The 2026 PGA Tour season rolls on Thursday with the Cognizant Classic at PGA National (Champion Course) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
There are more ways to bet on the tournament than just who will emerge victorious on Sunday. For more instant gratification, we turn to the First Round Leader market to find value on who will sit atop the leaderboard when play comes to an end on Thursday.
Here are my favorite 2026 Cognizant Classic first-round leader picks and bets for Thursday.
2026 Cognizant Classic: First Round Leader Picks, Bets
Shane Lowry +3600 (DraftKings)
Shane Lowry enters this week as one of the tournament favorites, and it is worth considering him to hold the clubhouse lead after Thursday’s opening round. He has started 2026 in strong form, finishing T8 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and T24 at The Genesis Invitational.
A key part of Lowry’s early success has been his putting. He has gained true strokes putting in each of those two events.
The putter is especially important at PGA National, where each of the top five finishers last year ranked 21st or better in the field in strokes gained: putting. No other strokes-gained category showed a similar trend.
Given the profile of this venue, it is not surprising that Lowry has finished inside the top 11 here in each of the past four years.
Rasmus Hojgaard +4000 (DraftKings)
Another golfer worth targeting in Thursday’s opening round is Rasmus Hojgaard. As strong as Lowry is on the greens, Hojgaard has been even better.
He ranks in the 96th percentile on the PGA Tour in strokes gained, placing him among the field's elite putters. Hojgaard is also solid with his irons.
This season on the PGA Tour, Hojgaard is nearly 3% above the Tour average in birdie-or-better percentage on approach shots from 150-175 yards. That range is particularly relevant at PGA National, where nearly 22% of approach shots come from that distance, the highest distribution of any 25-yard grouping.
