2022 Valspar Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Innisbrook
Paul Casey’s had an illustrious career that still continues on admirably at age 44.
Barring a late career surge, one of the flaws of his resume, at least on the PGA Tour, is a lack of wins.
With only three stateside, he may be wondering what could have been. One tournament Casey’s squeezed the most juice out of is the Valspar Championship.
The Englishman was a back-to-back champion in 2018 and 2019 and has made the cut in five of six appearances at the Copperhead course.
“It’s a great golf course. I think it’s one of the best we play on (the PGA Tour),” Casey was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2019. “Might be the best one we play on the Florida swing. You know I like it because I’m defending champion. Champions always like the golf courses they win on. But it’s really quality. It’s very tough as well. The difference between hitting the green and landing just short, the dispersion of where the shots finish is high. There’s a premium on ball striking.”
Casey was close to earning the win of his career last week at the Players Championship.
He was in the mix right until the end, ultimately finishing solo third place and two shots behind Cameron Smith. A woeful break on the 16th hole saw a beautiful drive roll into a pitch mark. Casey settled for par on the par-5, his last great scoring opportunity down the stretch.
The Arizona State alum battled tough conditions to post four rounds under par (70-69-69-69) and was among the leaders at TPC Sawgrass in putting, gaining 1.22 strokes per round on the greens.
Casey perhaps could have been more aggressive in spots, but it’s not as if he blew the 54-hole lead or stumbled in a big way down the stretch.
“No, I just played a really, really good round of golf in difficult conditions around Sawgrass. Shot 69 with maybe one bogey and some breaks that didn’t go my way,” Casey was transcribed by ASAP Sports. “I mean, Cam played — and then you have to tip your cap at Cam who played phenomenal golf. He won this tournament.”
Casey’s Valspar win in 2018 was one to remember. He fired 70-68-71-65 to win by one over Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed. He came back a year later to card 70-66-68-72 to fend off Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Kokrak by one.
He couldn’t go for three in a row in 2020 due to the event’s cancellation. Casey settled for T-21st (68-71-72-68) in 2021.
He’s going for his seventh made cut in a row worldwide this week.