IRELAND’s Shane Lowry is the bookies favorite for this week’s Cognizant Classic at PGA National.
The PGA Tour enters its ‘Florida Swing’ and the Offaly star will be chomping a bit ahead of the run in the state he resides in.
World number 19 Lowry is favourite on the The Palm Beach Gardens course which is home of the infamous ‘Bear Trap.’
15, 16 and 17 make up the stretch of holes – a pair of par-3s sandwiching a tough par-4 – they each rank as some of the hardest on tour.
The 37-year-old has finished inside the top-5 during the last three years at this tournament, and has been installed as 20/1 favourite with the majority of book makers.
Sixteen of the top 50 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) will compete for a share of the $9.2 million purse.
The Irishman has netted $2,242,000 from three tournaments to date on the 2025 FedEx Cup season.
His best finish was as runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the AT&T Pebble Beach PRO-AM last month in California.
The Clara native also finished third at the API at Bay Hill, which takes place next week on stage two of the Florida swing.
But the competition will be fierce with a number of top players in the field for Thursday’s opening round.
Its very much a horses for courses track.
SunSport takes a look of the ones to watch as the PGA Tour hits the Sunshine State.
ONES TO WATCH
Shane Lowry @ 19/1 – The Irishman will be looking for his first solo win on the PGA Tour since 2019, and this could be the course he was so agonisingly close to winning on in 2022.
Sepp Straka @ 20/1 – The Austrian claimed the 2022 edition of this tournament over Ryder Cup pal Lowry, he’s already won at The AMEX this season. He missed the cut at The Genesis but has five top 20s on his season, including the win at PGA West.
Min Woo Lee @ 22/1 – The Australian has two top 20 finishes in as many events on the PGA Tour this season, and looks to have found a solid bag man in Shane Lowry’s former Caddie, Brian ‘Bo’ Martin. He finished second here last year to Austin Ekroat.
Jordan Spieth – @40/1 – It’s his first ever appearance at PGA National, the American is three events back from wrist surgery, and has showed flashes of his brilliance. Can’t be ignored for an e-w bet at a big price.
Luke Clanton @ 50/1 – The amateur star, who will earn a PGA Tour card if he makes the cut this week after a sponsor’s invite has solid form when he’s played on tour. The 22-year-old has made 8/11 cuts, along with two runners-up finishes as an amateur on tour.
Matteo Manassero @ 125/1 – Struggles with the driver at times but the former Ryder Cup star will be suited to one of the shorter tracks on the tour. He’s played PGA National twice before, finishing 29th and 12th, and faired well two weeks ago at Torrey Pines.
