Golf fans, welcome back to beautiful Palm Beach Gardens Florida. PGA National is playing host to the 2025 Cognizant Classic and it will undoubtedly be one of the more exciting events on the Florida swing.
With this course playing as one of the hardest on tour, and though the tour has eased up on a handful of the holes, there are still major penalty areas. The atmosphere at this event is amazing, add in the drama of the Bear Trap, the countless water hazards, and we should see fireworks all weekend!
PGA National: Course Review
PGA National is notoriously known as one of the toughest challenges in golf. Players must be precise off the tee, while also positioning themselves with enough distance to set themselves up for an easier 2nd shot. Hitting greens in regulation is a big plus and to be successful players must gain strokes with their short game, particularly scrambling and making birdies, while saving par.
The course is a par-71, 7,167 yards with 60 bunkers and water hazards on 15 of the 18 holes. The famous “Bear Trap”, holes 15, 16, and 17 is where some of the event's most entertaining shots, and failures can occur. The crowd feeds the energy and the danger the water presents on these 3 holes challenges every player.
To be successful at this course, I targeted course history, as always, players that have good Total Driving, and good Strokes Gained total. Other key metrics targeted are players that can scramble and putt well, because these greens will be fast!
Home Cooking for Greyserman?
For those that don’t know Max Greyserman calls Palm Beach Gardens home and is familiar with this course. He did however finish T47 last year at this event, gaining strokes in most parts of his bag except off the tee, where he gave back 3.2. Since the US Open he has 15 Top-40 finishes in 18 events.
The 3 he missed were all recent, 3 of his last 4 events. I loved what we saw last week from him at a tough Torrey Pines course where he gained strokes off the tee and had one of his best putting performances since the US Open, gaining over 7 strokes on the green.
That will play a huge part in his finishing position this week. With a T47 last year, and only needing to improve off the tee statistics, if he can keep his approach and around the green steady he has a chance to finish strong.
Going To Ride Mitchell
Keith Mitchell has been one of the most consistent players in this field since January 1. He has finished inside the Top-33 in all 4 events with finishes of T25, T33, T21, and T30. He has gained strokes off the tee, on approach, around the green, tee-to-green, and total, in all 4 events.
His putter is the one piece of his bag not 100% clicking, but he has not been giving back too much to scare me off him. He has two straight Top-10 finishes here in 2024 and 2022, while also finishing 1st back in 2019. He has gained strokes putting in all 6 events played on this course and has gained 2.2, 3, and 5.1 strokes off the tee his last 3 here. He has a good chance to keep it going for another week!
Late To The Party on Spaun?
This is admittedly a tough spot to play Spaun, only because he is a player who has been on every one of my list since the start of the new year. Sadly I have only pulled the trigger on him 1 time in the 5 events he has finished, and all 5 he has a Top-40 finish. If any player is a model of consistency to hit Top-40, Spaun is at the top of that list.
If this guy makes the Cut, he almost always places inside the Top-40. Since the Myrtle Beach Classic in May of 2024, he has been in 22 events, with 16 Top-40’s, 3 Missed Cuts, 2 Withdrawals, and only 1 finish outside Top-40, a T45. His history here is the same, two Top-30 finishes, and two Missed Cuts. He comes into this event sharp in his approach and tee-to-green game since the start of the new year.
My Best Bets:
Max Greyserman Top 40 (-125)
Keith Mitchell Top 40 (-125)
JJ Spaun Top 40 (-110)
**Bonus Sleeper**
Sam Ryder Top 40 (+150)
*3 straight Top 21 Finishes Here*