The Five: Players who need a big Florida Swing

The PGA TOUR has arrived in Florida for its annual spin through the Sunshine State. This week’s Cognizant Classic at The Palm Beaches is the start of a crucial month of golf that also includes one Signature Event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, and THE PLAYERS Championship. The next four weeks offer some the opportunity to build on early-season success and give others a chance to start anew after stumbling out of the gate.

This week’s edition of The Five focuses on the latter, highlighting players who can use the Florida Swing as a springboard for their season. All five players find themselves with their own unique set of challenges and stakes. Each can solve their ills with strong play over the next month.

Here are the five players who need a big Florida Swing.

1. Adrien Dumont de Chassart

The talented Belgian made an immediate impact when he joined the Korn Ferry Tour midseason last summer. He won his professional debut at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX, then finished runner-up in a playoff the following week. In total, he carded a record six consecutive top 10s to begin his Korn Ferry Tour career.

The transition to the PGA TOUR has not been as seamless. The reigning Korn Ferry Tour Rookie of the Year, Dumont de Chassart was on the shortlist for PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year entering 2024. Thus far, he has not followed through. Dumont de Chassart, 23, has made just two of five cuts. His best finish is a tie for 60th at the WM Phoenix Open. He is 166th in the FedExCup after a missed cut in Mexico. He is below average in every major Strokes Gained category, as well.

He has the pedigree to believe better golf is around the corner. He was the third golfer in conference history to win Big Ten Golfer of the Year three times and the first to win in three consecutive years since Luke Donald in 2001. Dumont de Chassart was a finalist for the Jack Nicklaus and Fred Haskins awards and a Ben Hogan Award semifinalist. As a senior, he broke the Illinois scoring record with a 69.5 average. He’s the first player to earn Korn Ferry Tour status through PGA TOUR University and then translate it into a PGA TOUR card for the following season.

With the PGA TOUR heading east, Dumont de Chassart will hope to get his game trending north. Perhaps the TOUR’s return to Florida will help. Dumont de Chassart resides in Jacksonville, a four-hour drive from PGA National.

2. Rickie Fowler

Fowler missed the cut in the two Full-Field Events he’s played this season and has not carded a top-30 in any of the first three Signature Events. But while he may be a California kid, Fowler has thrived in his adopted home state, including wins at this event and THE PLAYERS. That should provide optimism for the month ahead and help ease the worries of his underwhelming start.

Fowler returns this week to PGA National, the site of one of his six PGA TOUR wins. He won The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches in 2017 and finished runner-up in 2019. This year will mark his 14th appearance at the event. He’s in the field for next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he’s missed the cut just once in 12 appearances and will return to THE PLAYERS Championship as a past champion.

That run of events should provide Fowler the necessary runway to find his form. It’s essential that he does if he hopes to play the Signature Events in 2025. As of this week, Fowler had the fewest FedExCup points of any player who finished in the top 50 last year.

3. Viktor Hovland

Hovland’s start to the year wouldn’t be a story for your average run-of-the-mill PGA TOUR pro. For Hovland, who was arguably the best player in the world when the calendar flipped to January, it’s worth exploring.

Hovland was red-hot last summer and fall, when he won the BMW Championship and the FedExCup and was an instrumental part in Europe’s dismantling of the U.S. at the Ryder Cup last September. He has shown some frustrations since then.

“I need to figure out my swing,” he told PGATOUR.COM at the Hero World Challenge, where he finished 10th in the 20-man field.

Over the offseason, he parted ways with Joe Mayo, the swing coach who helped Hovland conquer his chipping woes. Then he withdrew from the WM Phoenix Open to take an extra week to practice back in Florida. He has one top-20 in three events (a T19 at The Genesis Invitational) and is 55th in the FedExCup. Hardly alarming, but not up to Hovland’s remarkable standards.

4. Pierceson Coody

Coody is known as a bit of a microwave man. When his game is on, Coody can go low with the best of them. When he’s off, missed cuts can come in bunches. Unfortunately, Coody’s start to his rookie season has been more of the latter.

Coody, 24, has yet to make a cut this year on the PGA TOUR. He went 0-for-3 on the West Coast, then withdrew from the Mexico Open at Vidanta last week.

Another preseason favorite for Rookie of the Year, Coody has to find his game rather quickly if he hopes to contend for the award. As a Korn Ferry Tour graduate, Coody is subject to periodic reshuffles throughout the TOUR season. Without a made cut to his name, Coody is at risk of getting buried in his category, making it even more challenging to earn consistent starts. The first reshuffle will take place after the Valero Texas Open in April. With Coody not currently qualified for any Signature Events, the Texan has just a handful of starts left.

Coody can remain confident knowing he’s turned it on before. He nearly earned his TOUR card in 2022 after just 11 starts and five made cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour. He turned those five made cuts into one win and two other top 10s. Thanks to two wins last year, he finished fifth in the Korn Ferry Tour standings to easily earn his PGA TOUR card despite nine missed cuts.. A top finish on the PGA TOUR during the Florida Swing can solve most of Coody’s worries. His current form doesn’t show it, but history tells us that breakout performance is always lurking.

5. Vincent Norrman

A winner on both the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour a season ago, Norrman was expected to take another leap in his sophomore campaign. He was one of just five players to win on both tours last year. The others? Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Åberg.

Norrman has not kept the pace he set last year, however. The Swede has missed three of five cuts and is 157th in the FedExCup, the lowest of any 2023 PGA TOUR tournament winner.

The drop-off has come primarily in his ball-striking. He is 151st in SG: Tee-to-Green after ranking inside the top 50 last season. If Norrman fixes that, he will be back on track to the player that won twice last year, first at the 2023 Barbasol Championship and then at the DP World Tour’s Irish Open a few months later. Norrman’s driving prowess has buoyed him, and it’s a skill that should help on courses like PGA National and Bay Hill (if he can qualify). He will also get his first crack at THE PLAYERS Championship in a few weeks.

Norrman has his card locked up through the 2025 season, so he has plenty of time to course correct. With his talent, that course correction may come in the next month.