2025 Cognizant Classic betting tips: Our expert’s top picks in The Palm Beaches

2025 Cognizant Classic betting tips from Today's Golfer.

Our resident betting expert picks out his top Cognizant Classic betting tips ahead of the PGA Tour event.

The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches kicks off a four-week Floridian stretch on the PGA Tour, which also takes in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, and the Valspar Championship.

The season’s first major is fast approaching and those with Green Jacket aspirations will likely need a strong showing in the Sunshine State over the next few weeks if they are to mount a serious challenge at Augusta National.

Last time around, American Austin Eckroat tamed The Bear Trap for the first of his two PGA tour wins in 2024 with a comfortable three-shot margin of victory over Min Woo Lee and Erik van Rooyen.

Before diving into my betting tips for the week, here’s everything else you need to know…

Cognizant Classic Open key details

Venue: PGA National Resort, Palm Beach County, Florida (Par 70 – 7,125 yards)

Format: 72-hole strokeplay with 36-hole cut

Purse: $9.2 million with the winner receiving an estimated $1.62m.

FedEx Cup points: 500

Favorites: Shane Lowry 20/1, Russell Henley 20/1, Sungjae Im 22/1, Sepp Straka 25/1

Defending champion: Austin Eckroat (USA), -17

Most wins: Jack Nicklaus (USA), Johnny Miller (USA), Mark Calcavecchia (USA), Pádraig Harrington (IRE), 2

• Golf World Top 100 Courses in USA.

How to watch the Cognizant Classic

US viewers can catch all the action on Golf Channel.

All times EST

Thursday, February 27: The Golf Channel, 14.00
Friday, February 27: The Golf Channel, 14.00
Saturday, March 01: The Golf Channel, 13.00
Sunday, March 02: The Golf Channel, 13.00

UK viewers can catch all the action on Sky Sports Golf.

All times GMT

Thursday, February 27: Sky Sports Golf, 16.00
Friday, February 28: Sky Sports Golf, 16.00
Saturday, March 01: Sky Sports Golf, 15.00
Sunday, March 02: Sky Sports Golf, 14.30

Cognizant Classic tee times

Tee times and groupings can be found here.

Cognizant Classic betting tips

The Banker: Daniel Berger

22/1 ew (William Hill 8 Places)

Daniel Berger has made a strong comeback from injury, after almost two years away from the game due to injuries. 2024 was all about getting tournament fit, and by the end of the year, he had finished 7th at the Sanderson Farms Championship and was runner-up at the RSM Classic, won by Maverick McNealy. Berger lost by one that day despite shooting 63-67 over the weekend, considerably better than McNealy’s 66-68, but the latter had raced out to an early lead on Thursday with a 62.

Once he knew he could trust his body to get him through four day tournaments and had tasted contention, it was clear 2025 was going to come with different expectations – and that was to win. Berger is a four-time PGA Tour winner, who has also lost two play-offs (2015 Honda, 2017 Travelers) and considering he missed two years of golf, this is quite the career at 31. Fast forward to the new year, and Berger has already finished 2nd again, this time at the Phoenix Open, where Thomas Detry was the runaway winner. He backed that up with a 12th place finish at Torrey Pines for the Genesis Invitational, and he will now be confident of making a run at a course he loves.

Berger lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington here on debut in 2015, and he has since finished in 4th place twice. He was the 36-hole and 54-hole leader in 2022, and while he missed the cut on his return last year, he is in far better shape to contend again this week.

Berger was born and raised in Florida and still resides there, so it makes perfect sense for him to enjoy this event and a win here would certainly complete what has been a long road to recovery. On top of his form here, the signs are good for Berger in recent weeks, having led the field in SG Tee to Green the week he finished behind Detry in Phoenix, and that should give him to confidence to make a run at PGA National.

The Outsider: Ryan Gerard

80/1 ew (Paddy Power 8 Places)

Ryan Gerard has been in strong form for a while now, finishing his Korn Ferry Tour season with three top 25 finishes in his last four starts, and then making 5/5 cuts in the new PGA Tour season.

The highlights so far this season have been top 15 finishes and the World Wide Technology Championship and the Farmers Insurance Open, and he backed those up with a 17th-place finish last week. These finishes don’t tell the full story though, as he’s actually been closer to the top of the leaderboard on each start.

At the WWT Championship he was 8th at halfway, finishing 14th, and he was in the same position in Mexico again last week, when going into the weekend. Of course you need to put all four rounds together, but these are good signs, and his finish at the Farmers was also eye-catching, as was his effort at the Sony Open where he was 11th after 54 holes, before falling away on Sunday.

When looking at Gerard’s best performances on the PGA Tour, we quickly come across his 4th-place finish here in 2022. He had Monday Qualified that week and then rolled that into a strong performance at PGA National, where had won as a junior back in 2015.

Gerard turned pro in 2022, earned Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour in 2023, but wasn’t able to hold on. He has since dropped back to the Korn Ferry Tour, won his first event at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, and has clearly refined his game and found the confidence he needs to be consistent.

The Sony Open has been a good indicator in the past, so it was good to see him play well there for 54 holes at least back in January, and the Florida resident can now post his best effort of the season so far, and hopefully better than that 4th-place finish here on debut.

The Long Shot: Matteo Manassero

170/1 e/w (Bet365 Each Way Extra 8 Places Market)

In 2024 Matteo Manassero worked his way back to the top of the DP World Tour, winning for the first time in 11 years at that level, at the Jonsson Workwear Open. That added to two Challenge Tour wins in 2023, all of which highlighted his ability and return to form, after years away.

From 2010 to 2013, the Italian won once-a-year on the DP World Tour and given he was 17 when he picked up his first win in Malaysia and just 20 by the time he’d won his fourth and biggest title at the BMW PGA Championship, life was good for the youngster. His career then tailed off as he searched for more distance to compete at a higher level, predominantly on the PGA Tour.

Manassero’s career was derailed by the pursuit for distance, but he’s now back to something like his best, and that is paying dividends. On top of his win last year, Manassero was the 54-hole leader at the BMW PGA Championship, eventually settling for 4th, and he also posted five more top 10s, including a 3rd at the Irish Open. This level of consistency got him back on the PGA Tour, where he has started solidly, without pulling up trees.

In three starts in 2025, Manassero has finished 43rd, 25th and 68th, but it is important to keep in mind the courses he’s played. When 25th at the Farmers Insurance Open he was playing a long Torrey Pines, and even then he was 15th going into Sunday, and both the American Express and the Mexico Open were new courses to him. He also made 20 birdies last week, putting him inside the top 25 in the field for that stat, despite playing what seemed to be an unsuitable course, which is promising.

This week, he returns to PGA National, where he has played twice before, made two cuts, and doesn’t have to be long to contend. It is going to be rare this season that Manassero plays a course he knows well and has past success at, and that is the reason why I am taking a shot on him, while he’s playing steady golf.

In his two starts here, Manassero has finished 29th and 12th, and it’s that improvement on his second go around which gives me some hope. In addition to his past efforts here, strong Open Championship performers have a good record here, as the wind blows around this course, giving those players a sense of similar conditions. Manassero has two top-20s in The Open, and his record at Wentworth may also be worth considering, given former winners, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have either won here or gone close, and the likes of Adam Scott and Ernie Els have won here, and gone close at Wentworth as well.

Of course these are all names that are just top of the class table when it comes to the DP World Tour and that might be all there is to that crossover, but there is no denying that PGA National has been a good course for Europeans, and playing in Florida in general works in their favour. Hopefully Manassero can be the latest proponent of that.