The PGA TOUR heads east for a month-long stay in the Sunshine State. That begins this week at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, which is also the first time that a large portion of the TOUR has the opportunity to play in three weeks after back-to-back Signature Events.

It’s an important stretch for that subsect of the membership, which will spend a good chunk of upcoming events attempting to play their way into future Signature Events or, at the very least, give themselves some breathing room as the TOUR gets close to major championship season. It’s particularly important for this year’s crop of rookies, who don’t want to fall behind and spend their summer grasping for much-needed FedExCup points.

So, as we prep for the Cognizant Classic, let’s check in on this year’s crop of rookies. Here are five who have made a strong early impression.

Marco Penge

Penge headlined this year’s class of DP World Tour dual members, coming stateside after a standout season in Europe. After a few rough weeks acclimating to TOUR life, he showed flashes of that form in Los Angeles. Penge co-led through 36 holes at The Genesis Invitational before stumbling on Saturday and finishing tied for 16th. Still, Penge is 66th in the FedExCup and has immediately slotted in as one of the premier drivers on TOUR. He ranks eighth in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and is in the top five in clubhead speed.

Penge is also the highest-ranked of this rookie class, 34th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

“I feel like I proved myself a little bit before I stepped foot over here, but I'm still, I still need to prove to myself that I'm good enough to play against these guys week in and week out,” Penge said last week. “I don't doubt that I am, but I feel there's parts of my game that need to be way better.”

Those improvements are needed in most categories beyond driving, though Penge pointed particularly to his wedge play and putting. Green speeds are much faster in the U.S. than in Europe, which he says has been a drastic adjustment. Penge switched putting grips ahead of Riviera, which led to fast improvement. He putted beautifully in the first two rounds in particular, gaining more than six shots on the field. He ranked 16th overall for the week.

Johnny Keefer

While Penge was the top international to reach the TOUR, Keefer was the most touted American. The 25-year-old Baylor grad dominated on the Korn Ferry Tour last year and became only the third player to win both the Jack Nicklaus Award as the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and the Korn Ferry Tour Rookie of the Year in the same season.

Keefer’s calling card last year was his ball-striking, so it’s encouraging to see that has remained a strength, even against elevated competition. Keefer ranks in the top 10 in both SG: Off the Tee and SG: Approach, which has helped him make the cut in all four of his starts this season. Improving his short game and putting will be vital to turn those made cuts into top weeks, however. Keefer ranks near the bottom in both of those categories, which is why his best finish, despite the made cuts, is a tie for 27th at The American Express.

Still, the early-season start has Keefer inside the top 100 of the FedExCup, a solid foundation to build upon this spring.

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen

Neergaard-Petersen’s start to the TOUR season hasn’t been anything to write home about – two starts, two made cuts with the best result a T41 at WM Phoenix Open – but his inclusion is about more than what we’ve seen in the first handful of starts.

Before coming stateside to start the year, Neergaard-Petersen got some early-season reps on the DP World Tour and flashed. He won the Crown Australian Open, his maiden title on the European circuit, which also vaulted him into the top 50 of the world at the end of the year, securing a Masters invite. Then, he added a top-20 finish at the Dubai Invitational to begin the new year.

Neergaard-Petersen is also one of the few rookies who has already contended for a TOUR title. Playing in the co-sanctioned Puerto Rico Open last year, Neergaard-Petersen finished runner-up to Karl Villips. A few months later, he was in the top 10 entering the final round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, ultimately finishing in a tie for 12th.

Zach Bauchou

The 30-year-old American has started similarly to many others on this list: solid but unspectacular. Bauchou is four-for-four in cuts made, with his top result being a T13 at The American Express.

The biggest issue for the Oklahoma State alum has been the weekends. Bauchou ranks in the top 25 of first-round scoring average and top 50 in second-round scoring average, but once he makes the cut, he’s going backward. Bauchou was inside the top 20 of both the WM Phoenix Open and the Farmers Insurance Open after 36 holes, but regressed in both and finished outside the top 40. That should normalize as the season continues and the rookie becomes more comfortable in contention. For now, he’s established a solid base to work from. Bauchou is 70th in the FedExCup.

Bauchou earned his card for the first time by finishing 11th on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Points List (top 20 earned TOUR membership for 2026), as he effectively secured his place in the top 20 of the standings with his first Korn Ferry Tour title – a win at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation.

John Parry

The 39-year-old Englishman isn’t your typical rookie, and that experience has been evident during his transition from a DP World Tour regular to a hopeful TOUR regular.

Parry has made his last nine cuts worldwide, the last four of which have come on the PGA TOUR. None of the results have been outstanding – a T19 at the Sony Open in Hawaii is his best – but it’s been enough to get inside the top 70 of the FedExCup. Continuing to stack solid results will be the name of the game as Parry continues to acclimate and tries to keep his card. He knows more than most how difficult it can be. The journeyman first reached the DP World Tour in 2010 and found quick success, winning in his debut season and adding three other top 10s. Yet that success proved fleeting. He would amass only nine top 10s in his next seven seasons and lost his card outright after a dreadful 2017. A poor 2018 on the HotelPlanner Tour knocked him even further down the professional golf totem pole, and it wasn’t for another five years until Parry found himself back on the DP World Tour.