-
ROUND RECAPS
Adam Hadwin escapes the Snake Pit and wins the Valspar Championship
Masters titleholder Sergio Garcia returns to Florida’s Gulf Coast for the first time since 2013, while Jordan Spieth is back after a one-year break to give the stop perhaps its best lineup since it joined the schedule in 2000. Adam Hadwin is defending champion.
FIELD NOTES: Justin Rose, who owns four top-15 finishes at Innisbrook since 2008, and Henrik Stenson make it five entrants among the top 13 players in the world rankings. … Bill Haas ventures back to action three weeks after being sidelined by injuries suffered in a fatal auto accident ahead of the Genesis Open. … U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk returns for his ninth Copperhead start in the past 10 years. He captured the 2010 edition. … Two-time Innisbrook champ K.J. Choi and Brian Gay are set for their 17th starts in the tournament’s 18 editions. Choi missed the 2008 event; Gay sat out in 2015. … Sam Burns, last year’s Nicklaus Award winner at LSU, earns another start following his tie for eighth at the Honda Classic. … Chris Couch, who hasn’t teed it up in a TOUR event since 2012, is entered on one of his remaining medical extension starts.
https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/valspar-championship/field.html
FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points.
STORYLINES: McIlroy and Woods get their first looks at the Copperhead, the only Florida stop where they had yet to tee it up. Both come in after a week’s rest – McIlroy passed on the WGC Mexico Championship and Woods didn’t qualify. … Woods makes his third start in a four-week stretch, with another to follow at Bay Hill. He placed 12th at the Honda Classic, his best TOUR finish since 2015 in Greensboro. … Charl Schwartzel’s sixth-place finish last year made him just the fourth of 16 defending Valspar champions to notch a top-10 finish a year later. The tournament has yet to see a back-to-back winner. … Luke Donald hasn’t cracked the top 20 in the past three Valspar starts, coming after four straight top-6 finishes from 2011-14. He won the 2012 edition. … The Copperhead’s “Snake Pit” ranked No.4 once again among last year’s toughest three-hole closing stretches, averaging .472 strokes over par. Quail Hollow’s “Green Mile” was the runaway No.1 in its major debut (PGA Championship).
COURSE: Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead), 7,340 yards, par 71. Carved from rolling terrain uncommon so close to Florida’s coast, Larry Packard’s tree-lined creation is a longstanding favorite among pros for an offering different from the others on the Florida Swing. Two of Copperhead’s par-5s feature double doglegs, putting a premium on positioning to reach the green in two. The “Snake Pit” – two bruising par-4s sandwiched around the 215-yard 17th – awaits to bite golfers as they complete their rounds. Opened in 1972, Innisbrook served 24 years as site of the JC Penney team event pairing PGA TOUR and LPGA pros, then converted to a regular stop in 2000.
72-HOLE RECORD: 266, Vijay Singh (2004).
18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Padraig Harrington (1st round, 2012).
LAST YEAR: Hadwin captured his first PGA TOUR victory, shaking off a costly double bogey near the end to hold off Patrick Cantlay’s stirring challenge. Hadwin took a four-shot lead into the final round, but found himself in a battle as Cantlay – making just his second start after a two-year injury layoff – reeled off five birdies in a six-hole stretch bridging the turn. Hadwin still led by two until entering the “Snake Pit,” where the Canadian’s tee shot at No.16 found water right of the fairway. The duo remained deadlocked until No.18, as Cantlay’s approach leaked into a bunker while Hadwin found the back fringe to set up a two-putt par. Cantlay’s 15-foot attempt to force a playoff went unanswered.
HOW TO FOLLOW
TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC).
PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 6:45 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes).
RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).
The PGSF rolls into Copperhead off of celebrating a great victory for Phil Mickelson. The field is loaded this week , so we should have a very good tournament
In the PGSF, a shake up near the top as ed slides into 2nd place.
@NoleLizards is still our leader.
good luck to everyone this week
