When he teed off Saturday, Joe Highsmith didn’t anticipate leaping into contention at the 2025 Cognizant Classic at The Palm Beaches. That will happen when you are struggling on the range.
But a bad warmup doesn’t always equate to poor play, as Highsmith fired a 7-under-par 64 to vault up the leaderboard at PGA National and put himself in contention for his first career PGA Tour win.
“I hit it horribly on the range and putted OK on the practice tee,” Highsmith said Saturday after his round. “But I felt like it kind of forced me to focus once the round started because I felt like I was going to hit it out-of-bounds on every hole, and it turned into one of my best rounds.”
The Pepperdine graduate used a hot putter to get out of the blocks hot in the third round. He poured in birdie putts of 14, 15 and 36 feet en route to that sizzling 64.
“There’s been a lot of really bad warmups turn into great rounds,” Highsmith said. “I think it just kind of proves that the game is pretty mental, and even if you don’t feel good about your swing or about your stroke, if you get out there on the course and focus, you can still play well.”
Highsmith, who made the cut on the number, backed up that Saturday 64 with another 64 on Sunday to grab the trophy and the $1.65 million check that came with it.
With that, here is the complete payout breakdown for this week’s Cognizant Classic. The total purse is $9.2 million.
How much every player made at the 2025 Cognizant Classic
(Amateur Luke Clanton finished in a tie for 18th. He will not receive a payout. All other placements are adjusted accordingly.)
1. Joe Highsmith $1,656,000
T2. Jacob Bridgeman $818,000
J.J. Spaun
T4. Max McGreevy $414,000
Ben Griffin $414,000
T6. Russell Henley $310,500
Jake Knapp $310,500
Michael Kim $310,500
T9. Jordan Spieth $259,900
Erik van Rooyen $259,900
T11. Max Greyserman $184,985
Shane Lowry $184,985
Min Woo Lee $184,985
Sepp Straka $184,985
Brice Garnett $184,985
Andrew Putnam $184,985
Doug Ghim $184,985
T18. Rickie Fowler $117,606
Matti Schmid $117,606
Alex Smalley $117,606
Patrick Rodgers $117,606
Victor Perez $117,606
Nicolai Hojgaard $117,606
T24. Niklas Norgaard $73,271
Charley Hoffman $73,271
Rico Hoey $73,271
Billy Horschel $73,271
Daniel Berger $73,271
Ryan Gerard $73,271
Taylor Montgomery $73,271
T31. Beau Hossler $52,637
Quade Cummins $52,637
Chan Kim $52,637
Jesper Svensson $52,637
Vince Whaley $52,637
Brian Harman $52,637
Joel Dahmen $52,637
T38. Isaiah Salinda $41,860
Karl Vilips $41,860
Michael Thorbjornsen $41,860
T41. Taylor Moore $33,580
Zach Johnson $33,580
Jackson Suber $33,580
Christiaan Bezuidenhout $33,580
Keith Mitchell $33,580
Matthieu Pavon $33,580
T47. Davis Riley $24,090
Sami Valimaki $24,090
Denny McCarthy $24,090
Sam Ryder $24,090
Matt McCarty $24,090
Patrick Fishburn $24,090
Brian Campbell $24,090
Rikuya Hoshino $24,090
T55. Matt Kuchar $21,252
Chris Kirk $21,252
Bud Cauley $21,252
Ricky Castillo $21,252
Kris Ventura $21,252
60: Jhonattan Vegas $20,700
T61. Ben Polland $20,424
Antione Rozer $20,424
63. Greyson Sigg $20,148
T64. Francesco Moliari $19,872
Matthew Riedel $19,872
66. Tom Hoge $19,596
67. Alejandro Tosti $19,412