The PGA Tour moves east as the 'Florida Swing' begins on Thursday with the 2024 Cognizant Classic. The first tee times come at 6:45 a.m. ET. Formally known as the Honda Classic, this event is played at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, and it serves as an exciting lead-in for the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship coming up in the next couple weeks. Though many of the PGA Tour's top names are off preparing for those events, the Cognizant Classic 2024 field does feature a couple top-10 OWGR players in Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Those big names will both be popular options for betting and fantasy contests, though McIlroy comes with the heavy price of 6-1 in the latest 2024 Cognizant Classic odds. Fitzpatrick is a more moderate 28-1 in the odds, joining players in that range such as Cameron Young (22-1) and Russell Henley (25-1). Before making any 2024 Cognizant Classic fantasy golf picks, you have to see the Cognizant Classic fantasy golf rankings from SportsLine handicapper Eric Cohen.
Cohen is an avid golf bettor who correctly predicted the pre-tournament outright winner of the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic (Rickie Fowler +1400), 2023 PGA Championship (Brooks Koepka +2000), 2023 Honda Classic (Chris Kirk +3500), 2022 Open Championship (Cameron Smith +2200), 2022 U.S. Open (Matt Fitzpatrick +2500) and 2022 Phoenix Open (Scottie Scheffler's first career victory at +2800).
Cohen is a contributor to SportsLine's YouTube shows including "Early Edge" and is the host of "The Early Wedge" golf show. Anyone who has followed Cohen's predictions has made positive gains on their golf picks.
Now, Cohen has ranked his top golfers for the 2024 Cognizant Classic. Cohen's picks are only available at SportsLine.
2024 Cognizant Classic expert picks
One player Cohen is getting behind for his fantasy picks is Rasmus Hojgaard. The 22-year old Danish golfer has been playing extremely well on the DP Tour, finishing no worse than T16 in his last eight events. Cohen notes that his lack of course history is a concern, but at his long odds of 45-1 and reasonable prices in fantasy, he's a golfer to back.
"He's playing like one of the best golfers in the world right now and at a juicy price, I'm absolutely buying in," Cohen told SportsLine.
On the other hand, the golf expert is fading Fitzpatrick, despite his status as one of the favorites entering the week. It's been an up-and-down 2024 campaign thus far for the No. 9 player in the OWGR. He opened the season with a T14 at The Sentry and just two weeks ago he finished T15 against a loaded WM Phoenix Open Field.
However, he's also missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii and The Genesis Invitational while also recorded at T58 at Pebble Beach. Add in the fact that he has poor course history at PGA National, and Cohen isn't willing to pay a big price to back Fitzpatrick this week. See all of Cohen's Cognizant Classic picks at SportsLine.
How to set 2024 Cognizant Classic fantasy golf lineups
For this week, Cohen is backing several underdogs in his 2024 Cognizant Classic fantasy golf picks, including a triple-digit longshot who has had a surprising amount of success at this course. See who it is, and get all of Cohen's fantasy golf picks, at SportsLine.
Who wins the Cognizant Classic 2024, and who are the top players to target for your PGA fantasy golf picks? Visit SportsLine now to get Eric Cohen's fantasy golf rankings, all from the fantasy expert who has called six outright winners since 2022, and find out.