Cognizant Classic 2025 FRL Tips: Four to start quickly on Thursday

We're at The Palm Beaches in Florida for the next leg of the PGA Tour this week and our golf expert Jamie Worsley has already shared his Cognizant Classic Tips.

In addition, he's provided some Cognizant Classic 2025 FRL Tips - at 45/1, 70/1, 80/1 and 100/1.

The forecast for tomorrow’s opening round of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National is fairly even across the board, with patches of rain for both the early and later starters, accompanied by largely warm and bright conditions.

Although wind gusts are a touch stronger in the afternoon, at sub-10mph they still shouldn’t cause any real problems and there appears to be little to separate the two groups of players in this regard.

That being said this is a place where the early starters have historically had the advantage, as 10 of the last 13 players to hold at least a share of 1st place on day one teed off in the morning.

With that in mind, I’m going to primarily load my selections among the morning tee times, with three coming from that side of the of the draw and just one from the afternoon starters.

1pt Russell Henley each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 45/1

Start time: 07:40

Russell Henley has been playing consistently well for several years now but is a player that is still difficult to win with. That meant he was of little appeal in the outright market at the price, though as a player with an excellent record at PGA National, he looks a strong candidate to be tomorrow’s first-round leader from his usually advantageous morning tee time.

Henley is currently on a brilliant run of 17 made cuts in a row, that stretches all the way back to last year’s PLAYERS Championship. He’s again looked sharp at the start of this year, recording two top 10s in his first four starts, with a best of 5th at Pebble Beach.

He ranks 1st in this field in strokes gained: total over his last 50 rounds, particularly impressing in approach, ranking 11th. In addition to this, he’s also the best first-round performer in the field across his last 10 starts and he recorded a first-round lead just two starts ago, opening with an eight-under 64 at Spyglass Hill in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Henley won this event all the way back in 2014, an event in which he shot 64 in round one to sit 2nd after 18 holes. He occupied the same position in 2021 with another 64 in the opening round and a third-round 65 last year again shows what he can do around this layout.

0.75pts Jake Knapp each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 70/1

Start time: 07:18

After a difficult end to the 2024 campaign, Jake Knapp has had somewhat of a return to form this year. Having gone very well on his debut at PGA National last year and currently in excellent first-round form, he made a lot of sense in this market.

It looked like more of the same for Knapp on his first two starts this season, finishing 56th of 58 players in The Sentry and following with a missed cut in The AmEx. However, he hasn’t missed another one since and comes into this off the back of two top-25 finishes in a row.

Most notable has been his improvements in approach, for which he ranks 9th in this field over his last 20 rounds, whilst the putter has largely fired too, ranking 34th over the same time period.

He’s often done his best work in the opening rounds, ranking 3rd in first-round performance in his last five starts. Which has included shooting a 65 at Pebble Beach to sit 2nd after round one.

Knapp made his debut in this event last year, right after winning the Mexico Open. He finished an impressive 4th there and shooting two rounds of 66, we know he has the ability to go low around PGA National.

0.75pts C.T. Pan each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 80/1

Start time: 13:13

C.T. Pan is my one selection from tomorrow’s afternoon starters. Whilst not reflected in his results, he’s been playing good tee-to-green golf since the end of last year and as a player in possession of several low rounds in this event, he can make a fast start on Thursday.

Pan finished 23rd in the Shriners Open and 6th in the ZOZO Championship on his final two starts of 2024. He initially looked like carrying that over into this year, finishing 21st on his first start of the season in the Sony Open, but he’s failed to crack the top 50 on his last two starts.

He’s been playing solid golf from tee-to-green over this period, ranking 31st in this field. The putter has been the problem in those last two starts, though having ranked 8th and 9th on the greens in two of his last three visits here – in 2021 and 2024 respectively – and producing his best putting display of this year on similarly large bermudagrass greens in Hawaii, he should relish a return to these surfaces.

Pan has played this event seven times, missing just two cuts and recording three top 20s, with his best effort coming courtesy of a 3rd-place finish in 2021. Further to that,

he’s sat inside the top 10 after round one on three occasions, shooting a 66 to sit 5th on debut in 2017; whilst rounds of 67 and 66 helped him to first-round finishes of 9th in 2021 and 2024.

0.5pts Victor Perez each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 100/1

Start time: 07:07

Victor Perez hasn’t built on an encouraging start to the season in The AmEx. Having said that, he was in similarly uninspiring form coming into this event last year but managed to finish 16th on debut and as a player not afraid of a quick start, he looks an interesting selection from his early start time on Thursday.

Perez began his season with a 34th-place finish in The AmEx, shooting each round in the 60s. Although he missed the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open on his next start, he again looked solid in round one, before getting a battering from the difficult second-round conditions.

He failed to get anything going on his following two starts but he’s continued to drive the ball well. As a strong all-round ball-striker and a competent putter, he is a good fit for PGA National.

Perez indeed showed this here last year, as he opened with rounds of 67 and 66 to sit 4th at the halfway point, before eventually finishing 16th. That strong start was a huge plus and looking in good first-round form at the end of 2024, shooting a five-under 66 to sit 2nd after round one of the Aussie PGA, he is well worth a shot in this market.

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