Shane Lowry didn’t give skipping this week’s Cognizant Classic a second thought, even though the majority of the elite players have bypassed the stop-off at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida.
It means Lowry will play a five-week stretch of tournaments, bookended by two signature events at the start in the Pebble Beach pro-am and the Genesis, and another signature event the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament, The Players, at the other end.
Lowry revealed there were a number of reasons for his busy competitive run. For one, the fact he gets to stay at home – even getting to drop or collect his girls from school – and sleep in his own bed is an obvious factor; for another, he plays well the Champion Course at PGA National.
As he put it ahead of this third of his five events: “I think if it was five weeks in a row and there was no home weeks in there, I wouldn’t play five weeks in a row. I think the fact I’m saying at home this week makes it easier.
“I get to drive to Bay Hill next week, so there’s no flights. I get to see my family. They get to come to Bay Hill and The Players. There’s a lot in there that makes the five weeks easier than sort of if you’re five weeks away from home.
“Then I feel like I’ve been out on tour a long time now, and I play a lot of tournaments where I don’t particularly like the golf course or I don’t play well around there. I need to take advantage of the courses that I play well on and that I like playing. There’s certain times you just have to do it.”
The proof of Lowry knocking on the door here, in what was the Honda Classic until the title name change to Cognizant in 2023, is plain, a runner-up finish in 2022 was followed by a tied fifth in ’23, tied fourth in ’24 and tied 11th last year.
Of his love of Florida course set-ups, Lowry claimed: “I really enjoy this tournament, Bay Hill, Players. I really enjoy going to play the Valspar, even though I might not play this year. I’m not sure I can play six in a row. But there’s certain courses I love playing, and a lot of them are Florida courses.
“I probably would like to see a bit more of the old traditional set-up. It is what it is this week, and you just have to deal with the cards you’re given.”
Lowry’s form this season has seen him start solidly, narrowly missing out on the Dubai Invitational (finishing tied third after a double-bogey finish) followed by a tied 26th in the Dubai Desert Classic, before getting back to the PGA Tour with a top-10 in Pebble Beach and tied 24th place in the Genesis.
Ryan Gerard (26th) is the top-ranked player off the world standings playing in the Cognizant, with Lowry (30th) and Aaron Rai (32nd) in the marquee group for the opening two rounds with Billy Horschel.
Of that seeming lack of star power, Lowry observed: “I’m sure every tournament, bar the signature events, don’t get the fields that they’d want. I think it is in a very tough spot in the schedule, probably one of the toughest spots in the schedule, and I don’t think it’s anything to do with the course. The reason players don’t play is players don’t want to play that much. It is a tough stretch of golf.
“Riviera [the host of the Genesis] can typically play really tough. Bay Hill plays very, very difficult, and then you’ve got The Players. You beat yourself up playing this type of golf.”
Séamus Power, who didn’t get into the field at either Pebble Beach or the Genesis, returns to tour life at the Cognizant after a solid start to the season which has seen him make three from three cuts, with a best finish of tied 11th in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Joe Highsmith poses with the trophy after winning last year’s Cognizant Classic at PGA National Resort And Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images Lowdown
Purse: $9.6 million (€8.15 million)/ $1.7 million ($1.44 million) to the winner.
Where: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The course: PGA National has five golf courses in the resort with The Champion – 7,223 yards, par 71 – originally designed by Tom Fazio but subsequently upgraded by Jack Nicklaus, aka The Golden Bear, who was involved in the redesign of the course. That is why the famed late stretch of holes from the 15th to the 17th is known as the Bear Trap. The tough stretch starts with the 180 yards par-3 15th which has water down the right and to the rear of the green; the 16th is a dogleg right par-4 with the approach played over a lake to the green; and the 172 yards par-3 17th is again played mostly over water to the green. The course has been increased by almost 100 yards since last year, when Joe Highsmith won. Fifteen of the holes feature water hazards.
The field: With next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational (a $20 million signature event) and The Players (the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament) on the horizon, many of the world’s top players have opted to factor in a break from tournament play. That is reflected in the fact that world number 26 Ryan Gerard is the best ranked player.
Irish in the field: Shane Lowry lives nearby and has a good record on the course. He was unlucky in 2023 when an untimely squall arrived as he played off the 18th tee as he finished runner-up to Sepp Straka. This time, Lowry is grouped with Billy Horschel and Aaron Rai (off the 10th at 5.21pm Irish time in the first round); Séamus Power is in the second wave of tee times, in a group with Charley Hoffman and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (off the 10th at 5.47pm Irish time).
Betting: Local knowledge and a good track record are worth their weight in gold around PGA National, which brings Lowry – who has contended frequently in his appearances – among the market leaders. That is reflected in odds of 14-1 with only Gerard ahead of him in the market at 12-1. The Hojgaard twins are also tightly priced, with Nicolai at 16-1 and Rasmus rated a 20-1 shot. Will Zalatoris has fitted back well on tour after surgery and looks worth an each-way bet at 33-1.
On TV: Live coverage from 11.45am on Sky Sports+ and from 4pm on Sky Sports Golf.