Austin Smotherman's opening round at the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, set a high bar on Thursday, as he carded a bogey-free 9-under 62 that included six straight birdies in the middle of his round. The PGA credited him with 132 feet of putts made during the performance. His career includes making 47 of 81 cuts but never winning a tournament championship.
The Cognizant Classic, which Joe Highsmith won in 2025 by finishing at 19-under, features a competitive early field. Nico Echavarria of Colombia sits one shot back after a 63, despite having missed the cut in four of five tournaments in the 2026 season. A six-man group, including Taylor Moore, Jackson Suber, Kevin Roy, Daniel Berger, Norway's Kristoffer Reitan, and Sweden's Pontus Nyholm, rounded out the early chase pack with 4-under 67s.
Norwegian golfer Kristoffer Reitan is tied for sixth place after two rounds of a PGA tournament. He shot four under par on his second round, which included a bogey-free round with birdies on holes 2, 3, 10, and 11. Kristoffer Reitan is three shots behind leader Rory McIlroy.
Kristoffer Reitan is competing in the 2026 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Viktor Hovland is best placed among Norwegian players in a PGA tournament in Florida. Viktor Hovland shot one under par in the first round and is tied for 37th.
The length of putts that I was making was nice to see, but I also felt like I hit a lot of good putts.
Viktor Hovland is six shots behind leader Im Sung-jae. Viktor Hovland is in second place after two rounds at Hilton Head Island, one shot behind Matt Fitzpatrick. Other Norwegian golfers are also in the mix, with Kristoffer Ventura at par after the first round and tied for 47th, though he fell to one over par after two rounds and is outside the cut line.
This marks the first PGA Tour event ever with three Norwegians in the field. com. He was replaced in the field by Ben Silverman, who played alongside Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger.
Zalatoris was scheduled to make his third start of 2026 as he returns from his second back surgery in three years, having undergone a microdiscectomy in the spring of 2023 and a disk replacement surgery last May. Kristoffer Reitan's tournament history shows he has not competed in the Cognizant Classic in the last five years, making his current appearance notable. Over his last ten appearances, he has finished in the top 20 once, with his best result being tied for 13th at the Genesis Scottish Open with a score of 7-under.
359 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in his past five tournaments. 11%, ranking 132nd. 89% of the time, ranking 155th this season, and has earned 35 FedExCup Regular Season points, ranking 106th.
The golf hasn't been that far off.
All stats are accurate as of the start of the Cognizant Classic. In other golf news, Ludvig Åberg is six under par after the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, tied for second place. Daniel Berger leads after the first round at nine under par.
Back at the Cognizant Classic, Brooks Koepka ended up with a 3-over 74, tied for 98th, after being 4-over for his last six holes including a double bogey on the par-3 17th. David Ford finished at 1-over 72, tied for 68th, after a quadruple bogey at the 17th and holing out for eagle on both the 2nd and 3rd holes. Nico Echavarria's surprising performance, sitting one shot back after a 63, defies his poor season record of missing the cut in four of five tournaments.
Shifting to hockey, Mats Zuccarello had multiple shots on goal but no goals in Minnesota Wild's 1-2 loss to Chicago Blackhawks, ending the team's streak of points in the previous 19 meetings against Chicago. Zuccarello has 51 points in 57 games this season. In tennis, Nicolai Budkov Kjær lost to Matej Dodig in straight sets in the quarterfinals of a challenger tournament in Lugano.
Ranked 154th in the world, Kjær's exit from the tournament reflects the tough competition at the challenger level. In football, there was a fight after Malmö's 1-0 win over Djurgården in Allsvenskan. Malmö tops the table along with Elfsborg after the victory.