Golf best bets: Outright picks for the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches

BOOM!! We finally got off the schneid and cashed our first PGA Tour outright of 2024 with Jake Knapp winning the Mexico Open at Vidanta at 40/1. Oh, and we also nailed Justin Lower to finish top 20 (+500) and top 40 (+140) and Harry Hall to finish top 40 (+125) in our long shots breakdown. It was a great week for golf betting, so let's turn around and do it again.

The PGA Tour heads to Florida this week for the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches. You might know this tournament from its previous name, the Honda Classic, which has been held at PGA National Resort and Spa since 2007. PGA National is a historically tough test with water hazards lurking on nearly every hole, so we're targeting elite ball strikers who can avoid the penalty areas and hopefully get hot on the greens. 

Let's cash a second straight outright bet!

Sungjae Im (+3500 FanDuel)

This is strictly a number grab on one of the most talented players in this field. 

Sungjae Im is not in good form entering the Cognizant Classic. The South Korean has finished T44, T66, T66 and cut in his last four starts, and he's lost strokes on approach in five straight. He hadn't done that since the summer of 2020. 

But before this cold streak started, let's not forget Im made 34 birdies at The Sentry in January to set the 72-hole PGA Tour record. That's the upside we're getting here. Maybe a trip to PGA National is exactly what Im needs to get back on track, as his first PGA Tour win came at this golf course four years ago. 

Im's current form is the reason why he's 35/1 and not 25/1 this week. We're grabbing the discount. 

Corey Conners (+4500 FD)

It's hard to contend at PGA National if your ball striking isn't on point. Eight of the top 16 players in strokes gained: tee to green at last year's Honda Classic finished inside the top 10 on the leaderboard. 

That brings us first to Corey Conners, who ranks 12th on Tour this season in strokes gained: off the tee, 24th in driving distance and third in greens in regulation percentage. The Canadian has gained strokes off the tee and on approach in nine straight starts, but he has only two top-20 finishes in that span because of his short-game struggles.

For some reason, though, Conners's putter heats up whenever he plays in Florida. The 32-year-old has gained strokes putting in four of his last six starts in the Sunshine State, leading to three top-12 finishes. Conners is a perfect fit for PGA National, and his red-hot ball striking is exactly what we're looking for this week. 

Justin Suh (+12000 FD)

We could've saved Justin Suh for our long shots article this week, but we like him so much that we bumped him up to our main outright card. 

Suh is a fantastic putter who struggles with his ball striking at times. In his first career start at PGA National last year, he had the best ball-striking week of his career. Suh ranked second in the field in SG: tee to green and finished T5, but he could've won the tournament if he had a mediocre putting week. It was the only time in a stretch of seven starts in which he lost strokes on the greens. 

Suh dominated the Florida Swing last season with a T5 at the Honda Classic, a T24 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a T6 at the Players Championship. He clearly loves this style of golf course, so we love the value at 120/1.