- The first title of Jordan Spieth's breakout 2015 season came at the Valspar Championship. (Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
• FIELD: Click here for full field.
• COURSE: Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead), 7,340 yards, par 71. An anomaly among the flatter layouts elsewhere on the Florida Swing, the Copperhead winds through rolling, tree-lined terrain and ranks high among PGA TOUR players for its no-nonsense demands. Designer Larry Packard carved double doglegs on two par-5s, putting a premium on positioning to reach the green in two, and the closing three holes make up the “Snake Pit” – two bruising par-4s sandwiched around the 215-yard 17th. Opened in 1972, Innisbrook spent 24 years as site of the JC Penney team event pairing PGA TOUR and LPGA pros, then became a regular TOUR stop in 2000.
• FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points.
• CHARITY: Copperhead Charities Inc., which has raised more than $34 million since the group’s inception in 1978. More than 70 Tampa Bay-area charities receive donations, including All Children’s Hospital, Habitat for Humanity and the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation.
• FIELD WATCH: World No. 1 Jordan Spieth makes his first title defense of 2016 against a field that features three of the top 10 in the current Official World Golf Ranking and seven of the top 20. … No. 10 Patrick Reed, beaten in last year’s playoff, and No. 6 Henrik Stenson are the other top-10 players to commit. … Blayne Barber makes his first start since tying for third at The Honda Classic, his best career finish. He grew up two hours north in Lake City, Florida. … Brian Gay, who played the first 15 editions at Innisbrook until sitting out last year due to injury, is back to start a new streak. … Austin Connelly, 19, who turned professional late last summer, is in the field on a sponsor exemption. So are Greg Yates, who won the Valspar Collegiate last year playing for Texas A&M, and Lee McCoy, a senior at Georgia who played on last year’s Walker Cup team. Playing for Calvary Christian in nearby Clearwater in 2010, McCoy set the Florida high school lowest-round record with a 62.
• 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, Vijay Singh (2004).
• 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Padraig Harrington (1st round, 2012).
• LAST YEAR: Spieth made two clutch par saves to get into a playoff, then outdueled Reed and Sean O’Hair to win with a 30-foot birdie on the third extra hole. Spieth finished regulation with a 2-under 69, though he needed his best scrambling to get into the playoff. A sublime wedge from a bad lie on a downslope saved par at No. 17, and he drained a 12-foot par putt at the 18th after coming up short from a fairway bunker. Reed heated up on the final day with a 66, then needed some escape artistry of his own to stay in the playoff. Spieth’s victory was his second on the PGA TOUR and fourth worldwide, three of which came in an eight-start span.
• STORYLINES: After scuffling through his last two West Coast starts and a slow open at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Spieth returns to a place that has proven a springboard on more than one occasion. Not only did he win last year, but a teenage Spieth secured Special Temporary status after tying for seventh in 2013. … Stenson finished one shot out of last year’s playoff in his first visit to the Copperhead, still seeking his first victory on U.S. shores since capturing the FedExCup in 2013. … Luke Donald hopes for a resurgence of the form that gave him four consecutive top-6 finishes until the streak was broken last year. That includes his victory in 2012. … Not only has the tournament never produced a back-to-back champion, just three of 15 defending titleholders have finished in the top 10 a year later.
• SHORT CHIPS: Copperhead’s “Snake Pit” tied for fourth among last year’s toughest closing three-hole stretches, averaging .402 strokes above par. Quail Hollow’s “Green Mile” (Wells Fargo) was the runaway No. 1, followed by St. Andrews (Open Championship). … Peter Malnati, winner at the Sanderson Farms Championship last fall, and Spencer Levin are among seven players set for their 13th start in 2015-16. Valspar marks the 15th week of the season.
• TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC).
• PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. ET (Featured Groups), 3-6 p.m. (Featured Holes).
• RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM)
Congratulations to Ed for lasts week win
Bobcat makes a move to extend his lead , with a couple late entrants throwing their hats into the ring for a chance to unseat the DFS as reigning PGSF champ
Good Luck to everyone this week as we head to Florida's West coast
