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The Cognizant Classic will mark the PGA Tour's arrival in Florida during the 2024 season. The event will be played from February 29 to March 3 at the venue that has served as its home since 2007.
The Champion Course at PGA National Resort will host The Cognizant Classic. The facility is nestled in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and was founded in 1980.
The PGA National Resort has six 18-hole courses. In addition to The Champion, there are The Fazio, The Palmer, The Estates, The Match and The Staple. While George and Tom Fazio designed the first four, Arnold Palmer designed the course that bears his name and Karl Litten designed The Staple.
The Champion Course at the PGA National Resort is 7,048 yards and is par 72. It has a rating of 75.2 and a slope of 148.
The course has hosted the Palm Beach Classic since 2007. In addition, it has hosted the 1983 Ryder Cup, the 1987 PGA Championship, and the Senior PGA Championship for 19 consecutive editions (1982 to 2000).
The Champion course was redesigned by Jack Nicklaus in 2002. The legendary Golden Bear included a tough test for players on "The Bear Trap," which encompasses the par-3 15th, par-4 16th, and par-3 17th holes.
The Cognizant Classic: A Little History
The Cognizant Classic was founded in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic, hosted by American actor, writer and songwriter Jackie Gleason. Honda had a long run as the name sponsor of the event (1982-2023). The 2024 edition will be the first in which Cognizant will act in that role.
The event has always been played in South Florida. Seven courses have hosted it at least once, with Inverrary Country Club (11) and PGA National Resort (15) being the most stable venues.
The lowest score of the event (24-under 264) belongs to Justin Leonard since he won in 2003. Two players share the largest margin of victory. Jack Nicklaus beat Gary Player by five strokes in 1977 and Matt Jones beat Brandon Hagy by the same difference in 2021.
Only four players have managed to win the event more than once. Nicklaus himself won the event twice (1977, 1978), followed by Johnny Miller (1980, 1983), Mark Calcavecchia (1987, 1998) and Pádraig Harrington (2005, 2015).
Many other great names in world golf have played and won the South Florida classic. Among them are Lee Trevino, Fred Couples, Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.
Currently named Cognizant Classic, the event has been the scene of many interesting events. Among others, the first victory of an Austrian on the PGA Tour (Sepp Straka, 2022) stands out.
Another famous event was the rise of Rory McIlroy to number one in the world ranking for the first time in his career, after his victory in 2012.
