
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 23, 2025
Brian Campbell's ball bounces off the trees and stays in bounds on the second playoff hole! pic.twitter.com/KWBMbGtaKE
We did still get a very strong showing from the rankings in Mexico, with 6 of the 8 players (Maverick McNealy withdrew on Monday after publishing) finishing in the top 25, so we're loving where the process is at right now with the rankings. Let's see if we can sniff anywhere near that same amount of success this week at PGA National.
Honorable Mentions: Austin Eckroat, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Ryan Fox, Nico Echavarria