When Jake Knapp made that historic 59 on the opening day of this year’s Cognizant Classic, fans were pretty confident who would take the win. The golfer received lots of praise. Shane Lowry was one of them. “No, no. It’s hard to shoot low. I don’t care if it’s on a municipal course 6,500 yards. To shoot 59 is impressive.” Then, Sunday rolled around, and the golfer who lifted the trophy wasn’t Knapp but Joe Highsmith.

Regardless, this Cognizant Classic has enraged the fans who took to criticise the course itself this time, pointing at the easy pin positions. Additionally, they also talked about the issue of overseeding. In their belief, these are the reasons leading to such low scores. Then, rightfully, they also blame the falling TV ratings on the lack of challenges on the course. However, they are not alone in this criticism about the PGA Tour and its ways of running its events.

Recently, James and Sean sat down for an interview on the Drop Zone podcast (4:08 – 5:50). Sean’s comment about the fading Cognizant Classic was followed by James’s observation of Knapp’s performance. “…just the fifteenth sub 60 score in the history of the PGA Tour. Um, the reason why I thought it was kind of significant in the golf world is because, in my mind, it sort of emblemize things that have been a struggle for the PGA Tour in the 2020s.” What is this issue? Well, the golf world’s long and weird obsession with lower scores.

“If you lower the score for everybody, you actually haven’t lowered the score for anyone. You have just changed the number is everyone is trying to get to. And the fact that we had a player shoot 59 on his opening round,” on a course which is considered one of the toughest in the PGA Tour and not even winning the final round? Well, there’s dissatisfaction right there. James also believes it to be the tour’s massive weakness, “which is if you do not make a compelling venue or a compelling challenge for the players, you’re not making a compelling television, no matter how low the scores are.” Is this a warning to Jay Monahan? Indeed, it is.

Undoubtedly, the big tours are maintaining a solid base of viewers, but the smaller ones are struggling. For instance, American Express this year recorded a 57% drop on the Golf Channel. Genesis Invitational had better numbers, averaging 1.6 million on CBS. Interestingly, this goes in the same breath as Sean’s comments about the Cognizant Classic losing its touch. Big names like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy don’t play anymore.

Additionally, it is the 4th time in the last five years where the Cognizant Classic had no player ranked among the current top 10 in the OWGR. But a lot more has come its way.

The criticism of the Cognizant Classic and its course

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time the course has received criticism from fans and pros alike. The course underwent several modifications before the event took place. This was supposed to be good news, but the management seems to have overstepped in their seeding process. This, in turn, led to an easy course for the players to shoot low scores. This, as mentioned before, was one of the reasons fans were angry after that stunning Knapp score.

Joining in the criticism was Billy Horschel, who said the winds helped Knapp a lot. He praised Knapp’s score, calling it something that “no one ever thought” would be possible, but added his criticism for the course. “I think the overseed has–the rough is not long enough. It’s not penal enough when you miss the fairway. I really wish we would just play this as a straight Bermuda.” He agreed, though, that it probably doesn’t look very fascinating on TV, which is why they overseeded it in the first place.

This isn’t even the first criticism of its kind that the event has received. Before its inception, it was surrounded by discussions surrounding exemptions. The fans believed the tour was giving lesser-known players more attention than popular ones. Looking at these issues, we can say there is more than one reason why the Cognizant Classic is losing its shine. Do you think there’s a pattern here? Let us know!