The 2026 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches will commence on Thursday, February 26. The event, following back-to-back Signature Events on the PGA Tour schedule, will be played at PGA National on their Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The event will have a strong 123-player field teeing up this weekend, down from 144 last year.
The PGA National contest will have a handful of Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) top-50 players teeing up, including the likes of Ben Griffin, Ryan Gerard, Shane Lowry and Aaron Rai. They will be joined by several other PGA Tour regulars and some Q-School grads. Event’s reigning champion Joe Highsmith and last year’s runner-up Jacob Bridgeman, who won The Genesis Invitational 2026 on Sunday, are among some names to watch this weekend.
Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches 2026 format explained
For the unversed, The Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches follows the traditional 72-hole event format. The competition field will be divided into morning and afternoon waves for the first two rounds. The 36-hole cut will be made, mostly to the top 55 players and ties, at the end of round two on Friday.
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The competition will continue on Saturday with the players competing in threesomes, with all the players who made cut being eligible to play the next two days and finish the campaign. It is pertinent to note that the third and fourth rounds pairings and tee times are made based on each player’s total score through their previous rounds i.e. two and three rounds, respectively. While players with the highest total score go first, the three players with the lowest total score will take up the final group.
The player with the lowest total score after 72 holes will bag the 2026 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches winner’s share from the $9.6 million purse. Apart from the paycheck, the champion golfer also earns a two-season PGA Tour exemption with special exemption into selected tournaments, 500 FedEx Cup points and a fixed Official World Golf Ranking points.
What is the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches playoff format?
In case of ties at top of the leaderboard after 72 holes, a playoff under PGA Tour rules will be played at the PGA National. The Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches playoff, played immediately after the final round, will follow a sudden-death format with playoff holes being 18, 17, and 17 again in a loop. The golfers in the playoff will play hole-by-hole until the player with the lowest score is determined the winner.
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