After a whirlwind of a final round at The Players, the PGA Tour moves onto the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook for this year's Valspar Championship.
After Brian Rolapp's comments suggesting a two-track system of PGA Tour events in the near future, I'm trying to figure out where each event on the current Tour schedule falls in the divide. Even though the Valspar gets relatively strong fields every year in its spot after The Players, I can't really see a world where it is given that Track 1 status in Rolapp's plan, which is a shame because Innisbrook is a really fun test for the Tour players.
Regardless, this sort of conjecture shouldn't take away from this year's event, which is given the tall task of finding a worthy sequel to the Viktor Hovland-Justin Thomas duel we got last year. The quality of field hasn't dropped off from last year, so I'm expecting another exciting event.
Players Week didn't get off to a great start for the rankings with Collin Morikawa's withdrawal on Thursday, but Cameron Young showed everyone what he was made of on Sunday, and picked up not only the biggest win of his career, but also another win for the rankings. Let's get a third week in a row this week, and keep up the momentum.
Honorable Mentions: Jacob Bridgeman, Matt McCarty, Pontus Nyholm, Marco Penge, Alex Smalley
9. Sahith Theegala
Sahith Theegala sat T10 going into Sunday at The Players last week before getting blown out to sea on Sunday, finishing T32. However, this rough Sunday shouldn't distract from the fact that Sahith is playing his best golf since 2024 right now.
The 28-year-old has five top-25s this year in eight starts, already more than double the amount he had last season. If we are fully on the other side of his injury issues, then Theegala should be a threat most weeks the rest of the season.
8. Justin Thomas
After a truly terrible season debut at the Arnold Palmer, JT put everything back together with a T8 at The Players. It seemed like Thomas finally trusted his swing again after his back surgery in November. He seemed loose, willing to commit to every swing, and ready to climb the ranks of the PGA Tour once again. JT is a great match for Innisbrook, finishing in the top-25 six times in eight starts. After falling to Viktor Hovland here last year, expect Thomas to put up a good fight to avenge his loss.
7. Ricky Castillo
Your Puerto Rico Open champion pulled off a somewhat surprising T12 finish here at the Valspar last year when no one really saw him coming. For this year's event, I expect more eyes to be on Ricky Castillo. A classic player that does everything pretty solid while not excelling at any one given skillset, Castillo has shown that his performance ceiling is much higher than people may give him credit for. I was on Castillo in Puerto Rico, and I refuse to jump ship now.
6. Corey Conners
After a very middling start to his 2026 season, Corey Conners showed flashes of his form from last season with a respectable T13 at TPC Sawgrass last week. He went into the weekend expecting to be more of a factor, but rounds of 72 and 74 derailed his hopes for a run at the title. Nevertheless, the Canadian moves onto a course where he has three top-25s in three appearances, including a T8 last year. The accuracy demands fit Conners' eye well, and I expect him to be a factor once again this weekend.
5. Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitz had the trophy in his hands on Sunday, but Cam Young came and chased him down. Kudos to the Englishman for a strong performance at a track that doesn't always fit his eye, and I expect more of the same from him this week.
When he's on at Innisbrook, Fitzy plays well, posting a T5 in 2022. We haven't seen him at Valspar since 2023, so the course hasn't seen this new version of Fitzpatrick's game. While it is always tough to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss like Sunday, Fitzpatrick should find his way back to the top of the leaderboard this week.
4. Viktor Hovland
Our defending champion this week, golf's greatest enigma probably still doesn't know how he won last year's tournament. Regardless, while Viktor Hovland hasn't quite returned to his FedEx Cup-winning form, he has still played well so far this season, with three top-13 finishes in five starts.
He hasn't really been able to find it off the tee quite yet, but the short game has been surprisingly strong for him this year. If his driving catches up with the rest of his game, then Hovland could easily be a repeat winner.
3. Brooks Koepka
I was ready to write off Koepka's T9 at Cognizant as a fluke, that anyone can get hot for a week. However, a T13 at TPC Sawgrass, a course Koepka never plays well at, has me rethinking the calculus. I think we are much closer to a Brooks Koepka win on Tour this year than originally thought, and it could come as soon as this week. We're seeing a return to form with his irons, and the next step is to get hot with the short game to pull everything together.
2. Akshay Bhatia
A T13 last week continues a streak of five straight top-16 finishes for Bhatia, including his win at the Arnold Palmer. Innisbrook is a course I've always liked for Bhatia, his mix of strong iron play and accuracy off the tee sets up well for a trip around The Snake Pit. Especially given his current run of form, I would put the lefty up against anyone on Tour right now and like my chances. Don't be surprised by another win from Akshay this week.
1. Xander Schauffele
Last year, when I was picking this event, I left Xander Schauffele completely off the rankings due to his injury struggles throughout last year. He then proceeded to finish T12 a week after finishing dead last at The Players.
This year, Schauffele comes in on the back of a solo third at The Players, and is on a run of four straight top-25 finishes. In my mind, this ends one of two ways: he wins the tournament or misses the cut. I have much more faith in the former, but it is good to see Schauffele play high-level golf once again.