Cognizant Classic 2025 DFS Picks This Week: Predictions, Values & Projections

We jump coasts this week and get our first East Coast event of the season with the 2025 Cognizant Classic at PGA National’s Championship Course. Located in sunny Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, we see 144 players competing for their share of the $9,200,000 purse and 500 FedExCup points. 

We’ve seen plenty of iconic moments at this event, from Rory McIlroy’s win in 2012, where he first earned world number one status, to Keith Mitchell’s first PGA Tour win and Sepp Straka becoming the first Austrian to win on the PGA Tour. We’re in for quite the show this week. Let’s dive in!

Cognizant Classic 2025: Daily Fantasy Golf Picks & Projections

Previously the Honda Classic, this red-headed step child of the East Coast swing has been revitalized by the loss of Honda as the main sponsor. Attracting more high ranked players of late, this field should provide us with some great play at a great course. 

Even with many big names skipping this week to prepare for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, we get a ton of previous winners and even some top 25 players. With an average winning score here around -10, we’re in for a treat, especially with the weather ahead.

PGA National Championship Course: Course Breakdown This Week

PGA National. What a beautiful piece of land. The home of the Cognizant Classic since 2007, we have quite a bit of history on the Championship Course, which will play at just under 7,200 yards at Par 71. With a Florida staple of Bermuda greens, we will see a much different looking approach than we’ve recently seen on the Poa Annua greens we saw so frequently during the West Coast Swing.

The Championship course layout of 4 Par 3’s, 11 Par 4’s, and 3 Par 5’s gives us a fun variety of holes that are almost always protected most heavily by bodies of water. With the Par 3’s ranging between 175 and 225 yards, this will be our primary scoring bucket this week. With the Par 4s, we see a distance between 365 yards and 479 yards, giving us shorter Par 4s than we’ve recently had. 

All three Par 5’s play right around 540-550 yards, which means almost all will be reachable in two shots for the longer hitters in the field. We also see a large number of tight landing areas and heavy use of the dogleg hole format to limit this aspect of the course, so Driving Accuracy takes a much larger leap in importance in this field.

Given the firm and fast conditions, designed defenses, and exposure to coastal winds, this course ranks as the hardest on tour when looking at approach shots beyond 150 yards. This aspect is what truly can make this course so difficult, as nearly 70 percent of approach shots fall between 125 and 200 yards, with wedge approach shots nearly completely done away with as they make up barely 10 percent of approaches. Given this information, we’re focusing more heavily on top-tier ballstrikers with solid histories of putting on Bermuda grass.

Unlike many of the courses we saw on the West Coast swing, we do see much less consistency when it comes to high scorers here. In the last 40 years of this event, only Padraig Harrington and Mark Calcavecchia have won here multiple times, making previous winners historically unlikely to repeat as champions (though it is something that could happen this year, given the field). 

Outside of the previously mentioned statistics, some that have shown consistency here put an emphasis on scrambling and bogey avoidance. Given that the winning score of this event often falls right around 10 under par, with 2024 being the lowest winning score (17 under by Austin Eckroat) at PGA National. 

Given the weather and type of course we’re expecting this week, we should also start to consider comparable courses when evaluating the field. Luckily for us, we saw a very similar course already this year, as Waialae Country Club has many of the same tight designed landing areas, as well as the need to avoid water. 

With high winds and rain projected throughout the event, we may be in for a lower scoring number than we’ve seen recently. This puts extra emphasis on Bogey Avoidance and Birdie or Better Gained for me, as even just a few strokes in either direction could make or break a lineup this week.

Cognizant Classic 2025 Field: Golf DFS

This week at PGA National, we will see 144 players teeing it up. While this field is stronger than it’s been in years past, we still currently only have 5 top-25 players and 16 top-50 players in the field. 

Some of the more notable names in this week's field include Russell Henley, Rickie Fowler, Sepp Straka, Austin Eckroat, Sungjae Im, Keith Mitchell, Chris Kirk, Camilo Villegas, Luke Donald, and Matt Kucha,r who are all previous winners of this event. Additionally, we get to see Luke Clanton in action again, who can earn his PGA Tour card by making the cut this weekend.

The remaining top players in the field include Shane Lowry, Billy Horschel, Byeong Hun An, Denny McCarthy, and Brian Harman, who represent the rest of the highest ranked players in the field. Some interesting builds will be made this week as we have no players in the field who cost over $11,000 on DraftKings and $12,000 on FanDuel.

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PGA Best Bets & Predictions: 2025 Cognizant Classic (7-9 Overall, +3.95 Units)

• Jordan Spieth: Top 30 (+145)
• Tristan Lawrence: Top African (+280) 
• Cognizant Classic One-and-Done Picks: 
  • Byeong Hun An (high ranked) Alex Smalley (low ranked)

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: Top Tier

Shane Lowry ($11,800 FanDuel/$10,500 DraftKings)

I know I said course history isn’t very important, but hear me out. Shane Lowry’s last 12 rounds here include just 3 rounds of 70 or 71, 2 68s, 5 67s, a 66, and a 65. He absolutely has this course figured out at this point. It’s not overly surprising given his success in wet and wind conditions, but also less surprising when you break down his statistical strengths. 

He’s one of the most accurate drivers in the field and on the entire PGA Tour, leads the tour in Proximity on approach shots, is one of the best approach players in the 175-225 buckets, and is a top 5 scrambler on tour. His game fits this field very well, which makes me think the historical success here is one we can bet on.

Daniel Berger ($11,300 FanDuel/$9,900 DraftKings)

Berger has a bit of boom-bust potential this week. He’s finished 4th twice at this event and 2nd once but has also missed the cut three times in 8 starts, including last year in 2024. His form going into the tournament, however, is far more similar to the good years than the bad. In 2024, in his starts leading up to Cognizant, he had a missed cut and multiple finishes outside the top 25. In his last “poor” finish prior (T36th), he was coming off a T2nd finish in Puerto Rico but also had multiple missed cuts. 

This year, however, Berger will be coming off a 12th place finish at the Genesis, a T2nd in Phoenix, as well as a T21st at the AmEx. While he does have missed cuts at the Sony Open and Farmers, his game is in a great place for this event. He currently leads our field in Total Driving, is 23rd on tour in Driving Accuracy, and ranks in the top half of the tour in all of the approach distance buckets we’re focusing on. He’s the 2nd best scrambler in the field, and while his putting has been relatively poor, he’s still done a great job avoiding bogeys. He’s one of my favorites in the field this week, with good reason.

Sepp Straka ($11,600 FanDuel/$9,400 DraftKings)

Straka is in an interesting spot this week price wise. He’s a much better play in DraftKings lineups this week given his price there, but his FanDuel price can also make sense. Straka is a streaky player, but he’s still on a solid streak that we can take advantage of this week. A previous winner here, and someone who’s finished T5th here, he clearly understands the field. 

But since the Hero World Challenge where he finished T9th, he’s missed the cut just once (last week at the Genesis Invitational), but has 5 finishes in the top 15, including his win at the AmEx. He’s the 2nd most accurate driver in the field this week, and the best approach player from 175+. His putter has been on fire, and has been one of the best in the world at avoiding bogeys and converting Birdies or Better in 2025. I’ll take one more swing on Straka before I start fading him again.

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: MID-TIER

Byeong Hun An ($11,000 FanDuel/$9,000 DraftKings)

Benny here has been one of the best players at this course in its history. Amongst players with at least 20 rounds here, he leads the field in True Strokes Gained. He’s been an accurate and long driver of the ball this year, and his long approach shots have been in the top quarter of our field, but everything else is where his game has struggled. 

By far one of the riskier players in the field, I’m willing to take the risk. It’s not uncommon for him to struggle until he gets to a course he’s comfortable with. Outside of a single missed cut here in 2021, he’s always finished in the top 36 at worst and as high as T4th. I’m willing to deal with the potential swing and miss here because the reward is so high.

Min Woo Lee ($11,100 FanDuel/$9,200 DraftKings)

I’m going to run it back with Min Woo Lee this week. He’s one of the farthest hitters in the field, and while his accuracy has been poor, he’s also been one of the best long approach players. He’s scored well, he’s avoided bogeys relatively well, he has been an above-average scrambler, and he has putted well on Bermuda greens. He can handle the weather. He’s a solid all-around play this week, without even mentioning he’s played here twice and finished T21st and 2nd.

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: VALUE TIER

Jhonathan Vegas ($8,900 FanDuel/$7,400 DraftKings)

Vegas has been a consistent play for me when he’s in the field. He’s in the top half of the tour in SG: Off The Tee, top 10 in Approach, and most importantly, he’s avoided Bogeys better than everyone else in this field. In a week where making the cut is going to require a score that isn’t too crazy, I love his fit in lineups at this cost.

Chris Kirk ($9,000 FanDuel/$7,200 DraftKings)

I’ll be blunt here. Chris Kirk has been terrible this year. Multiple missed cuts and finishes outside the top 40, but I have faith here. He’s still been accurate off the tee, has solid approach numbers from 150-200, and has been a top 20 scrambler. 

His putting has stunk, but between the strengths of his game and his success here over the last 4 years (no worse than T28th and as high as a win here in 2023), I’m willing to take the bet that he performs here. He’s been one of the best players on tour and in the field in SG: Off The Tee, Approach to Green, Putting, and Total. Almost all of his approach buckets look great, 

Alex Smalley ($8,900 FanDuel/$7,300 DraftKings)

Smalley has been playing out of his mind this year so far. Outside of a missed cut at the Farmers, he’s finished no worse than T21st. He’s scored well, avoided bogeys at an elite rate, and he’s priced this low? He’s going to be a staple play for me here, as this hot streak doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and he’s playing the best golf of his career.

Matteo Manassero ($7,500 FanDuel/$6,800 DraftKings)

Manassero has been one of the best European Tour players over the past year, with 11 top 20 finishes in that span. He hasn’t played here since 2014, but his finishes of T12th and T29th in his two starts here show he can handle this course well. He’s not a great driver of the ball, but he has high-level approach numbers between 150 and 200 yards out, and his putter has played well this year in his PGA Tour stops. I like Matteo this week as a low-priced play with legit upside to shock us all.

PGA DFS Picks This Week (Cheat Sheet)

Player Pool

• FanDuel
• DraftKings

$ Tier	G
High	Shane Lowry $10,500
	Daniel Berger $9,900
	Sungjae Im $9,800
	Sepp Straka $9,400
Medium	Min Woo Lee $9,200
	Keith Mitchell $9,100
	Byeong Hun An $9,000
	Jordan Spieth $8,600
	Andrew Novak $8,000
Low	Alex Smalley $7,900
	Luke Clanton $7,700
	Jhonattan Vegas $7,500
	Harry Hall $7,400
	Chris Kirk $7,300
	Matteo Manassero $6,800