And spectators have been treated to exciting golf. Last year was decided in a playoff between winner Chris Kirk and Eric Cole, who went on to win PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. In 2022, Sepp Straka outlasted locals Shane Lowry and Daniel Berger in a sudden downpour that arrived when the last group approached the final hole.
Week now separates PGA Tour West Coast, Florida Swings
The adjustment in the schedule was the simplest way to get everything started. This year, the calendar provided an extra week between the start of the season and the Masters, and the Tour used that week to separate the end of the West Coast Swing and the start of the Florida Swing.
Instead of a six-week stretch that included Pebble Beach, Phoenix Open, Genesis, Cognizant, Arnold Palmer and the Players, the Tour scheduled an event in Mexico between Genesis and Cognizant.
Adding to the past insult, the two events before and following last year’s tournament had purses of at least $20 million, while Honda’s prize money was $8.4 million. That number increases to $9 million in Cognizant’s first year.
“They were in a terrible position last year,” Matt Kuchar said. “Happy to see a better field. I’ve played the Honda at lots of different venues. I feel like PGA National is such a great home for Cognizant. They got a great identity there.”
Kuchar and Glover are old school. They have teed it up a combined 24 times and have little sympathy for golfers who avoided the Champion Course because of its difficulty.
The Champion Course, with all its water and wind, was the third most difficult course on the PGA Tour during the 2020-21 season, playing at 1.904 strokes over par. Last year, one in which the winds were pretty benign all week, it was the 10th most difficult at .359 over par. Kirk and Cole carded the lowest scores since the tournament moved to PGA National in 2007, 14-under 266, before Kirk won the playoff.
“I like the challenge of the golf course, I like the difficulty of it,” Glover, 44, said. “There’s a lot of strategy there. There’s a lot of shots you got to hit well. Pretty big fan of the course itself.”
Kuchar, 45, believes the course lends itself to a great leaderboard. And that Bear Trap, holes 15-17, is must-see TV.
“It’s something people are anxious to tune in to,” he said. “That Bear Trap, when I’m not playing, I tune in. I want to see how guys are doing in those holes.”
Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion…
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