PGA National’s Champion Course, home of the Bear Trap, used to be one of the most fearsome annual tests on the PGA Tour. Not so anymore.
Over the past few years, a key course maintenance decision has taken the bite out of the course. The result? Winning scores at the Cognizant Classic have been skyrocketing.
And some PGA Tour veterans are not happy about it. Billy Horschel took to social media to announce his displeasure and explain who is to blame for the easy conditions at PGA National, while Shane Lowry opened up on the topic during his pre-tournament press conference.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why Cognizant Classic winning scores have skyrocketed
When the Cognizant Classic, then known as the Honda Classic, moved to PGA National’s Champion Course in 2007, it immediately proved a tough challenge for the PGA Tour’s best. Look no further than the winning scores.
Mark Wilson won the inaugural PGA National Honda Classic with a final score of five under. At the 2008 Honda, Ernie Else finished at six under to take home the trophy.
From 2007-2020, only three Honda Classics ended with a winning score in double digits under par. Camilo Villegas hit 13 under in 2010, five strokes better than runner-up Anthony Kim. Rory McIlroy reached 12 under for his 2012 victory, two shots better than co-runner-up Tiger Woods. Rickie Fowler matched McIlroy’s winning score in 2017 with a four-shot margin of victory. All the other winning scores during that stretch were in the single digits under par.
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But as the new decade began, something changed at PGA National. Suddenly, all of the winning scores were double digits under par. Over the past three years, the problem has gotten worse.
Chris Kirk won in a playoff in 2023, having tied Eric Cole through 72 holes with a score of 14 under. In 2024, Austin Eckroat reached 17 under to win the Cognizant. Last year, Joe Highsmith shot a 19-under 265 to capture the win.
So what gives? According to several PGA Tour players, the culprit is a course maintenance decision. While PGA National features mostly Bermuda grass on its surfaces, as many Florida courses do, in recent years, the Bermuda has been overseeded with rye grass in winter.
While the overseeding makes the course look better, it also makes it far easier for players to navigate shots from the rough than if the grass were purely Bermuda. That makes the risk of missing the greens or fairways far less severe.
As a result, players have started going low with ease during the Cognizant Classic.
Billy Horschel puts blame on PGA National for overseeding course
Horschel, an eight-time PGA Tour winner, has plenty of experience playing PGA National on Tour. In his long career, Horschel has made 13 starts at the Cognizant Classic/Honda Classic.
In his first 11 events at PGA National, Horschel’s best score was 7 under in 2017, which earned him a T4. His next best score during that stretch was 2 under.
But in 2024, Horschel cruised to a final score of 12 under. However, unlike with McIlroy in 2012 and Fowler in 2017, who won with the same score, Horschel finished T9, five shots short of the lead.
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On Wednesday, Horschel publicly shared his opinion on the recent changes at PGA National on social media.
In the replies to an X video discussing the Cognizant Classic and PGA National, Horschel responded to a user who called the overseeding of the Champion Course a “disgrace”.
In his response, Horschel laid the blame for the overseeding issue at the feet of the “owners of PGA National.” According to Horschel, the PGA Tour would prefer the course to not be overseeded, but it’s not up to them.
“Unfortunately, not the [PGA] Tour’s fault. Owners of PGA National do it. Tour have tried to state why it shouldn’t be overseeded but end of the day it’s out of their hands,” Horschel wrote.
He continued by arguing that the PGA Tour should fight for “complete control” over host courses in the future.
“1 thing going forward that we need to do is make sure we have complete control of the setup of all Tour courses,” he wrote.
Shane Lowry on PGA National: ‘It was a little bit too easy last year’
After a rash of withdrawals ahead of the tournament, Shane Lowry is arguably the biggest star still in the Cognizant Classic field. As a local resident, Lowry cherishes this event, its host course and the ability to sleep at home and spend time with his family during tournament week.
He explained as much in his press conference on Wednesday at the Cognizant Classic. But he also spoke in some detail about the easier course conditions in recent years.
“I like that the rough is a bit thicker this year. It was a little bit too easy last year, I thought,” Lowry began. “I don’t want to exactly see 59s around here, but yeah, I hope the scoring is a little bit more difficult this year and it plays like it used to.”
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Lowry explained that that he when he first moved to Florida, he struggled adapting to playing Bermuda grass, joking, “I wish it was overseeded back then.”
Then a reporter asked Lowry how different the current PGA National setup is from its heyday of single-digit winning scores.
“Yeah, I don’t think it is that. I think it’s like probably — it’s probably going to play easier than that, which I don’t like. I’d prefer to see it — look, I’m a member of a few courses down here, and all Bermuda, and the golf courses this time of year are incredible. The Bermuda golf courses down here are unbelievable,” Lowry said.
