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Steve Rawlings previews and provides weekend in-play blog
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Check out Steve's outsiders to back at 100/1101.00 and bigger
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Dave Tindall has e/w and first round leader tips
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Andy Swales brings course info and form players
Cognizant Classic tips and predictions
The Punter's Preview: Valimaki the sole selection at 69/1
Steve Rawlings: The fact that Ryan Gerard, whose sole success on the PGA Tour to date was in the Barracuda Championship last year, an event played opposite the Open Championship, is the favourite tells us all we need to know about the strength of the field this week.
He finished fourth here on debut in 2023 and 25th on his second visit 12 months ago but he's gone off at a triple figure price on each of his last two outings, finishing 45th at Pebble Beach a fortnight ago and 28th at Riviera on Sunday so he's definitely not for me at less than 18/1.
The only one I like at less than triple-figures before the off is the recent RSM Classic winner, Sami Valimaki. The Finn hasn't shown much yet in 2026, but there's been some steady improvement since he missed his first two cuts of the year, with 41st in Phoenix, a 34th at Pebble Beach and a 37th last week at Riviera, where he signed off with three-under-par 67.
Valimaki has disappointing looking form figures here reading MC-48 but they could be a bit misleading. He only just missed out on weekend employment two years ago when his 67 on Friday wasn't enough to make up for Thursday's 75 and he sat second after firing a 63 on day one last year. He was an impressive winner of the RSM Classic in November, and I thought he was a fair price at 70.0.
Back Sami Valimaki
Each-way Picks: Back Cole to enjoy return home at 55/1
Dave Tindall: The PGA Tour switching coasts creates an obvious angle: back the players who will relish the return to Florida and its Bermuda greens after not having their best stuff out west. Eric Cole won a ridiculous 56 times on the Florida-based Minor League Golf Tour and his closest brush with a PGA Tour victory came here on debut in 2023. Cole shot 14-under after rounds of 67-66-66-67 but lost a playoff to Chris Kirk.
Having hometown advantage certainly helped as he lived near the course and had numerous family members and friends attending.
Perhaps with expectations set too high, he's missed the cut at PGA National in the last two editions but a Friday 69 last year suggested maybe he was getting that out of his system. He returns in mixed form but a pair of 27ths at The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open were decent efforts.
At The American Express, where he had Bermuda greens to go at, Cole was fourth after 54 holes while he was also sixth at halfway at Torrey Pines. Holes can be picked in some of his stats but he went bogey free for the first three days in The American Express and ranked 17th for SG: Putting.
Back Eric Cole each-way (8 Places)
Course and current form stats: Back Shane Lowry @ 11/112.00
Shane Lowry loves playing at this venue where his last four visits read 11, 4, 5, 2. That is remarkable consistency and he welcome the chance to reacquaint himself with Palm Beach. He has an eighth and a third, as well as last week's 24th place finish, this season so is in decent nick already.
Shane Lowry
Cognizant Classic First Round Leader Bet 1: S.H. Kim at 70/171.00
Dave Tindall: S.H. Kim jumps off the page as a first-round leader bet here. The Korean marked our cards last year when posting 18-hole positions of 2-2-65-5 in his final four events of 2025.
Earlier that year he'd been FRL at the Korn Ferry's AdventHealth Championship and in the tournaments either side he'd ended day one in sixth and seventh respectively. The fast starts have continued in 2026 as Kim opened with 63s in both the Sony Open and American Express. Both were good enough for third place after the opening lap.
In two events here, he was the joint 18-hole leader on his last visit in 2024 thanks to a 64 while he'd opened with a 68 on debut in 2023. Add all that to a favourable tee-time of 07:57 (10th hole) and he's a definite play at 70s (1/4 Odds, 5 Places).
Back S.H. Kim each-way for FRL
South African Open tips and predictions
The Punter's Preview: Back Jacob Skov Olesen @ 55.054/1
Steve Rawlings: Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen, but he too looks too big to ignore at odds in excess of 50/151.00.
He's got some nice bits of form on bentrass greens and he arrives in tip-top form following a third-place finish behind Reed in Qatar and a fifth place on Sunday at the Kenya Open, around two very different courses.
It's hard to envisage what sort of test the field will encounter this week but the home contingent shouldn't have a huge advantage given how infrequently the track has been used and that it's also been changed since last used.
Back Jacob Skov Olesen
Fellow Dane, Morten Ørum Madsen, won his one and only DP World Tour title in this event in 2013 (the 2014 edition) so Olesen isn't attempting to break new ground this week.
Course and current form stats: Back Patrick Reed @ 11/112.00
As an 11/1 favourite - he could well have been a lot shorter - we make no apologies for making Patrick Reed our headline suggestion this week as he continues to make hay on the DP World Tour. Reed, a major championship winner and former world number six, is by far the class act in this week's field and arrives in terrific form.
Third in last season's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, Reed has turned some consistent form into prolific form, winning both the Dubai Desert Classic and the Qatar Masters in two of his last three starts. And the one event of that trio that he didn't win, the Bahrain Championship, he finished runner-up. There's no more in-form player on the planet right now than the hugely talented American.
Patrick Reed