Wave of WDs at Cognizant Classic Raises Questions About Pga Tour Future
The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches has seen a wave of withdrawals that leaves the event with a thinned field at a moment when the pga tour is actively reshaping its calendar. The changes amplify a longer-running slide in the tournament’s standing and force a reckoning over how high‑purse, limited‑field events are altering full‑field stops.
Cognizant Classic field and Monday withdrawals
Three of the week’s top betting favorites—Ben Griffin, Adam Scott and Jacob Bridgeman—officially withdrew on Monday, removing marquee names from a tournament that now counts just one player in the world’s top 30, Ryan Gerard, and only eight players among the top 50. Brooks Koepka, Billy Horschel and Gary Woodland remain in the field, but the departure of early favorites has left the week lacking the star power that once defined this stop.
That absence was noted by Justin Thomas after a TGL match, who called the situation “a bummer” and said the Cognizant had “fallen at an unfortunate time in the schedule. ” Thomas added that the density of attractive dates and courses makes it difficult for players to appear at every event they enjoy, citing Torrey Pines and Colonial as courses he wishes he could play each year.
PGA National history and The Bear Trap renovations
The tournament, formerly known as the Honda Classic, is played at PGA National and for years served as the opening stop of the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing. It once drew big names routinely—past champions include Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler—and players such as Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Brooks Koepka have teed it up there.
In the mid‑2010s the event attracted strong fields by offering the challenge of PGA National and a purse that was in the same ballpark as stops at Pebble Beach, Riviera and Bay Hill; purses in that period were in the $6 million range. The event benefited from calendar positioning when the Players Championship was held in May and the Arnold Palmer Invitational fell later in March, giving the Honda Classic a convenient slot between Riviera and the WGC at Trump Doral.
Organizers have also completed the newest renovations to “The Bear Trap” at the Cognizant Classic, an update noted alongside expanded expert coverage and betting analysis for the week.
Pga Tour schedule and the Signature Event effect
Everything shifted in 2019 when the Players Championship moved to March and the Arnold Palmer Invitational was squeezed between it and the Honda. The landscape shifted again in 2023 with the arrival of LIV Golf and the introduction of the Signature Event model. That model created high‑purse, limited‑field events—two West Coast tournaments now carry $20 million purses—and placed those events directly before the Arnold Palmer Invitational (a $20 million purse) and the Players ($25 million).
The result has been a segmentation of the circuit: star‑studded, limited‑field Signature Events on one side and full‑field events on the other, which function increasingly as pathways for players to qualify for the larger purses. With top players gravitating to the $20 million stops, the Cognizant has seen its field erode. New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and the Future Competitions Committee, led by Tiger Woods, are in the midst of reshaping the calendar with “scarcity” in mind—an intentional design that is already affecting where and when top talents choose to play.
What makes this notable is the compression of prize money and star attention into fewer events, which has tangible effects on longstanding tournaments’ ability to attract marquee names and maintain traditional roles on the route to major championships.
Expert Picks, Fantasy rules and betting coverage
Alongside tournament coverage, experts are offering betting and fantasy picks for the Cognizant Classic. The Expert Picks program has evolved with the season and will reflect new updates to the PGA TOUR Fantasy Game, including in‑tournament rostering features slated for 2026. Will Gray (Senior Manager, TOUR & Golfbet Editorial & Distribution) and Chris Breece (Senior Content Manager, Golfbet) are among the named contributors, while Golfbet’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton will break down the field each week in the Power Rankings.
The fantasy format experts use consists of four starters—one serving as captain—and two bench players who can be rotated after each round. Every golfer can be used only three times in each of the event’s three segments. Golfbet experts will also highlight betting picks that have attracted interest for the week, and the PGA TOUR Experts league is open to the public for fans who wish to play for free and compare their lineups with the panel.
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Intangibles, incomplete details and legal notices
The coverage notes that Rickie Fowler played the Cognizant last year but is not teeing it up this year after “punching his”—an item that is unclear in the provided context. Beyond that fragment, the narrative is consistent: scheduling shifts, larger purses elsewhere and the Signature Event model have combined to change the Cognizant Classic’s role on the calendar and the composition of its field.
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The Cognizant Classic now arrives at a moment of structural change. Between recent withdrawals, the modest presence of top‑50 players and deliberate calendar redesign by tour leadership, this week’s tournament embodies the tensions that will shape the circuit going forward.
