The story of the setup at PGA National has raised the question of just who should be in charge of course management at PGA Tour events – and just what type of test should they be.
The overseeding at PGA National has no doubt lessened the challenge of what was traditionally one of the tougher courses on the schedule – as witnessed by Joe Highsmith’s record winning score last year when Jake Knapp also shot 59.
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As Horschel believes that the PGA Tour should have more control of how tournament courses are setup, as he feels golf fans watching on want to see players tested.
“I think the Tour gets a bad rap, and it’s not anything against the owners of PGA National. I understand where they would want to overseed. People want it to look pretty on TV, and if it looks pretty on TV, maybe people will want to come play it,” Horschel said after his opening round of the Cognizant Classic.
“I understand we are using a golf course that we don’t own a lot of times, and sometimes we’re at the discretion of what the owner wants to do.
“Obviously we give our opinion of what we think is best for the golf course and how they want to set it up and challenge it, but also, the owners have a say in it. This isn’t just PGA National; it goes to a lot of courses that we play throughout the years.
“That’s just my take on it. Like I said, it’s not a shot at anyone. It was just sort of commenting to someone who was taking a shot at the PGA Tour and I sort of gave them a little more insight that it’s not always in the PGA Tour’s hands. If they want to try and do something, it’s not always in their hands to set it up the way they want to.”
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Horschel would like to see PGA National return to being a top 10 course in terms of difficulty on the PGA Tour – it ranked 35th last year after steadily getting easier over the last few years finishing 20-14-7-6-3-5 in the standings over the previous six seasons.
Horschel accepts that some courses will be easier than others, saying: “We play Amex and we know that score is going to be 20-something under par. Not every course is going to be an 8, 12-under par setup.”
But he says that PGA National should be harder, and feels it should land right in the sweetspot for what fans want to see as a proper test of golf.
“I’ve always been a big fan of 8 to 12 under par, 15 at most winning. I think that really says the course played fair, in my opinion,” he added.
Here’s almost 3 minutes of Billy Horschel talking about PGA National, overseeding and a problem that isn’t just at the Cognizant.”Obviously we give our opinion of what we think is best for the golf course and how they want to set it up and challenge it, but also, the owners… pic.twitter.com/VQrND8nuy0February 26, 2026
“It’s just something going forward that I think as a tour, as we start looking at improving our product, one thing that I’d mention is just making sure the course that we choose and the way we set it up is a challenge because I think the fans, they want to see quality golf shots rewarded. They want to see bad golf shots get punished. They want to see birdies.
“I think a lot of data would say 12, 15-under par, I think fans really love seeing a score in that range or area.”
PGA National played slightly over par on day one (71.281) with Austin Smotherman leading after a 62, and weekend winds could make the course trickier than last year.
The talking point will remain though as players and PGA Tour officials work on what the future looks like – and just how tough they want the courses to play could be a big part of discussions.