Valspar Championship
Palm Harbor, Florida
Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course) - Par 71 - 7,352 yards
Field - 135 entrants
Purse - $9.1M
The Preview
Ludvig Aberg's back-nine crumble at THE PLAYERS Championship paved the way for Cameron Young to outlast Matt Fitzpatrick on TPC Sawgrass' difficult 72nd hole on Sunday, and a similar theme of painful closing stretches extends into the Florida Swing's finale at the Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course. Here, the infamous "Snake Pit" provides an entertaining three-hole test to close out a par-71 venue that features five long par-3s and a full quartet of par-5s. Four-inch rough and tree-lined doglegs place an emphasis on driving accuracy over distance off the tee, with a significant portion of approach shots expected to come from 175-plus yards, especially when considering the aforementioned demanding par-3s. The Valspar Championship's average winning score has been just 11-under-par over the last three years, but a pretty favorable weather forecast in Palm Harbor this week could promote more red numbers.
Recent Champions
2025 - Viktor Hovland
2024 - Peter Malnati
2023 - Taylor Moore
2022 - Sam Burns
2021 - Sam Burns
2020 - None
2019 - Paul Casey
2018 - Paul Casey
2017 - Adam Hadwin
2016 - Charl Schwartzel
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Total driving
Par-3: 200-225 efficiency
Par-5 scoring
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Xander Schauffele - $44
The outright betting favorite has placed T12-T5-T12 across three career Valspar Championship appearances since 2022, and he's coming off a solo-third at TPC Sawgrass where he paced THE PLAYERS in both SG: Approach and putting from 10-15 feet. Enhancing Schauffele's DFS ceiling is the fact that he's aggressive on par-5s, boasting a 79.8 Go-for-Green percentage this season.
Matt Fitzpatrick - $42
Fitzpatrick's ball-striking metrics had been trending nicely since his ninth-place effort at the WM Phoenix Open, so it wasn't surprising to see him contend last week when he led THE PLAYERS field in both driving accuracy and Birdie or Better percentage en route to the second-place result. The Englishman tied for fifth at Innisbrook in 2022, and he's gained a collective 4.88 strokes putting over his last six rounds here.
Jacob Bridgeman - $42
The PGA Tour's leader in FedExCup points, SG: Total and SG: Putting through 26 measured rounds, Bridgeman has yet to post any finish worse than a T18 in seven starts this year. He just led the field at TPC Sawgrass in both SG: Putting and par-4 scoring, and Bridgeman placed solo-third here at the 2025 Valspar Championship with a stellar short-game performance.
Glue Guys
Jordan Spieth - $35
Spieth's iron play is trending in the right direction after gaining a season-high 5.44 strokes on approach last week at THE PLAYERS, where he also ranked top-5 in P5: BoB Percentage. Spieth owns five top-20 finishes in eight career trips to Innisbrook, most notably winning here back in 2015 when he also led the tournament in putting average.
Ryo Hisatsune - $34
Hisatsune's impressive ball striking has been one of the more unexpected developments of the 2026 campaign, with the 23-year-old ascending to eighth on Tour in SG: T2G, third in GIR percentage and seventh in total birdies. He tied for fourth at last year's Valspar Championship when he gained 4.81 strokes with the flat stick, which currently stands as the fourth-best SG: Putting performance of his career.
Sahith Theegala - $32
I expect Theegala to draw a lot of attention at just $32 after notching five top-25 finishes in his last seven outings, including a trio of top-8s. Among the Valspar field, he's sandwiched between Bridgeman and Hisatsune in total strokes gained this year, and Theegala just gained a season-high 4.05 strokes on approach at THE PLAYERS. Additionally, he tied for seventh at the 2022 Valspar Championship when he gained 9.85 strokes from tee to green.
Bargain Bin
Brooks Koepka - $20
Koepka could be one of the highest-owned $20 clicks all year in this spot against a relatively weak field after posting back-to-back top-15s at the Cognizant Classic and THE PLAYERS right here in his home state of Florida. An iffy putter might hurt his win equity, but the ball-striking upside has been evident as he leads the Valspar field in SG: T2G per round this season.
Austin Smotherman - $20
Another expectedly chalky piece in stars-and-scrubs lineup builds, Smotherman should not be priced down here at the minimum salary with the way he's got his irons working. He's second to none in SG: Approach on Tour in 2026, residing top-12 in both GIR percentage and overall proximity as well. However, Smotherman's third child is due early next week, so understand you're leaning into some external WD risk at lofty ownership.
Ricky Castillo - $20
Although he didn't finish well on the weekend in his second career PLAYERS Championship appearance, Castillo still made the cut at TPC Sawgrass on the heels of his maiden PGA Tour victory in Puerto Rico. He's placed top-5 in three of seven starts dating back to November's RSM Classic, and he tied for 12th at last year's Valspar after tying for FRL honors with a four-under 67 in the opening round.
Looking for the best golf picks on Yahoo? Find the top Yahoo PGA DFS picks and value plays for every tournament from RotoWire golf expert Bryce Danielson.
