What Did The Cognizant Classic Used To Be Called?

PGA National Resort The Champion course — (Image credit: Getty Images)

The PGA Tour's latest stop on the 2024 calendar is an event which has been going on in Florida since 1972, with seven different host courses welcoming some of the world's best golfers.

From Inverrary Country Club to its current home of PGA National Resort And Spa, this humble competition has been played at TPC Eagle Trace (nine times), Weston Hills Golf and C.C. (four), TPC at Heron Bay (six), and the Country Club at Mirasol (four).

Now called The Cognizant Classic, but still taking place at its home (since 2007) of PGA National, players including Rory McIlroy will be hoping to pick up the trophy in the newly-titled tournament's inaugural year as it kicks off the PGA Tour's Florida Swing.

Chris Kirk is its current champion after defeating PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Eric Cole in a tense playoff this time last year, although since then, this week's competition has undergone a name change - its first in over 40 years.

Previously, for a grand total of 40 years between 1984 and 2023, it was known as The Honda Classic after American Honda Motor Company - the North American subsidiary of Japanese business, Honda - agreed to become title sponsor.

Early winners of the event included Monday qualifier, Kenny Knox (1986) and Mark Calcavecchia (1987) - who, just a year earlier had worked at the same competition as a caddie.

Chris Kirk with the trophy after his win at the 2023 Honda Classic — Chris Kirk with the 2023 Honda Classic trophy

In more recent editions, The Honda Classic was the event in which McIlroy first became World No.1 (2012) while 2023 Open Championship winner Brian Harman shot a course-record 61 during the second round of that same tournament.

For two years before it switched to simply the Honda Classic (1982-82), it was called the Honda Inverrary Classic. And for just a single year in 1981, this event was titled the American Motors Inverrary Classic.

What is now known as The Cognizant Classic was called the Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic between 1974-80, with a couple of minor tweaks to its name in the preceding years.

1973's event was labelled the Jackie Gleason Inverrary-National Airlines Classic while its forerunner (1972) was the Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic.

The tournament's predecessor - the National Airlines Open Invitational - was in operation from 1969-71 and, at the time, was one of the richest events on tour with an inaugural prize purse of $260,000.

Moving back to the modern day, this year's total fund is $9 million, the largest sum in the tournament's history - with the winner receiving more than $1.5 million for their success.

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Cognizant Classic Former Names
Year(s)	Title
1972	Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic
1973	Jackie Gleason Inverrary-National Airlines Classic
1974-1980 (no event in '86)	Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic
1981	American Motors Inverrary Classic
1982-83	Honda Inverrary Classic
1984-2001	Honda Classic
2002-2023	The Honda Classic
2024-	Cognizant Classic

Jonny Leighfield is our Staff News Writer who joined Golf Monthly just in time for the 2023 Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. He graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in Sport Journalism in 2017 and spent almost five years as the sole sports reporter at his local newspaper. During his time with Golf Monthly, Jonny has interviewed several stars of the game, including Robert MacIntyre, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Joaquin Niemann. An improving golfer himself, Jonny enjoys learning as much about the game as he can and recently reached his Handicap goal of 18 for the first time.