PGA National slowly started to come into its own as the wind picked up on Friday, and the conditions that produced incredibly low scores gave way to a bigger challenge in the second round of the 2026 Cognizant Classic. Still sitting at the top of the leaderboard on Saturday is Austin Smotherman, one of the few players to finish on the first page of the leaderboard on Thursday.
Smotherman backed up his strong play with a quality round on Friday, extending his lead from one to three strokes thanks to a solid 69 at 11 under. Few players were able to mount a serious attack on a difficult day.
It wasn’t as dynamic a round as Thursday’s 62, but Smotherman acquitted himself Friday afternoon in tougher conditions. Most of the day’s best scores were announced in the morning, and Smotherman’s 69 was one of the best rounds of the late wave. Unsurprisingly, his approach play was initially staggered by the wind, but the putter stayed hot after that and gained more than two strokes in the field on the green. The bomb did some of the heavy lifting with a birdie on the 17th.
After two great rounds, Smotherman is in the driver’s seat heading into the weekend looking for his first career win on the PGA Tour. He had a fortunate or unfortunate start to the 2026 PGA Tour season, with only one of the first four events being a T8 at the American Express. Now, he looks poised for not only his second top-10 finish of the season, but also a career-changing win.
While Smotherman is extending his lead at the top of the leaderboard, some of the big names in the field entered Friday’s second round in need of serious improvement to survive the weekend. Brooks Koepka, Max Homa and Ryan Gerrard all finished over par on Friday to finish outside the expected cut, but each posted rounds in the mid-60s on Friday to punch their ticket to the final 36 holes.
Gerrard enters this week in unfamiliar territory as a pre-tournament favorite, and although he struggled to set a personal best on Thursday, he shot a 67 on Friday to move into the red at two under and has two more rounds of golf this weekend. Meanwhile, Homa and Koepka shot matching 66s as they continued to try to create a spark that could help them regain their past form.
For Homa, his iron play led to a lively second-round surge as he gained more than 3.3 strokes in the field approaching the green. Homa, once the best ball striker on the PGA Tour, has slowed down significantly of late, but Friday was a reminder of what he can accomplish when he gets into the rhythm of a good swing.
Koepka, on the other hand, has been one of the worst putters on the PGA Tour this season since his return. He entered the week 171st in strokes gained putts and was 111th on Thursday en route to a 74. His putting improved significantly on Friday, with a 131-foot, 3-inch putt in the second round, the most putts of any player in the field, and nearly four strokes on the green.
After the round, he admitted that despite hitting the ball poorly on Friday, changes to his setup after struggling in the first round turned his fortunes around.
“It might be hand position during setup,” Koepka said. “I was just cheating. I changed my strokes a little bit. I wasn’t very dexterous, so I was cheating by moving my hands back, and that was creating a shaky feel. Where I thought I was taking off, it wasn’t.”
It’s nearly impossible to accurately recreate that kind of putting performance, but for a player who hasn’t dropped anything all year, experiencing a red-hot putter day can be huge for your confidence on the green — especially since you’ve got a new putter in your bag this year.
leader
1. Austin Smotherman (-12): Winds are expected to subside again on Saturday and pick up on Sunday, with fields scheduled to begin play early due to the possibility of storms in the area. That means Smotherman will need to keep the pedal to the metal in solid conditions on Moving Day if he is to maintain a comfortable lead heading into the final round. Recent setup changes at PGA National have seen low scores, and Smotherman will need to stay in front with his eyes set on another round in the 60s, rather than just trying to hold on for 36 holes.
contestants
2. Taylor Moore (-8)
T3. Nico Echavarria, AJ Ewart (-7)
5. Joel Dahmen (-6)
T6. Shane Lowry, Aaron Rye, and 4 others (-5)
T12. Daniel Berger and 5 others (-4)
T18. Max Homa and 8 others (-3)
Ewart finished the day’s round on Friday, pushing himself into contention after starting the 18-hole second set at even par. His 64 paced the field in scoring, but now he found himself in the unfamiliar territory of a late weekend tee time for the first time in his young career. Echavarria started one spot behind Smotherman on Friday, but struggled in the tougher conditions, dropping him one spot on the leaderboard. Even with that small setback, Echavarria is certainly a threat heading into the weekend, especially with Saturday’s forecast expected to be similar to his 63 on Thursday.
Lurking a little further back are notable names like Joel Dahmen, Shane Lowry, Aaron Rye, and Daniel Berger. Dahmen has posted solid 68s in a row, but if he’s going to compete he’ll need to think a little deeper and find a few more birdies to add to the mix. Lowry is off to nine straight starts at Cognizant and loves PGA National, so don’t count him out even if he warms up his putter and sees some dip early Saturday.
The players don’t have to look far to find reason for optimism heading into subsequent weekends, as Joe Highsmith performed well to win last year. That required two 64s over the weekend, and he was just eight shots behind the leader instead of 11. But we all know what’s possible and we should see some very aggressive play early on Saturday when the wind drops.
Notable players who missed out
- Luke Clanton (+1)
- Webb Simpson (+1)
- Michael Thorbjornsen (+1)
- Neil Shipley (+2)
- Gary Woodland (+2)
- Chris Kirk (+2)
- Stefan Jaeger (+2)
A move late Friday afternoon changed the cutline from +1 to an even number, eliminating a large number of players from the weekend. This group also lost out to some promising young stars, including Luke Clanton, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Neil Shipley (who was aiming for a birdie heading into the weekend but hit the final bogey).
Updated odds and picks for the 2026 Cognizant Classic
Odds from Caesars Sportsbook
- Austin Smotherman (7/4)
- Taylor Moore (7-1)
- Nico Echavarria (2/19)
- Shane Lowry (12-1)
- AJ Ewart (17-1)
- Joel Damen (18-1)
- Aaron Ray (20-1)
Let’s see how Smotherman deals with the nerves of leading 36 holes as he seeks his first career win. Due to the nature of this course (with the current set-up), someone in the chasing pack will probably wind him up. Echavarria has a good chance to put up another low round on Saturday to get into winning position despite a rough Friday, and Lowry’s comfort on this course will keep him in the pack well into Sunday afternoon.
