The PGA Tour has reached Orlando, its final stop on the Florida Swing for the Valspar Championship.
Founded in 2000, this will be the 22nd edition of the tournament which has been played every year on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort.
Two previous winners will not be in the field this week due to suspensions from the PGA Tour.
Two-time winner Paul Casey (2019, 2018) and 2016 winner, Charl Schwartzel, joined LIV Golf in 2022 and were suspended by the PGA Tour.
Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters Champion, won the inaugural LIV Golf event in June 2022 in London.
As a previous Masters Champion, Schwartzel will also be in the field for the Masters next month.
The Valspar Championship did not receive the “designated event” bump from the PGA Tour and the field reflects a lack of top talent in the field this week.
Compared to the stacked field in last week’s Players Championship which featured 23 of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). The field at this week’s Valspar Championship, has only 5 of the top 25 in attendance.
The weakened field for the Valspar represents the challenge of being sandwiched between two of the designated events on the PGA Tour.
After playing in back to back weeks, the Players Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, both designated events; many of the top players are sitting out this week to be fresh for next week’s event, WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play, also a designated event.
Notables in the field (OWGR Ranking)
| Justin Thomas 10 | Matt Fitzpatrick 13 | Jordan Spieth 14 | Sam Burns 15 | Keegan Bradley 22 |
| Tommy Fleetwood 27 | Brian Harman 28th | Justin Rose 32 | K.H. Lee 41 | Kevin Kisner 46 |
| J.T. Poston 54 | Taylor Montgomery 56 | Denny McCarthy 57 | Adam Hadwin 61 | Victor Perez 63 |
| Davis Riley 64 | Andrew Putnam 66 | Maverick McNealy 69 | JJ Spaun 72 | Nick Taylor 72 |
| Ben Griffin 75 | Justin Suh 77 | Trey Mullinax 81 | Joel Dahmen 97 | Gary Woodland 98 |
Despite not being an elevated event the purse for the Valspar Championship did receive a slight increase. This year’s purse of $8.1 million, is $300,000 more than last year’s purse of $7.8 million.
The champion of this year’s tournament will take home $1.458 million, up from $1.404 million that went to Sam Burns in 2022.
Players to watch
Joseph Bramlett
This will be Joseph’s fourth trip to Innisbrook Golf Club. In three previous trips Joseph has missed the cut just once.
His best finish was in 2022 when he finished in 48th place.
In thirteen events so far this season, Joseph has four top-25 finishes which includes two top-10s.
Joseph is currently ranked 65th in the FedEx Cup Rankings, and 183rd in the OWGR.
Cam Champ
This will be Cam’s first trip to Orlando for the Valspar Championship.
So far this season in nine events Cam has just one top-10 finish and seven missed cuts.
Cam’s lone top-10 was 8th place at the Zozo Championship back in October.
Champ is currently ranked 150th in the FedEx Cup Rankings, and 182nd in the OWGR.
Tee Times
Bramlett: Thursday -12:52 PM; Friday – 8:02 AM
Champ: Thursday – 1:14 PM; Friday – 8:24 AM
How to watch
Thursday & Friday – 2 PM to 6 PM (Golf Channel)
Saturday & Sunday – 1 PM to 3 PM (Golf Channel); 3 PM to 6 PM (NBC)