Valspar Championship: 2021 Tournament preview and picks

After an exciting week at the Zurich Classic, the PGA Tour heads back to Florida for the 2021 Valspar Championship.

Golf’s traditional stroke-play format will resume at the Innisbrook resort this week after fans and players alike were treated last week with the Zurich Classic’s unique style team event. The Valspar Championship will welcome a full 156 man field this week to one of the most challenging courses that PGA pros see on an annual basis, the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.

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Add the Valspar Championship to the list of events that make their return to the PGA calendar in 2021 after numerous events were lost throughout 2020 as a result of COVID-19. Both Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed return to action for the first time since the Masters this week, while two-time Valspar winner Paul Casey will be aiming for a historic three-peat this week after win’s in both 2019 and 2018.

World number one Dustin Johnson is also taking part this week in what look’s to be a pretty strong field making its way to Copperhead. In total, the field for the Valspar consists of seven of the World’s top 20 ranked golfers this week per the Official World Golf Ranking.

2021 Valspar Championship at Copperhead (Innisbrook Resort)

As mentioned previously the Copperhead course at Innisbrook resort will provide a true test for the player’s this week at an event that has seen winning scores of 10 under par or worse in four of its past five editions.

The Larry Packard design that is located just north-west of downtown Tampa is a challenging PAR 71 that measures out at right around 7,300 yards in length. The course places a premium on accuracy with its narrow tree-lined fairways that feature both steep elevation changes and significant winding doglegs throughout.

Copperhead also features lightning-quick Bermuda grass greens that often slope from back to front and if all that wasn’t challenging enough the course also has one of the most challenging three-hole stretches in golf known as “the snake pit”.

Past Valspar Championship Winners

2019: Paul Casey (-8)

2018: Paul Casey (-10)

2017: Adam Hadwin (-14)

2016: Charl Schwartzel (-7)

2015: Jordan Spieth (-10)

The Favorites at the Valspar Championship

The odds used in this article can be found online at Draftkings sportsbook and are current at the time of the article. Make sure to check what is available locally to you for the best and updated odds.

(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

It’s not the World Number one who leads the list of favorites this week, it’s the World number two Justin Thomas +1000 who sits atop the betting boards and opens as a slight favorite over the World’s top-ranked player Dustin Johnson +1100.

Justin will be making his first appearance since the Masters where one bad hole essentially ended his chances for the week. He is one of if not the best ball-striker in the World at the moment and with Dustin Johnson looking a bit out sort’s in recent events is an understandable favorite here.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Corey Conners+1800 name listed next alongside Patrick Reed +1800 this week. The Canadian has been fantastic recently and will pose a real threat this at the Valspar, but seeing him at this short of a price is still a bit jarring. Reed like Thomas will be making his first start since the Masters and with his fantastic track record at this event that includes three top 10’s in his last five starts at Copperhead should certainly be considered.

Paul Casey +2200, Viktor Hovland +2200, and Tyrrell Hatton +2500 close out the upper-tier this week. Casey will be aiming to win the Valspar this week for the third consecutive time after winning the previous two editions held in 2018, and 2019. It’s difficult to argue against his chances of doing so as well as he has been fantastic in 2021 and comes into this week at a very nice number considering his pedigree at the Valspar in recent times.

Hovland and his partner Ventura were in contention for the majority of last week before a disastrous final round on Sunday ended their chances. It’s difficult to have confidence in a player who has publicly gone on record in saying that he does not like playing Florida. Instead, the card will start with Tyrrell Hatton +2500 this week who should relish the chance of taking on a difficult course and who along with Danny Willett played well at last week’s Zurich Classic on their way to an 8th place finish.

Tyrrell has played well in his last three starts and though his finish at the RBC Heritage a couple of weeks back was mediocre much of that was down to his performance with the normally reliable putter. Hatton lost strokes putting for just the second time this year while still gaining strokes across the board, an indicator of where his game is at right now.

The Mid-Tier

Sungjae Im +2800 leads this range this week and is followed closely by Abraham Ancer +3000, Russell Henley +3000, and Scottie Scheffler +3000. Sungjae seemingly has found something with his game over his last couple of starts and with his lone PGA win coming in the state of Florida is mildly interesting this week even with the Korean struggling with consistency for much of the year so far.

Russell Henley is perhaps the most intriguing name of the group though with his excellent performances in his last two starts that resulted in finishes of 9th at the RBC Heritage and 3rd at the Honda Classic. Henley is a terrific iron player and with a finish of 9th at the Valspar a couple of years ago is certainly interesting this week.

Jason Kokrak +3500, Joaquin Niemann +3500, and Lois Oosthuizen +3500 headline the next group before Emiliano Grillo +4500, Charley Hoffman +4500, and Justin Rose +4500 close out the mid-range this week.

A strong case could be made for Oosthuizen, Grillo, and Rose this week while Niemann still seems a bit out of sorts. It’s both Jason Kokrak +3500 and Charley Hoffman +4500 though who make the card this week, however.

Kokrak finished 21st last week alongside partner Pat Perez but prior to that had three finishes inside of the top 10 at every event not named the Masters. Jason is a fantastic ball-striker and tends to play well at difficult courses, he has also finished inside of the top 10 in three of his last six appearances Copperhead.

It’s difficult to look past Hoffman this week who is another player that has been in terrific form of late. Charley has five finishes of 20th or better in his last six starts, this includes a 17th and a 10th place finish in his last two starts in the state of Florida as well. The California-born Hoffman rates out second in the field with his approach play over the past 24 rounds, an area he has lost strokes in just once across his past six starts.

There won’t be many in this week’s field who have been playing better golf than Chris Kirk +5500 has over the past couple of months. Kirk has two 10 finishes in his last three starts with his only finish outside of the top 10 coming in last week’s team event with Brendon Todd. Chris is another who played well during the Florida swing earlier this year and at one point was in contention at the PLAYERS before a disastrous final round thwarted his chances.

Kirk rates out 6th in the field in tee to green over the last twenty-four rounds and despite an uninspiring history at the Valspar is in such great form recently and well worth a shot at this price.

Next. 2021 Zurich Classic: Winners and Losers from Louisiana. dark

Finally, I’ll complete the card this week with Doug Ghim +10000 who looks to be clicking into gear again across his past two starts. Doug and partner Justin Suh finished just outside of the top 10 last week and he will certainly take some encouragement from that performance.

Ghim is an excellent ball-striker and an accurate driver off the tee, and if he can get the putter working this week could very well find himself securing his first PGA win come Sunday.

Valspar Championship Card

Tyrrell Hatton +2500

Jason Kokrak +3500

Charley Hoffman +4500

Chris Kirk +5500

Doug Ghim +10000

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