What Was The Cognizant Classic Previously Called?

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.

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.