The 2026 Cognizant Classic gets underway today at the Champion Course. While golfers will get ready to play the entire course, they know that there are three swings that can flip the entire leaderboard. Golfers know exactly where that danger lives. Late in the course, as tension tightens and Florida winds pick up, PGA National delivers its sternest test in a compact stretch of the Bear Trap.

What is the Bear Trap at the Champion Course?

The Bear Trap is the infamous three-hole stretch from hole 15 to 17 at PGA National’s Champion Course. The name comes from Jack Nicklaus, the “Golden Bear,” who designed the course. This water-laden section of the course more often than not decides tournaments. There’s a bear statue on the 15th to mark its start with a plaque that quotes Nicklaus, saying, “It should be won or lost right here.”

“For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain because today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic. One thing you can’t start doing in these parts is losing your head,” Sky Sports Golf analyst Wayne Riley said. “This is the 15th, the par 3, the start of the bear trap.”

Hole 15 is a par-3 179-yard hole. It has a bailout on the left side over the water. The green tilts gently back-to-front and is angled front-left to back-right, which is guarded by bunkers. Golfers need to aim left-center for par.

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Next on the Bear Trap is the 434-yard par-4, hole 16. The hole features a bunker on the left and a bunker and water on the right. This makes the fairway very narrow. Thus, conservative tee shots avoid trouble, while power play risks ending in the water.

Par-3 175-yard hole 17 is the last on the Bear Trap. This one is an all-carry over water to a narrow fairway, long green.

“It’s the 17th, the famous 17th. Spooky, 190 yards in length, downhill, and the wind swirls all over the place. Grandstands, noise. This is brutal. That bunker down there, that deep one for the left-hand side of 17. That is a very popular spot, and it’s very difficult to get it up and down because the ball rolls up the back of the face,” Wayne Riley added.

Wind amplifies the difficulty of this hole. It also features bunkers on the left after the water.

While Champion Course has tougher spots like holes 6 and 11, the stretch of the Bear Trap makes it way more challenging. This is because it can significantly affect the leaderboard.

How the Bear Trap flips leaderboards quickly

The Bear Trap has triggered quick leaderboard changes across many events in the past. One notable incident occurred in 2024, when the World No. 2 Rory McIlroy entered Round 3 with a few shots behind the lead. However, he hit into the water twice on hole 16. This led to a triple bogey 7. Thus, he was out of contention and moved down the leaderboard after a 1-over 72 round.

Something similar happened with Doug Ghim in the 2025 Cognizant Classic. At the end of Round 3, Ghim was going strong with a T3 finish on the leaderboard. In Round 4, he started strong with birdies on holes 1 and 3. However, when he was at the Bear Trap, he hit 2 consecutive bogeys on holes 15 and 16 before hitting a birdie on hole 18 to finish T11, one stroke short of Jordan Spieth and Erik van Rooyen on T9.

There are many such incidents from the past that reflect on the difficulty of the Bear Trap. These moments explain why no lead feels safe once players step onto the 15th tee.