The PGA Tour remains in Florida for one more week as players travel to the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook for the 2024 Valspar Championship. A long-time stop on the PGA Tour calendar, the Valspar Championship has been known in the past for its difficult conditions and fair scoring.
Last season, Taylor Moore emerged as a winner at 10 under and one can expect a similar winning score this time around. Leading the odds board this week is none other than last week’s runner-up Xander Schauffele at +750.
2024 Valspar Championship Odds
Odds as of March 19
Schauffele will make only the second trip of his career to the Copperhead Course having finished T-10 in 2022. He is joined in this field by a number of his Ryder Cup teammates in Sam Burns, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman.
Spieth and Burns have a combined three Valspar Championship titles between the two of them with Burns claiming victory in 2021 and 2022. Spieth will look to find something in his game after missing the cut at the Players Championship as will Thomas who has been equally stunning around this par 71 albeit without a victory to his name.
Valspar Championship Picks
Xander Schauffele To Win (+750): Schauffele nearly came through for us at the Players Championship as he held a one-stroke lead entering the final round at TPC Sawgrass.
Signing for a final-round 70, the Olympic gold medalist fell short to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler by a single stroke. Despite not being able to close, Schauffele continues to be one of the best players in the world and the gap between him and the second-best in this field is larger than most would assume.
Since the beginning of the year, Schauffele ranks first in this field in total strokes gained and strokes gained tee-to-green while also raining fourth in strokes gained off the tee, seventh in strokes gained approach and fifth in strokes gained around the green. He is an all-around talent, and that talent will carry him to the winner’s circle sooner rather than later.
Sungjae Im To Win (+2500): This season has been mostly a struggle for the South Korean, but the Valspar Championship could present a great buy-low opportunity.
Im comes off back-to-back decent starts with a T-18 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T-31 at the Players Championship. During this short stretch, Im has rediscovered his ball striking having gained more than four strokes off the tee at TPC Sawgrass and another four on approach at Bay Hill.
With his short game in tow, the 25-year-old should start to contend on a more regular basis as this is the time of year, he typically pokes his head onto leaderboards. In two prior attempts at the Valspar Championship, Im has played well both times with a T-4 finish to his credit in his tournament debut in 2019.
Nick Taylor To Win (+3500): The Canadian has been brilliant in 2024 and was in the conversation to win the Players Championship last week before experiencing a poor third round.
Taylor ultimately finished T-26 at TPC Sawgrass gaining over four strokes on approach and another four with his putter. Those are two skill sets that will set him up for success at the Copperhead Course where he finished T-10 a season ago without putting the ball all too well. A proven winner thanks to breakthroughs at the Canadian Open and WM Phoenix Open, Taylor has shown that when the lights are the brightest his game is capable of shining.
Currently, in a stretch of four straight top 40s where he has gained strokes with his irons and putter in a massive way, Taylor should find himself with a chance to win late into this tournament.
Doug Ghim To Win (+4000): There is a real conversation that needs to be had around Ghim being the most underrated golfer on the PGA Tour at the moment.
The 27-year-old has rattled off five straight top-16 finishes including last week at the Players Championship where the entirety of his game was working. During this stretch, Ghim has made significant strides with his ball striking often gaining more than three strokes on approach while coupling this with his very accurate driving of the golf ball.
He comes into the Valspar Championship ranked sixth in total strokes gained, seventh in strokes gained tee-to-green and inside the top 30 of each statistical category during the calendar year. He has yet to putt the greens well at the Copperhead Course, but if he finds a nice comfort level this week he will surely improve on his T-27 result from a season ago.
Sepp Straka To Win (+5000): Straka is the type of player you have to feel out when it comes to handicapping as he often pops up on leaderboards out of nowhere.
He arrives at the Valspar Championship off a nice outing at the Players Championship where he gained almost six strokes on approach and another two off the tee. This snapped a small streak of losses with his iron play and could be the start of an upward trajectory that he saw late last year with quality outings at The Open, Hero World Challenge and his victory at the John Deere Classic.
Straka may not possess the extensive history at the Copperhead Course like some of his peers, but he does hold a winning upside at this palatable price.