How the Cognizant Classic Symbolizes the PGA Tour's Pickle and Its Looming Changes

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The Cognizant Classic serves as a microcosm of one of the biggest questions currently surrounding the PGA Tour: What does the circuit’s future schedule look like, especially for the rank-and-file players?

It’s anyone’s guess at this point.

“To be honest with you, I don’t have too much input on that,” Taylor Moore said Friday at the Cognizant when asked about a potential schedule remodel. “I really don't know what the Tour is going to do. I think my—ever since I’ve been a rookie out here, there’s been some changes pretty much every year, which is just how it is. I just really try to keep my feet on the ground and play golf where I’m at.”

One thing’s certain, though: a holistic reimagining is on the horizon. New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and the inception of the Future Competition Committee, led by Tiger Woods, are aiming to overhaul the sport’s calendar, with changes potentially coming as soon as next season. Front Office Sports has reported the 2027 schedule could be disclosed in two weeks ahead of the Players Championship.

“It’s trying to serve literally everyone, from the player side of it, from our media partners, from all of our title sponsors, from the local communities or even changing venues and going to bigger markets,” Woods said at last week’s Genesis Invitational.

“It’s what do we need to do from a competitive model to make our tour the best product it can possibly be each and every year and still have room for development. How do we do all of that at the same time?"

The Tour has already made strides in achieving that. Three years ago, after the inception of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour granted its biggest tournaments elevated status, which pits 70 to 80 of the world’s best players against each other, vying for a $20 million purse plus increased FedEx Cup points. Five out of eight signature events don’t have a cut; therefore, everyone secures a weekend tee time—and a payday.

But that model has dampened some long-time Tour events that don’t boast signature status. Case in point, the Cognizant Classic.

For nearly four decades, it was often a premier stop on Tour, boasting champions such as Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas. Plus, Tiger Woods shot the lowest closing round of his career (62) there in 2012. In 2026, however, the highest-ranked player in the field is Ryan Gerard, No. 27. And the field suffered additional blows early in the week with the withdrawals of Ben Griffin, Adam Scott and the Genesis Invitational’s champion, Jacob Bridgeman.

This year, the Cognizant, which features a $9.6 million purse, is sandwiched between four signature events: the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship. So why would Scottie Scheffler, for example, want to play a stretch of six straight weeks on opposite coasts?

“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,” said Shane Lowry, who is playing the Cognizant and lives in nearby Jupiter, Fla. “I think the fact I’m saying at home this week makes it easier. I get to drive to Bay Hill [in Orlando] next week, so there’s no flights. I get to see my family. They get to come to Bay Hill and The Players [Championship]. There’s a lot in there that makes the five weeks easier than sort of if you’re five weeks away from home.”

So, in Palm Beach Gardens, there’s a lifetime opportunity for mid-tier players, who haven’t earned signature status, to change their lives. Three out of the past four champions were first-time winners.

Yet, with Rolapp preaching “scarcity,” along with not wanting to go head-to-head with the NFL (there’s rumblings the new season might start after the Super Bowl), it seems the schedule will be cut down from its current slate of 30-plus tournaments. That means several events are on the chopping block, particularly ones in smaller markets (PGA National is in the country’s 39th-ranked market).

If the Cognizants of the schedule are eventually euthanized, will that leave less established Tour members to be squeezed out of playing opportunities?

Every chance is meaningful

Ben Silverman, a 38-year-old Tour veteran ranked No. 261 in the world, was the Cognizant’s 15th alternate last Sunday. By the time the first tee shots were hit Thursday, he was the first. Staying loose on the practice range, just 15 minutes from home, he hoped for a coveted call.

Then, just before noon, it came. Will Zalatoris was out. Silverman was in.

He has taken advantage of the opportunity, shooting 67 on Friday to make the cut. Having finished 140th in the FedEx Cup in 2025, he only holds conditional status on Tour, so every start is vital to his career.

Especially because he can’t pick and choose his schedule anymore.

“[Missing out on starts] already happened with some of the other signature events that I loved, like Pebble and Travelers that were full-field events,” said Silverman. “I know there’s a lot of guys that don’t like [the signature event model], but I’m sure when I’m in the top 80 or top 75 and I have a full schedule of elevated events, I’ll probably be like, ‘Well, I get all the elevated events.’”

A.J. Ewart has a prime opportunity to inch toward that goal. A 26-year-old rookie who earned a Tour card through Q-School, he shot a second-round 64 at PGA National and sits T3, four strokes off the 36-hole lead.

Having done that at the Cognizant makes it even sweeter. The Canadian played collegiately at Barry College in Miami and during that time would attend this tournament as a spectator.

So the idea of wiping PGA National from the schedule makes him uneasy.

“I’m not a fan of it,” the world No. 364 said. “I think these events are great, and it’s great for the community. Coming out here when I was in college, it was so cool to just come out here and see the guys. Even if it’s not the top-ranked guys, you’re coming out and you’re seeing a bunch of PGA Tour pros, which was really cool.

“I hope it doesn't get cut, and I hope it stays around. It’s an awesome event at an amazing golf course. I hope to see it around, and I hope to be able to play it in the future.”

If that’s not the case, though, the sport could lose a bevy of underdog stories.

Tough conversations

What the FCC is trying to achieve isn’t easy. And not everyone will ultimately be happy.

When players were asked specifically what changes they’d like, or wouldn’t like, to see, they were mum. Nor did they think their voices were relevant to the conversation.

“I have no clue,” Brooks Koepka said. “I’m three [events] into [being reinstated by the PGA Tour], and I’m not a part of those conversations. It would be very tough for me to have a voice and for people to listen right now. I’m just thankful to be out here.”

Added Silverman: “I’m not in a position to change it, so I can voice my dislike and it’s not going to do anything.”

In the end, good golf, regardless of how many opportunities are at stake, will take care of everything.

“I’m just going to try to play my best and get in that top 80 or 75 or whatever that number is,” Silverman.

Familiar territory

The Cognizant appears to be safe for a few more years. The course’s contract with the PGA Tour runs until 2028 and the sponsor is signed through 2030. This year, title sponsors for the Sony Open, Charles Schwab Challenge, Wyndham Championship, Puerto Rico Open and Farmers Insurance Open are expiring.

Tournaments dissolving isn’t new. Many events have come and gone through the PGA Tour’s history. The New England Classic, for example, was contestested from 1969 through 1998. The Greater Milwaukee Open ran for 42 years, until 2009. And the famed Westchester Classic and Western Open have been repurposed into the FedEx St. Jude and BMW championships.

When Tom Weiskopf took down Jack Nicklaus in the inaugural Cognizant Classic, then the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic at Inverarry Golf and Country Club in Lauderhill, Fla., how many people would have predicted the event would continue for more than another 50 years, with Honda serving as the Tour’s longest running title sponsor (1982-2023)?

Now, it could be time to pass the torch and create new traditions.

“I think it's just the economical cycle of the PGA Tour," Joel Paige, the managing director at PGA National from 2007 to 2015, told the Palm Beach Post. “I think it’s run its course. I think it’s done its job. It brought all the attention to Palm Beach. I’d like to see it stay, but I’d be surprised at the end of the day with everything around golf that it ends up staying.”

Rolapp swears by a motto former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue used to say: “If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway.” And the future of several tournaments and players’ careers are tied to that initiative.

The Tour has undergone revisions in multiple generations and always seems to come out on the other side more popular and equitable than before. Why wouldn’t that be the case this time around?

“I think we have the right people for the right job,” two-time winner Nico Echavarria said. “I’m excited for the future of the PGA Tour. I like what Brian is thinking. I like the guys that are involved. I think the quality of the Tour in general is going to be very good.”