The 2026 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches follows the traditional four-day 72 holes format. Owing to this, the event’s field will undergo a 36-hole cut after round two. According to the Florida Swing opener’s rules, the top 65 players and ties after Friday’s action will go through to the weekend while the rest of the players return home.

Austin Smotherman, who has had just one forgettable previous appearance at the tournament now known as the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches in 2022, led the leaderboard on Thursday. The 31-year-old shot a 62 to become the seventh player to shoot 62 or better at PGA National Resort’s Champion Course in this event. He joined the likes of Jake Knapp (59 in round 1, 2025), Matt Jones (61 in round 1, 2021) and Tiger Woods (62 in the final round, 2012) with the record.

Based on Day one’s play and results, the 2026 edition of the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens has a projected cut line of +1. Interestingly this is a big change from 2025, when the event’s cut line was -5. Joe Highsmith won the tournament carding 19-under-265.

Listed below are the last five years’ cut lines for the Cognizant Classic:

• 2025: -5
• 2024: -2
• 2023: +1
• 2022: +2
• 2021: +1

It is pertinent to note that the event has 123 players teeing up on Friday and several big-names including recent LIV Golf returnee Brooks Koepka, are currently outside the projected cut line.

2026 Cognizant Classic Round 2 tee times

Friday’s Round 2 of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches will tee off at 6:45 am ET with the grouping of Erik van Rooyen, Justin Lower and Carson Young on the first tee. The group of Mark Hubbard, Eric Cole and Alex Smalley will follow suit on tee no.10. Patrick Fishburn, Zach Bauchou and Sudarshan Yellamaraju will take the final tee off at 1:23 pm ET from tee no.1.

Listed below are the complete tee times and pairings for Friday’s Round 2 at PGA National (All times ET):

Tee No.1

• 6:45 am – Erik van Rooyen, Justin Lower, Carson Young
• 6:57 am – Peter Malnati, Brice Garnett, Lanto Griffin
• 7:09 am – Matti Schmid, Dylan Wu, Takumi Kanaya
• 7:21 am – Adam Schenk, William Mouw, Aaron Wise
• 7:33 am – Sami Valimaki, Cam Davis, Matt Kuchar
• 7:45 am – Mackenzie Hughes, Thorbjørn Olesen, Chandler Phillips
• 7:57 am – Seamus Power, Charley Hoffman, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• 8:09 am – Kris Ventura, Dan Brown, Pontus Nyholm
• 8:21 am – Alejandro Tosti, Frankie Capan III, John VanDerLaan
• 8:33 am – Chan Kim, John Parry, Gordon Sargent
• 8:45 am – Zecheng Dou, David Ford, Justin Hicks
• 11:35 am – Austin Eckroat, Danny Willett, Beau Hossler
• 11:47 am – Camilo Villegas, Joel Dahmen, Sam Ryder
• 11:59 am – Adam Svensson, Rico Hoey, Max McGreevy
• 12:11 pm – Aaron Rai, Shane Lowry, Billy Horschel
• 12:23 pm – Garrick Higgo, Karl Vilips, Davis Riley
• 12:35 pm – Joe Highsmith, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell
• 12:47 pm – Rafael Campos, Nicolai Højgaard, S.H. Kim
• 12:59 pm – Jackson Suber, Johnny Keefer, Blades Brown
• 1:11 pm – Ricky Castillo, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Keita Nakajima
• 1:23 pm – Patrick Fishburn, Zach Bauchou, Sudarshan Yellamaraju

Tee No.10

• 6:45 am – Mark Hubbard, Eric Cole, Alex Smalley
• 6:57 am – Gary Woodland, Brandt Snedeker, David Lipsky
• 7:09 am – Emiliano Grillo, Kevin Roy, Danny Walker
• 7:21 am – Michael Brennan, Ryan Gerard, Max Homa
• 7:33 am – Brooks Koepka, Will Zalatoris, Daniel Berger
• 7:45 am – Tom Kim, Michael Thorbjornsen, Rasmus Højgaard
• 7:57 am – Patton Kizzire, Andrew Putnam, Kristoffer Reitan
• 8:09 am – Haotong Li, Marcelo Rozo, Davis Chatfield
• 8:21 am – Jesper Svensson, Kensei Hirata, Luke Clanton
• 8:33 am – Isaiah Salinda, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, A.J. Ewart
• 11:35 am – Taylor Moore, Harry Higgs, Hank Lebioda
• 11:47 am – Matthieu Pavon, Adam Hadwin, Doug Ghim
• 11:59 am – Lee Hodges, Matt Wallace, Mac Meissner
• 12:11 pm – Brendon Todd, Kevin Streelman, Vince Whaley
• 12:23 pm – Steven Fisk, Nico Echavarria, Kevin Yu
• 12:35 pm – Davis Thompson, Stephan Jaeger, Webb Simpson
• 12:47 pm – Nick Dunlap, K.H. Lee, Chad Ramey
• 12:59 pm – Adrien Saddier, Paul Waring, Christo Lamprecht
• 1:11 pm – Jimmy Stanger, Neal Shipley, Jeffrey Kang
• 1:23 pm – Austin Smotherman, Jordan Smith, Chandler Blanchet