The Course Report
Valspar Championship
About Copperhead
The PGA Tour returns to Florida at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club just north of Tampa. The Larry Packard designed course is one the golfers have not seen this year on tour, but don’t be fooled by the lack of name recognition when compared to the likes of Pete Dye, Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones. This course provides some bite just as the name implies. The course utilizes undulated fairways and vast changes in elevation intended to make PGA Tour pro’s makes some tough choices. Now this is not impossible to overcome by any means, as the course does often rank in just the front half of most difficult courses on tour. Yet, this course is certainly different from what the golfers have seen so far here in Florida.
In addition to the numerous elevation changes, there will be plenty of dog legs in play. Only one hole on the entire course provides a straight away view at the pin. Challenges are in abundance as golfers will have to manage water, tree lined fairways and very well-placed bunkers that place high demand for accuracy off the tee. The most challenging holes on the course derive from the notorious “Snake Pit”, which are holes 16,17 and 18. This obviously can create an interesting Sunday.
Architect: Larry Packard
Greens: Bermuda Grass Greens
Stimpmeter: 11-12 (Average Green Speeds)
Length: 7340- Par 71
Water Hazards: 6 Water Hazards – 5 Holes
Bunkers: 75+
Weather Forecast
Past Winners
For the second year in a row, Casey held off a start-studded Sunday to claim his back to back title of the Valspar Championship.
Dustin Johnson entered the final round trailing by 1-stroke, but Casey was unerved at the task of maintaining his lead after round 3. While Casey did only win by 1-stroke, it did not have the same feeling as the prior year.
Casey might have won the tournament, but most will remember the play of Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed on Sunday. Wood’s finished in second to Casey who was simply unstoppable on Sunday.
Casey played the final 15 holes of the tournament masterfully as he shot 6-under par. The 65 in the final round led to him jumping from 11th place to 1st as only Sergio Garcia could claim the same low score as Casey. -10 was just enough to outlast Woods and Reed.
The Snake Pit has claimed plenty of victims in years past, but Hadwin held on to secure his victory.
Hadwin waltzed into Sunday with a four shot lead, but barely hung on as a red-hot Patrick Cantlay was looking to force a third straight playoff for the Valspar. Ultimately, Hadwin’s lead and a bogey on 18 for Cantlay was enough to secure the victory.
Schwartzel dazzled on Sunday with a 67, which forced an extra hole with 54-hole leader Bill Haas.
This was Schwartzel’s first win on PGA Tour since his incredible 2011 Masters victory. This was a ongshot comeback as Schwartzel started the final round 5 strokes back. Lucky for him, Copperhead came out fighting and those leaders were struggling all day leading to the win.
Without a doubt, this was the most exciting finish to any Valspar. Spieth and Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair were on their games on Sunday, as the three battled it out in a playoff.
Leaderboard movement was constant with massive shot deficits, amazing saves and plenty of dramatics.
It took three sudden death holes for Spieth to nail a 23-footer for birdie and his second PGA Tour victory.
Windy conditions played a massive role on a difficult Sunday. This was literally a roller-coaster ride for Senden.
Coming in on Sunday as the leader, he went without a par for 6 straight holes, and relinquished his lead by starting that stretch with 2 straight bogies. It was looking terrible for Senden on 16, as he had placed his tee shot into the pine straw. By some miracle, he placed his ball to the rough just short of the green and chipped one in to end up with a birdie. He would then follow up with another birdie on 17, and that would end up winning him the tournament
The key to Streelman’s win was his third round 65. While Book Weekly did everything he could to catch Streelman with an amazing 63 on Sunday, the championship was never in doubt as Streelman played flawlessly to never really feel intesnt pressure on Sunday.
Three straight sub-70 rounds this weekend locked up the tournament for Streelman after he shot 2 over par in round 1.
*Played as Tampa Ba Championship
Entering the final round, Donald was down three strokes and ended up winning in a 4-man playoff which included Jim Furyk, Grobert Garrigus and Sang-Moon Bae.
In the first hole of the playoff, Donald won with a 7-iron out of a thick rough to just within 6 feet of the hole which led to the easy birdie putt for the win.
*Played as Transitions Championship