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Read my Cognizant Classic preview here
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Read my South African Open preview here
Cognizant trends point to big odds winner
As highlighted in the Cognizant Classic preview, five of the last seven winners have gone off at a triple-figure price so I've picked out two to trade in Florida, starting with Kevin Roy.
Cognizant Classic bet #1 - Kevin Roy @ 130.0129/1
In what is a very weak renewal, Kevin Roy looks a fair price at 130.0129/1.
The 35-year-old finished the 2025 season ranking as high as eighth for Driving Accuracy on the PGA Tour and a very respectable 49th for Greens In Regulation but his tee-to-green game has been a bit ragged so far in 2026.
He currently ranks 118th for DA and 153rd for GIR and yet he's still managed to sandwich a pair of missed cuts with a 13th place finish at the Sony Open (an event that correlates very well with this one) and a 13th in the ultra-competitive Phoenix Open two weeks ago.
He's managed to contend so well due to a big improvement in his game on and around the greens so if he's managed to sharpen up his tee-to-green game in the 10 days since he signed off in Phoenix, he could well be a contender.
This is Roy's third visit to PGA National, where he finished 29th in 2023, after a run of four missed cuts when new to the PGA Tour, and he missed the cut last year.
Back Kevin Roy (2.5 Us)
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 and 12 Us @ 2.01/1
Cognizant Classic bet #2 - Davis Riley @ 260.0259/1
In the last four years, Davis Riley has lost a playoff at the Valspar Championship, to the defending champion, Sam Burns, (2022), he's won the Zurich Classic alongside Nick Hardy (2023), he's won his first individual title, the Charles Schwab Challenge, by five strokes (2024), and he's finished second in a major championship, last year's US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. And he looked like he may pick up his second individual title as recently as last month.
As already mentioned, the Sony Open corelates well with this event and as highlighted in the preview, although last year's Cognizant winner, Joe Highsmith, has a poor record from three starts at the Sony's host course, Waialae, the runner-up, last week's winner, Jacob Bridgeman, finished fourth there in January and the man in third in last year's edition of this event, J.J Spaun, traded at odds-on in the Sony last year.
Mark Wilson, Ernie Els, Russell Henley, and Justin Thomas have all won this event and the Sony Open and the 2023 winner, Chris Kirk, has finished second and third at the Sony Open.
Ryan Palmer, who was one of the playoff protagonists in this event 12 years ago, has also won a Sony in Hawaii, the 2016 winner, Adam Scott, has finished second at Waialae, and Rory Sabbatini, the 2011 winner, has twice finished runner-up at the Sony Open.
Brendan Steele, who traded at odds-on in both the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Sony, has finished fourth and third at PGA National.
It's clearly a strong correlation so the fact that Riley led at Waialae through rounds two and three just over a month ago is encouraging.
Riley has form figures here reading 42-29-62-48 so he's always made the cut, and he sat tied for fifth after round one 12 months ago following a 64 in round one.
After the disappointment of his sixth place at the Sony, where a 71 on Sunday saw him go from two clear through 54 holes to five adrift of the runaway winner, Chris Gotterup, he's finished 56th in the The American Express before missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Phoenix Open two weeks ago.
They're clearly poor performances but he's performed well, winning and finishing second on multiple occasions after a missed cut and he's simply too big at 260.0259/1 to ignore.
Back Davis Riley (1.5 Us)
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 and 12 Us @ 2.01/1
South African Open bet - Ryan van Velzen @ 150.0149/1
As highlighted in the preview, the home contingent has dominated the South African Open so it makes sense to play one of the locals, and the one I like one at a juicy price is Ryan van Velzen.
Following hot on the heels of Jayden Shapher, who won his first two DP World Tour titles back-to-back just before Christmas, last week's Kenya Open winner, Casey Jarvis, is the latest promising young South African to get off the mark on the DP World Tour and the next one off the conveyer belt might just be van Velden.
The 24-year-old has already come close, trading at odds-on in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek at the end of 2023, and he caught the eye again last week in Kenya where he finished 18th after an underwhelming final round on Sunday.
He's a two-time winner on the Sunshine Tour who looks capable of making the step up and he's very nicely priced at 150.0149/1.
Back Ryan van Velzen (2.5 Us)
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 and 12 Us @ 2.01/1