2025 Cognizant Classic: Best bets, one-and-done pick as PGA Tour heads to Florida
Goodbye, California. Hello, Sunshine State!
The PGA Tour kicks off its Florida Swing today, moving to the southeast after spending four of the last six weeks in California. And this is where things start to get tense.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational and the PLAYERS Championship will offer up two of the larger purses of the season in the coming weeks. But up first is the Cognizant Classic — formerly the Honda Classic — at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens.
It's another weaker field following the Mexico Open and no one betting on the tournament should be upset about that. There is tons of value all over the board as we get closer to first round play on Thursday.
Let's dig in.
All odds via BetMGM
Who's winning the 2025 Cognizant Classic?
Kurt Kitayama (+4500) 2 Units
The Mexico Open saw Kitayama surprisingly miss the cut last week, but don't let that cloud your judgement here. We're a long way from Vallerta. The 32-year-old is an exceptional course fit this week, ranking top 10 on Tour in four of the five key indicators. Among all golfers who've played at least eight rounds at PGA National, Kitayama (+1.78) ranks first in true strokes gained at Data Golf — though he hasn't played here since 2022 when he finished third.
Lucas Glover (+5500) 0.5 Units
We're throwing a bit of a dart here, but stick with me. Glover has finished T35 or better each of his last three times at PGA National with 0.88 true strokes gained. He's also top 30 on Tour in four of the five key indicators this week. Most importantly, he's already shown up on the leaderboard in weaker fields, putting up a T3 at Pebble Beach and T21 in the Sony Open.
Who's a lock to finish Top 10?
Davis Thompson (+350) 2 Units
Thompson keeps getting close to breaking through this year, starting strong to begin the week only to fade on Saturday and Sunday. He got a lot closer his last time out with a T13 in a stacked Genesis Invitational field. Thompson's putting is still a concern, but as long as he keeps sticking the ball on the green, he's going to have plenty of birdie opportunities this week.
Luke Clanton (+375) 1 Unit
Clanton has missed the cut in two of his three starts this season. His other event was a T15 at the Farmers Insurance Open. All of which is to say, take this next sentence with a grain of salt. Across the five Course Fit indicators at PGA National, Clanton ranks No. 2, No. 2, No. 1, No. 4 and No. 95. It's a very small sample size. Do with it what you will.
One-And-Done: Russell Henley
Is this pick an aggressive reaction to Patrick Rodgers shooting 67-68-66-72 to finish T25 at the Mexico Open? Yes, it sure is. Do we care? Nope. The purse this week is only $9.2 million. Any finish outside the Top 10 isn't going to do us much good. So we'll ride with Henley, who finished T41 here last year, but put together a T3 and T8 in his two previous starts at PGA National. Henley has a true strokes gained of 1.44 on this course, per Data Golf, and has strong finishes at majors over the last two years. Please, Russell. We need you, buddy.
Who is missing the cut?
Min Woo Lee (+180) 1 Unit
I'm ignoring Lee's T2 at the Cognizant last year and focusing on his current form, which features a 48th-place finish at the Genesis and a rather awkward course fit at PGA National.
Jordan Spieth (+140) 1 Unit
Speaking of bad course fits, Spieth has negative strokes gained in four of the five key indicators this week. He's likely here to work some bugs out of his game after missing the cut at the Genesis, but that seems like a tall ask at an event Spieth has never entered before.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
11 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
US Open ‘25: Decades ago under dark of night, Oakmont began removing trees and started a golf trend
Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong — removing trees from courses. This week, the world's best player and favorite to win the U.S. Open will play a course that did just that, but didn't become one bit easier the way some layouts do when the trees go away. Under the dark of night three decades ago, the people in charge of Oakmont Country Club started cutting down trees. They didn't stop until some 15,000 had been removed. The project reimagined one of America's foremost golf cathedrals and started a trend of tree cutting that continues to this day. While playing a round on YouTube with influencer Grant Horvat, Scheffler argued that modern pro golf — at least at most stops on the PGA Tour — has devolved into a monotonous cycle of 'bomb and gouge': Hit drive as far as possible, then gouge the ball out of the rough from a shorter distance if the tee shot is off line. 'They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,' Scheffler said. 'And so, the only barrier to guys just trying to hit it as far as they want to or need to, it's trees.' With or without trees, Oakmont has stood the test of time Scheffler and the rest in the 156-man field that tees off Thursday should be so lucky. While the latest Oakmont renovation, in 2023, did make greens bigger, fairways are never wide at the U.S. Open and they won't be this week. Tree-lined or not, Oakmont has a reputation as possibly the toughest of all the U.S. Open (or any American) courses , which helps explain why it is embarking on its record 10th time hosting it. In the two Opens held there since the tree-removal project was completed, the deep bunkers, serpentine drainage ditches and lightning-fast greens have produced winning scores of 5-over par (Angel Cabrera in 2007) and 4 under (Dustin Johnson in 2016). In an ironic twist that eventually led to where we (and Oakmont) are today, the layout was completely lined with trees in 1973 when Johnny Miller shot 63 on Sunday to win the U.S. Open. That record stood for 50 years, and the USGA followed up with a course setup so tough in 1974 that it became known as 'The Massacre at Winged Foot' — won by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par. 'Everybody was telling me it was my fault,' Miller said in a look back at the '74 Open with Golf Digest. 'It was like a backhanded compliment. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont. Oakmont was supposed to be the hardest course in America.' It might still be. In a precursor to what could come this week, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott played practice rounds last Monday in which McIlroy said he made a 7 on the par-4 second and Scott said he hit every fairway on the front nine and still shot 3 over. Nicklaus: Trees should only come down 'for a reason' While Oakmont leaned into tree removal, there are others who aren't as enthused. Jack Nicklaus, who added trees to the 13th hole at Muirfield Village after seeing players fly a fairway bunker on the left for a clear look at the green, said he's OK with tree removal 'if they take them down for a reason.' 'Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?' he said. 'Like Oakmont, for example. What's the name of it? Oak. Mont. What's that mean? Oaks on a mountain, sort of. And then they take them all down. I don't like it.' A lot of Oakmont's members weren't fans, either, which is why this project began under dark of night. The golf course in the 1990s was barely recognizable when set against pictures taken shortly after it opened in 1903. Architect Henry Fownes had set out to build a links-style course. Dampening the noise and view of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the layout, was one reason thousands of trees were planted in the 1960s and '70s. 'We were finding that those little trees had all grown up and they were now hanging over some bunkers,' R. Banks-Smith, the chairman of Oakmont's grounds committee when the project began, said in a 2007 interview. 'And once you put a tree on either side of a bunker, you lose your bunker. So, you have to make a decision. Do you want bunkers or do you want trees?' Oakmont went with bunkers – its renowned Church Pew Bunker between the third and fourth fairways might be the most famous in the world – and thus began a tree project that divides people as much today as it did when it started. 'I'm not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal,' Scott said. 'I feel a lot of courses that aren't links courses get framed nicely with trees, not like you're opening it up to go play way over there.' Too many trees, though, can pose risks. Overgrown tree roots and too much shade provide competition for the tender grasses beneath. They hog up oxygen and sunlight and make the turf hard to maintain. They overhang fairways and bunkers and turn some shots envisioned by course architects into something completely different. They also can be downright dangerous. In 2023 during the second round of the Masters, strong winds toppled three towering pine trees on the 17th hole, luckily missing fans who were there watching the action. 'There are lots of benefits that trees provide, but only in the right place,' said John Fech, the certified arborist at University of Nebraska who consults with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. When Oakmont decided they didn't want them at all, many great courses followed. Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol and Merion are among those that have undergone removal programs. Five years ago, Bryson DeChambeau overpowered Winged Foot , which had removed about 300 trees, simply by hitting the ball as far as he could, then taking his chances from the rough. It's the sort of golf Scheffler seems to be growing tired of: 'When you host a championship tournament, if there's no trees, you just hit it wherever you want, because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I'm in the thick rough (but) if I miss by 20, I'm in the crowd,' Scheffler told Horvat. How well that critique applies to Oakmont will be seen this week. ___ AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed. ___ AP golf:
San Francisco Chronicle
13 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
US Open '25: Decades ago under dark of night, Oakmont began removing trees and started a golf trend
Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong — removing trees from courses. This week, the world's best player and favorite to win the U.S. Open will play a course that did just that, but didn't become one bit easier the way some layouts do when the trees go away. Under the dark of night three decades ago, the people in charge of Oakmont Country Club started cutting down trees. They didn't stop until some 15,000 had been removed. The project reimagined one of America's foremost golf cathedrals and started a trend of tree cutting that continues to this day. While playing a round on YouTube with influencer Grant Horvat, Scheffler argued that modern pro golf — at least at most stops on the PGA Tour — has devolved into a monotonous cycle of 'bomb and gouge': Hit drive as far as possible, then gouge the ball out of the rough from a shorter distance if the tee shot is off line. 'They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,' Scheffler said. 'And so, the only barrier to guys just trying to hit it as far as they want to or need to, it's trees.' Scheffler and the rest in the 156-man field that tees off Thursday should be so lucky. While the latest Oakmont renovation, in 2023, did make greens bigger, fairways are never wide at the U.S. Open and they won't be this week. Tree-lined or not, Oakmont has a reputation as possibly the toughest of all the U.S. Open (or any American) courses, which helps explain why it is embarking on its record 10th time hosting it. In the two Opens held there since the tree-removal project was completed, the deep bunkers, serpentine drainage ditches and lightning-fast greens have produced winning scores of 5-over par (Angel Cabrera in 2007) and 4 under (Dustin Johnson in 2016). In an ironic twist that eventually led to where we (and Oakmont) are today, the layout was completely lined with trees in 1973 when Johnny Miller shot 63 on Sunday to win the U.S. Open. That record stood for 50 years, and the USGA followed up with a course setup so tough in 1974 that it became known as 'The Massacre at Winged Foot' -- won by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par. 'Everybody was telling me it was my fault,' Miller said in a look back at the '74 Open with Golf Digest. 'It was like a backhanded compliment. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont. Oakmont was supposed to be the hardest course in America.' It might still be. In a precursor to what could come this week, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott played practice rounds last Monday in which McIlroy said he made a 7 on the par-4 second and Scott said he hit every fairway on the front nine and still shot 3 over. Nicklaus: Trees should only come down 'for a reason' While Oakmont leaned into tree removal, there are others who aren't as enthused. Jack Nicklaus, who added trees to the 13th hole at Muirfield Village after seeing players fly a fairway bunker on the left for a clear look at the green, said he's OK with tree removal 'if they take them down for a reason.' 'Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?' he said. 'Like Oakmont, for example. What's the name of it? Oak. Mont. What's that mean? Oaks on a mountain, sort of. And then they take them all down. I don't like it.' A lot of Oakmont's members weren't fans, either, which is why this project began under dark of night. The golf course in the 1990s was barely recognizable when set against pictures taken shortly after it opened in 1903. Architect Henry Fownes had set out to build a links-style course. Dampening the noise and view of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the layout, was one reason thousands of trees were planted in the 1960s and '70s. 'We were finding that those little trees had all grown up and they were now hanging over some bunkers,' R. Banks-Smith, the chairman of Oakmont's grounds committee when the project began, said in a 2007 interview. 'And once you put a tree on either side of a bunker, you lose your bunker. So, you have to make a decision. Do you want bunkers or do you want trees?' Oakmont went with bunkers – its renowned Church Pew Bunker between the third and fourth fairways might be the most famous in the world – and thus began a tree project that divides people as much today as it did when it started. 'I'm not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal,' Scott said. 'I feel a lot of courses that aren't links courses get framed nicely with trees, not like you're opening it up to go play way over there.' Too many trees, though, can pose risks. Overgrown tree roots and too much shade provide competition for the tender grasses beneath. They hog up oxygen and sunlight and make the turf hard to maintain. They overhang fairways and bunkers and turn some shots envisioned by course architects into something completely different. They also can be downright dangerous. In 2023 during the second round of the Masters, strong winds toppled three towering pine trees on the 17th hole, luckily missing fans who were there watching the action. 'There are lots of benefits that trees provide, but only in the right place,' said John Fech, the certified arborist at University of Nebraska who consults with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. When Oakmont decided they didn't want them at all, many great courses followed. Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol and Merion are among those that have undergone removal programs. Five years ago, Bryson DeChambeau overpowered Winged Foot, which had removed about 300 trees, simply by hitting the ball as far as he could, then taking his chances from the rough. It's the sort of golf Scheffler seems to be growing tired of: 'When you host a championship tournament, if there's no trees, you just hit it wherever you want, because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I'm in the thick rough (but) if I miss by 20, I'm in the crowd," Scheffler told Horvat. AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed. ___
USA Today
14 minutes ago
- USA Today
2025 US Open week forecast: Full weather update at Oakmont Country Club
2025 US Open week forecast: Full weather update at Oakmont Country Club Show Caption Hide Caption Scottie Scheffler wins Memorial at course he once watched as a fan From fan to champion, Scottie Scheffler wins the Memorial on a course he once dreamed of playing. PGA TOUR U.S. Open 2025 week has arrived, and while excitement will start to build up for the third major of the year, there is some concern on how much golf will be played with potential weather problems. This year's U.S. Open will take place at the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. It will be the 10th time the course will be the site of the championship, and the 2025 edition might present some major challenges to every golfer. The week is expected to start with rain and thunderstorms as practice rounds begin, and while the weather should clear up by the time the first round tees off, things could get tricky by the third and final round on the weekend, making it either tough to play or stopping it all entirely. Here is the forecast breakdown for each day of the tournament from the National Weather Service, AccuWeather and The Weather Channel. US Open 2025 forecast Monday, June 9 A slight chance of showers in the morning with cloudy conditions to start the day, but then potential for thunderstorms and showers in the afternoon with a high of 81 degrees. Winds will range from 5 to 9 mph, with potential gusts at 23 mph. Tuesday, June 10 Conditions should improve compared to Monday with a mostly sunny day with a high around 77. There is a small chance of precipitation. Winds could be slightly stronger around 6 to 11 mph, and gusts could reach 25 mph. Wednesday, June 11 The weather becomes most ideal in the final day of practice rounds with sunny skies with a high temperature around 82 degrees. Thursday, June 12 (first round) First round action tees off with one of the hottest days of the week. Forecasts call for mostly sunny skies as morning temperatures will reach around 86 degrees and stay consistent throughout the day, and it could feel hotter with the humidity making it feel around 94 degrees. Winds will be 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 22 mph. Friday, June 13 (second round) The day will start relatively calm with light winds accompanying a partly sunny morning around 83 degrees. It will feel hotter as the day goes by despite clouds rolling in thanks to the humidity, making it feel around 95 degrees. Winds should continue to be calm throughout the day. There is a small chance of precipitation. Saturday, June 14 (third round) After the cut is made, that's when the weather could become an issue. The morning forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with the possibility of rain, but thunderstorms could develop in the afternoon, which could suspend play. Scattered thunderstorms could continue into the night. Winds will be in the 5 to 10 mph range with gusts up to 14 mph. Sunday, June 15 (final round) Rain will remain a heavy possibility on championship day with showers in the morning with the chance of thunderstorms developing into the afternoon, possibly making it tough to get a full round of play in. The chance of rain is about 50%, and winds will be at 5 to 10 mph with potential gusts of 21 mph. The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.
