Valspar Championship Course Preview: Good Scoring on the Par 5's Essential This Week

Valspar Championship Course Preview: Good Scoring on the Par 5's Essential This Week

This week we make our final stop in Florida, as the players head to the Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour. Originally called the Tampa Bay Classic, and then going through a magnitude of sponsors in its 22-year history, this event is now the Valspar Championship, with Valspar the longest-serving sponsor in event history.

Although the PLAYERS Championship Hasn't Wrapped Up, Sam Burns, the Defending Champion at the Valspar Championship, is Currently 1-Stroke Behind the Leader. He is one golfer to keep an eye on before wagering on the first major of the season at Augusta”.

The Course

Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort

• Length: 7,340 Yards
• Par: 71
• Greens: TifEagle Bermuda (Over-seeded with a mix of Bentgrass and Poa)
• Designer: Larry Packard
• Course Record: 61 - Padraig Harrington (Round 1, 2012)

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Correlating Courses and Events

Genesis Invitational (Riviera)

On the strength of last year's evidence alone, Riviera looks a nice indicator when looking for contenders here.

• Sam Burns won this event last year, and he had led after 54-holes at Riviera a month earlier, finishing 3rd.
• The player Burns beat, Keegan Bradley has also lost out in a playoff at Riviera in the past.
• Paul Casey who is a multiple winner here, has also lost in a playoff at Riviera, back in 2015.
• Luke Donald has won here and finished 2nd at Riviera.
• Adam Hadwin has won here and finished T6 at Riviera, as he shot a pair of 66's over the weekend there in 2018.
• 2016 Valspar winner, Charl Schwartzel also has T3 and 5th place finishes at Riviera.
• Jordan Spieth has won here and has 4th and 9th place finishes at Riviera.
• Billy Mayfair beat Tiger Woods at Riviera in 1998 and also has a runner-up finish here.
• Chad Campbell has runner-up finishes at both.
• Charles Howell III has runner-up finishes at both.
• Kevin Na has runner-up finishes at both.
• Ryuji Imada has finished 2nd here and 5th at Riviera.
• George McNeill has finished 2nd here and 6th at Riviera.

John Deere Classic (TPC Deere Run)

• Four players (Jordan Spieth, John Senden, Sean O’Hair and Vijay Singh) have won both here and at the John Deere Classic.
• Ryan Moore has won the John Deere Classic and also had multiple chances to win this event.
• Brett Quigley, who never won on TOUR, had runner-up finishes at both the John Deere and here at this event. He also finished 5th at the correlating Sony Open, and also had top-6 finishes at both the PLAYERS and the Honda, showing some Florida form.
• Paul Goydos has finished 2nd at both events.
• Troy Matteson has a 2nd place finish here and two top-3's at the John Deere Classic.
• Hank Lebioda has limited top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, but they have come at this event, the John Deere and the Travelers, another course we will flag as a correlation.

Sony Open

• John Huston, Jim Furyk, K.J. Choi and Vijay Singh have all won both events.
• Carl Pettersson has a win here and a 2nd at the Sony.
• Sean O'Hair has a win and a 2nd here, and a 2nd at the Sony.
• Luke Donald has a win here and a 2nd at the Sony.
• Kevin Na has won the Sony and finished 2nd here.
• Paul Goydos has won the Sony and finished 2nd here.
• Charles Howell III has finished 2nd at both.
• Chad Campbell has finished 2nd at both.

Travelers Championship

• Kevin Streelman has won both events.
• Jordan Spieth has won both events.
• K.J. Choi has multiple wins at the Valspar, and finished runner-up to Streelman at the Travelers.
• Paul Casey has multiple wins at the Valspar and multiple runner-up finishes at the Travelers, including a playoff loss.
• Ken Duke has won the Travelers and finished 5th at this event.
• Keegan Bradley has runner-up finishes at both.
• Paul Goydos has runner-up finishes at both.
• Tommy Armour III has runner-up finishes at both

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Course Form (Past 10 Years)

I am only going to include those that have made three or more starts here at the Copperhead Course. This means Hovland (T3 last year) and Abraham Ancer, Joaquin Niemann and Sungjae Im all of whom have top-10 finishes here over the past two renewals here, miss out.

• Sam Burns - 12-30-1
• Louis Oosthuizen - 20-MC-MC-MC-7-16-2-8
• Paul Casey - 37-MC-MC-1-1-21
• Charl Schwartzel - MC-1-6-49-MC-21
• Henrik Stenson - 4-11-7-MC-24-63
• Justin Thomas - 10-18-MC-13
• Austin Cook - 40-9-MC
• Bubba Watson - 28-MC-4-13
• Patrick Reed - MC-2-7-38-2-MC-MC
• Luke Donald - 1-4-4-53-22-MC-64-9-54

Key Stats

SG Approach - Small and hard to hit greens, means there's a clear focus on strong iron play, but as we always say, that is the case every week.

Scrambling - Given how tough it is going to be to hit these greens at Copperhead, a strong around-the-green game is going to be essential, as more often than not, par is going to be a good score outside of the par 5's. 200+ Yard Approaches - All of the Par 3's here range from 195-235 yards, and the Par 5's will demand 200+ yard approaches as well. Given how often you have to lay back off-the-tee or play these long Par 3's, those that are excelling with their mid-to-long irons should have a distinct advantage here. 175-200 yards is also a good range to look at.

Par 5 Scoring - With four Par 5's on this course, and a tough test, where par is generally good, it is essential to score on the Par 5's. Here are where the last ten winners ranked in Par 5 Performance the week they won here.

• 2021 - Sam Burns 1st in Par 5 Performance (-15 on Par 5's, won at -17)
• Keegan Bradley who finished 2nd was 3rd in Par 5 Performance that week (he was -10 on those holes and -14 total)
• 2019 - Paul Casey 1st in Par 5 Performance (-15 on Par 5's, won at -8)
• 2018 - Paul Casey T4 in Par 5 Performance (-8 on Par 5's, won at -10)
• 2017 - Adam Hadwin T10 in Par 5 Performance (-5 on Par 5's, won at -14)
• 2016 - Charl Schwartzel 1st in Par 5 Performance (-9 on Par 5's, won at -7)
• 2015 - Jordan Spieth T1 in Par 5 Performance (-6 on Par 5's, won at -10)
• 2014 - John Senden T3 in Par 5 Performance (-7 on Par 5's, won at -7)
• 2013 - Kevin Streelman T1 in Par 5 Performance (-9 on Par 5's, won at -10)
• 2012 - Luke Donald T6 in Par 5 Performance (-9 on Par 5's, won at -13)
• 2011 - Gary Woodland T15 in Par 5 Performance (-7 on Par 5's, won at -15)

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