The field for this week’s Cognizant Classic is very different to last week’s Genesis Invitational – that much is undeniably true.
The Genesis Invitational – which was a Signature Event – featured all of the world’s top-10, 18 of the top-20 and 41 of the top-50 all packed into its 72-man field. Max Homa at World No.148 was the lowest-ranked player.
Meanwhile, there are set to be no players inside the world’s top-20 teeing it up at PGA National for the regular tour event following Ben Griffin and Jacob Bridgeman withdrawing, with World No.26 Ryan Gerard the top-ranked player. The Cognizant Classic took another blow when Adam Scott became the latest big name to withdraw.
But why are so many of the world’s brightest stars choosing to sit this one out? It’s probably not just because the overall payout drops from $20 million to less than $10 million, although that may not help.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It is much more likely the calibre of pro playing this week has dropped by a small level simply because of where the Cognizant Classic sits in the schedule.
The Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational marked consecutive Signature Events on the PGA Tour. Then comes the Cognizant Classic.
After that, there is another Signature Event in the Arnold Palmer Invitational before The Players Championship – the most prestigious non-Major in the world and the most lucrative tournament anywhere.
As a result, players basically have to choose between playing at least five weeks in a row or taking one event off to ensure they’re fully fit for the tournaments they do play.
Touching on the issue after Atlanta Drive’s TGL double-header on Monday night, Billy Horschel expressed great empathy towards one of his home-state tournaments.
However, the Florida-born pro admitted the problem has been active for many years already and the Cognizant Classic is far from the only tournament which is victim to this issue.
Horschel said: “Listen, it’s tough with any tournament on the PGA Tour schedule, outside of Signature Events, due to a multitude of reasons.
“We had this issue before the Signature…
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