Tag: Valspar Championship

It’s Groundhog Day for Max Homa, who shares clubhouse lead at Valspar Championship

It’s Groundhog Day for Max Homa, who shares the clubhouse lead at the Valspar Championship after Friday’s second round.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – For Max Homa, every day on the golf course is starting to feel like Groundhog Day. On Friday, he followed up a 5-under 66 with a 3-under 68 for a share of the clubhouse lead with Lucas Glover at 8-under 134.

“Game feels like it’s very repeatable at the moment,” Homa said. “You go around a course like this without feeling too much anxiety, too much stress, that’s a bonus.”

His 3-wood has been dialed in, too. On Monday, Homa made his first albatross, holing his second shot at a par 5 with his trusty 3-wood at Greystone Golf Club in Birmingham, Alabama. On Friday, he nearly did it again, drilling old reliable to 4 feet, 9 inches from the hole and settling for eagle.

“She’s hot,” Homa said. “I’ve always hit my 3-wood quite well, it’s typically one of my favorite clubs. I know every caddie that’s ever worked for me has said it’s their favorite club, which means it probably should be my favorite club. So, I don’t know, it’s just a hitting it out of the middle and it’s going where I’m looking at the moment.”

Valspar: Check the yardage book | Leaderboard | Photos

His putter hasn’t been too shabby, either. Homa made just over 200 feet of putts on Thursday and followed that up by holing a 27-foot birdie at No. 17 and a 30-foot birdie at No. 4. For the week, Homa ranks second in Strokes Gained: Putting.

“For a moment there I thought I was going to go super low but at the same time, that’s where this course will get you,” he said. “It’s hard to go around this place unscathed.”

Homa hasn’t forgotten when Groundhog Day felt like an endless string of missed cuts. In 2017, he missed 15 of 17 cuts, but he’s come out the other side, knowing what rock bottom on the PGA Tour feels like and appreciating the successes he’d had. How does he explain missing his three previous cuts in Tampa, yet making it look easy this week?

“I’m just better at golf now,” he said. “I told my wife that there’s a few tee shots out here I remember being anxious over and I showed up this week on Wednesday and was rolling my eyes that I thought that that was as demanding as it was.”

He added: “This is the longest I’ve played really well since like college. It’s a comfort to show up to events.”

Glover would like to have a few more repeatable rounds like Friday. He signed for a bogey-free 6-under 65, during which he lead the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green.

“Scrappy, I think, would be a good word,” he said in trying to describe his round. “I usually hit a lot of greens. You got to do that here, you got to get it in the fairway and just hit it on the green, because it’s not easy to get it too close, you short side yourself a few times, this and that, but ball striking’s always been a strength and that’s key around here, but my short game’s bailed me out the first two days.”

Glover has never been one to fret – his word – about his ballstriking, and he’s confident it will turn around this weekend. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson was unhappy with his iron game after the first round, which included a 12-hole stretch without a birdie, so he headed straight to the range last night.

“Mid to long irons I don’t think I hit one in the middle of the club face,” Johnson said of Thursday’s opening round. “So, a little frustrated, but today I felt like I swung it a lot better.”

He bounced back with a 3-under 68 to secure a weekend date at Innisbrook Resort.

“If I can go out and play a nice round tomorrow, I can get right back in the golf tournament,” he said.

Among those lurking just a stroke behind the leaders at 7 under included Charl Schwartzel  and Tom Lewis, who each matched Glover with 65s, and Sungjae Im and Zach Johnson.

The low 65 and ties will play the weekend at the Copperhead Course.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

It’s Groundhog Day for Max Homa, who shares clubhouse lead at Valspar Championship

It’s Groundhog Day for Max Homa, who shares the clubhouse lead at the Valspar Championship after Friday’s second round.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – For Max Homa, every day on the golf course is starting to feel like Groundhog Day. On Friday, he followed up a 5-under 66 with a 3-under 68 for a share of the clubhouse lead with Lucas Glover at 8-under 134.

“Game feels like it’s very repeatable at the moment,” Homa said. “You go around a course like this without feeling too much anxiety, too much stress, that’s a bonus.”

His 3-wood has been dialed in, too. On Monday, Homa made his first albatross, holing his second shot at a par 5 with his trusty 3-wood at Greystone Golf Club in Birmingham, Alabama. On Friday, he nearly did it again, drilling old reliable to 4 feet, 9 inches from the hole and settling for eagle.

“She’s hot,” Homa said. “I’ve always hit my 3-wood quite well, it’s typically one of my favorite clubs. I know every caddie that’s ever worked for me has said it’s their favorite club, which means it probably should be my favorite club. So, I don’t know, it’s just a hitting it out of the middle and it’s going where I’m looking at the moment.”

Valspar: Check the yardage book | Leaderboard | Photos

His putter hasn’t been too shabby, either. Homa made just over 200 feet of putts on Thursday and followed that up by holing a 27-foot birdie at No. 17 and a 30-foot birdie at No. 4. For the week, Homa ranks second in Strokes Gained: Putting.

“For a moment there I thought I was going to go super low but at the same time, that’s where this course will get you,” he said. “It’s hard to go around this place unscathed.”

Homa hasn’t forgotten when Groundhog Day felt like an endless string of missed cuts. In 2017, he missed 15 of 17 cuts, but he’s come out the other side, knowing what rock bottom on the PGA Tour feels like and appreciating the successes he’d had. How does he explain missing his three previous cuts in Tampa, yet making it look easy this week?

“I’m just better at golf now,” he said. “I told my wife that there’s a few tee shots out here I remember being anxious over and I showed up this week on Wednesday and was rolling my eyes that I thought that that was as demanding as it was.”

He added: “This is the longest I’ve played really well since like college. It’s a comfort to show up to events.”

Glover would like to have a few more repeatable rounds like Friday. He signed for a bogey-free 6-under 65, during which he lead the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green.

“Scrappy, I think, would be a good word,” he said in trying to describe his round. “I usually hit a lot of greens. You got to do that here, you got to get it in the fairway and just hit it on the green, because it’s not easy to get it too close, you short side yourself a few times, this and that, but ball striking’s always been a strength and that’s key around here, but my short game’s bailed me out the first two days.”

Glover has never been one to fret – his word – about his ballstriking, and he’s confident it will turn around this weekend. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson was unhappy with his iron game after the first round, which included a 12-hole stretch without a birdie, so he headed straight to the range last night.

“Mid to long irons I don’t think I hit one in the middle of the club face,” Johnson said of Thursday’s opening round. “So, a little frustrated, but today I felt like I swung it a lot better.”

He bounced back with a 3-under 68 to secure a weekend date at Innisbrook Resort.

“If I can go out and play a nice round tomorrow, I can get right back in the golf tournament,” he said.

Among those lurking just a stroke behind the leaders at 7 under included Charl Schwartzel  and Tom Lewis, who each matched Glover with 65s, and Sungjae Im and Zach Johnson.

The low 65 and ties will play the weekend at the Copperhead Course.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

The best part of Keegan Bradley’s day came after carding 64 in opening round at Valspar Championship

Keegan Bradley equaled his finest round of golf in 18 months during what he called “an all-around great day” that was “basically zero stress.”

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Keegan Bradley just equaled his finest round of golf in 18 months during what he called “an all-around great day” that was “basically zero stress.”

And the best part of his Thursday had yet to come.

After a 7-under 64 that gave the Jupiter resident a two-shot lead after one round at the Valspar Championship, Bradley was back to the real life … being a husband and a dad.

Keegan and his wife, Jillian, crossed the state along with sons, Logan, 3, and Cooper, 3 months, to enjoy what has started out to be a nice relaxing week on the Gulf Coast. Now, if the rest of the week goes the way it started and the only stress Keegan faces is making sure Logan eats his vegetables and Cooper gets his naps, this definitely will be a memorable family vacation.

“I’ll go back today and, doesn’t matter what I shoot, I got to go be a dad and play baseball and play golf in the backyard, which I look forward to,” said Bradley, who called his family his “good luck charm.”

Valspar: Check the yardage book | Leaderboard | Photos

Shooting a bogey free round has to make Dad Time a bit sweeter. Especially on a Copperhead Course that the two-time defending champion, Paul Casey, said is “as good and as tough as it’s ever been.”

Bradley, the nephew of LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley, burst on the PGA Tour scene early, winning twice as a rookie in 2011, including the PGA Championship. That was a thrill only equaled by the Vermont native receiving a text that day from one of his sports heroes, Tom Brady, who, Keegan says, would be part of his dream foursome along with his dad and Ben Hogan. That Wannamaker Trophy then sat on the floor in his Jupiter home topped by a Red Sox cap.

Although Bradley, 34, admits that major title “changed my life forever,” it also ratcheted up the spotlight and expectations. After being named PGA Tour rookie of the year, Keegan won again in 2012 (WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and cracked the top 10 of the World Golf Ranking (No. 10) in 2013.

That victory at the WCG event was 229 starts ago. Since then, Bradley has one win (2018 BMW Championship, with his family on site) and his world ranking has dropped to 135.

Few have had their careers altered over a rule change as much as Bradley. In 2016, the practice of anchoring a putter was banned. Bradley, who used a belly putter, was the first golfer to win a major using an anchored putter. The putter was part of a package that also earned Bradley spots in the Ryder Cup and President’s Cup teams.

Bradley was outspoken about not being able to use something he had adopted, not as a crutch, but as part of his game.

And as Bradley’s putting suffered, so too did his game. In 26 events in 2016, he had two top 10s (the fewest of his career) and missed a career-high 11 cuts. Bradley’s game has ebbed and flowed in the last five years, but something has clicked the last three months, and Bradley knows exactly what it is.

“When you putt poorly, golf isn’t that much fun,” Bradley said. “But I’ve been putting very well since Phoenix.”

Since missing back-to-back cuts in January, Bradley has played in seven tournaments, starting with the Phoenix Open in early February, and finished in the top 30 six times. He’s coming off a T-4 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and had a T-10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The key to Bradley’s quick start Thursday was simple. Of his seven birdies, three were accomplished by sinking putts of more than 17 feet. He dropped consecutive putts of at least 30 feet on the 14th and 15th holes.

Bradley shot a 30 on the back nine.

“The putter’s been a lot better,” he said. “After I won, putting went into a pretty big dip and I had to kind of work my way out of it again. I feel like I’m on the other side of that right now.”

Bradley credits a lot of work with his coach, Darren May, and caddie, Scotty Vail, for rediscovering his putting stroke.

“I got a lot of good things going my way right now,” he said. “A really fun day.”

On and off the course.

[vertical-gallery id=778101806]

Justin Thomas wishing his putter warms up on his 28th birthday at Valspar Championship

On his 28th birthday, Justin Thomas couldn’t wish the ball in the hole in the first round of the Valspar Championship.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – On his 28th birthday, Justin Thomas couldn’t wish the ball in the hole in the first round of the Valspar Championship.

Thomas ranked No. 146 in the 156-man field in Strokes Gained: Putting, losing more than 2 ½  strokes to the field with the short stick. And that’s after holing a 13-foot birdie putt at the last hole. That’s the bad news.

The good news? That birdie putt completed a round of 2-under 69 for Thomas at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course and five strokes behind leader Keegan Bradley after the opening round, and two better than his fellow playing competitor, World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who headed straight to the range after an indifferent round.

Best of all for Thomas? The World No. 2 wasn’t overly concerned with his struggles on the greens.

Valspar: Check the yardage book | Leaderboard | Photos

“Hit a lot of quality putts that just didn’t go in. The only really truly bad putt I hit today was 14. I just hit it too hard. I was playing break for softer speed and I rammed it. But I hit a lot of good putts I feel like that could and should have gone in and hit a lot of quality golf shots,” he said. “I know I easily could have shot 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-shots better, 2-under is fine after the first day.”

Thomas got off to a flying start with a 12-foot eagle at the first hole and stuffed his approach from 186 yards to inside 2 feet at the second. He made his first bogey of the day at the sixth, but got it back by drilling a 5-iron inside a foot at the par-3 eighth hole.

“Just tried to get a good flight on it and hold it up against the right-to-left wind and that was probably the best shot I hit today,” Thomas said.

[vertical-gallery id=778101806]

But on the back nine, the putter let him down with bogeys at the two par 3s, Nos. 13 and 15, and he missed from inside 3 feet for birdie at 14. Despite the birdie at the last, Thomas headed straight to the putting green to work on his stroke with his father, caddie, and putting coach John Graham.

The birthday dinner celebration wouldn’t be put on hold for long, he said.

“I just want to go see a couple go in and see if there’s anything that maybe fundamentally or anything that might be wrong to why I was missing them, but, no, I mean, I hit plenty of good putts out there,” he said.

When he blows out the candle on his birthday cake, Thomas should wish for a better putting day on Friday when he’ll have the advantage of putting on fresh greens in the morning.

[listicle id=778101413]

Keegan Bradley shoots 64 at Valspar Championship, calls it ‘his best round of the year’

Keegan Bradley has his good luck charm with him this week at the Valspar Championship and it sparked him to a bogey-free 64.

PALM HARBOR, Florida – Keegan Bradley has his good luck charm with him this week at the Valspar Championship and it sparked him to a bogey-free opening-round 7-under 64 and the early lead on Thursday.

“Best round of the year,” Bradley said. “Today was an all-around just great day. Basically zero stress the whole day. I didn’t really come close to making a bogey, so that was a really fun day to be out there and pl

Bradley made a birdie at the first hole, tacked on another at the fourth hole and then heated up on the back nine. Bradley added a birdie at No. 12 and closed with birdies on four of his final five holes.

“It feels good to go around a course like this and shoot that score,” Bradley said. “This is a tough track, demands a lot, ball striking-wise and I did that today.”

Bradley, who is nearing the 10th anniversary of his first victory at the 2011 PGA Championship, is coming off a tie for fourth last week in New Orleans, his second top-5 finish in 17 starts this season. He credited his continued fine form to a hot putter, which has been behaving now for the better part of two months.

Valspar Championship: Leaderboard | TV times |

“After I won (the 2018 BMW Championship) putting went into a pretty big dip and I had to kind of work my way out of it again. So I feel like I’m on the other side of that right now,” Bradley said. “As long as I putt strokes gained around zero, I’m going to be up there. So when I have a day where I’m positive or a week that I’m positive I got a good chance.”

Bradley gained nearly 2 strokes on the field with his putter on Thursday. He drained putts of 34 feet at No. 14, made a 29-footer from off the green at No. 15 and finished in style with a 21-foot birdie at the last.

“My son Logan said he yelled when I made it, which made me feel really good,” Bradley said.

Bradley, 34, called his family his “good luck charm,” and noted that wife Jill and Logan were in attendance the last time he won in 2018, but that COVID-19 concerns (and the birth of a second son three months ago) have limited their ability to join him on the road.

“Any tournament we drive to, they will come, but it’s just, it’s so great to have them out here and be around them,” said Bradley, who calls Florida home. “I’ll go back today and, doesn’t matter what I shoot, I got to go be a dad and play baseball and play golf in the backyard, which I look forward to.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Paul Casey ‘sick of it’, is doing things necessary to get past COVID-19

Paul Casey, who says he got the COVID vaccine in Arizona, said he can relate to the urgency to return to our former way of life.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Paul Casey didn’t want to speak for his fellow PGA Tour pros, but the Englishman said he can relate to the urgency to return to our former way of life.

“All I know is that I think like a lot of people out there, like the general public, we’re kind of getting to the point, we just want to crack on with things and get back to normal,” Casey said.

What’s normal anymore?

After a 13-week layoff in June due to the global pandemic, the PGA Tour was one of the first pro sports to return to competition. Each tournament has been played as scheduled and testing and screening measures have been executed without any major glitches. The traveling circus has taken a gradual and considerate approach to bringing back fans of late to its tournaments (in accordance with state and local rules), with as many as 10,000 spectators per day in attendance at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last week.

Count Casey among the Tour pros who already have been vaccinated. He said his wife, Polly, volunteered in their home state of Arizona so that she could get early access to the vaccine.

“Arizona was quite speedy in opening up the vaccine,” he said. “I noticed like the UK have just opened it up to 44 and older. I’m 43, so if I was in the UK right now I wouldn’t even have the opportunity to get it.”

Instead, he’s approaching a very different scenario where he no longer will be required to produce a negative result from a COVID-19 test.

“In another few days,” he explained, “I will be out of that testing requirement and able to just get my lanyard and then cruise on to the property.”

The PGA Tour sent an email to players last week indicating that those who are fully vaccinated will not have to take a COVID-19 test before entering an event.

The days of using “an abundance of caution,” the buzz phrase of 2020, seem to be over.

In New Orleans, fans were required to wear a mask but hardly anyone bothered to do so and no one made an effort to enforce it.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Fans pose in front of the Zurich Classic sign during the second round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. (Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports)

Just as player testing is being scaled back and the mask policy is being ignored, the PGA Tour announced the most players in one week to test positive since it introduced testing. All four players – Brice Garnett, Will Gordon, Tyrrell Hatton and Sepp Straka – competed at TPC Louisiana last week.

“Touch wood they didn’t pass it on to anybody else and didn’t affect anybody else,” said Casey, who noted he’d walked through a meeting on his way to his pre-tournament news conference at the Valspar Championship where a Tour official was discussing the vaccine with players.

“I think microchips might have been mentioned in that conversation, I’m not sure.”

The PGA Tour continues to dip its toe into a return to normalcy while fearing for the worst: the dreaded threat of being branded as a super-spreader event in one of its cities. How many fans is too many fans and how do they get back to delivering the on-site client entertainment that made so many Fortune 500 businesses sign up? Those are questions above Casey’s pay grade, he said.

“I’m still worried about international travel coming up,” Casey said. “I’ve got to go play the Porsche [European Open in Germany] in a few weeks and then the Open Championship [in England in July], and I want to go on holiday with my mates. I usually go to Italy, and that’s not going to happen for another year. So, I’m sick of it, and I’m willing to do the things necessary to get through it.”

The PGA Tour will need more of its players to adopt Casey’s philosophy and continue to buy in to doing what’s “necessary to get through it,” as well as determine an effective means to enforce its mask policy – or else just not have one.

Our new normal feels closer than ever, but the fact that four players tested positive after the Tour’s visit to The Big Easy suggests it may be jumping the gun on business as usual.

“I don’t want to get up on a soapbox and kind of scream it, but we all want to get through this, and how else are we going to get through it unless everybody has got antibodies or we get vaccinated,” he said.

[lawrence-related id=778100245,778099275]

Valspar Championship: Dustin Johnson says he’s ‘never had a bad year in my life’

Dustin Johnson seems to be in a bit of a mini slump, but says his game feels very close.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Dustin Johnson swiveled his neck to take a look at the cast bronze trophy resting on a table behind his right shoulder that will be awarded to the winner of the Valspar Championship. Designed by Malcolm DeMille, the distinctive trophy begins with a paint-brush stroke that reflects the title sponsor’s primary business and ends with a golf ball.

“It’s a nice trophy. I’d like to have it,” Johnson said during his pre-tournament interview on Wednesday. “It would look good on the shelf. I don’t know what it is, but it looks nice.”

Johnson has won 24 trophies during his career on the PGA Tour, including the Masters last year and the U.S Open in 2016, which he says he keeps in its case “because I want it to look nice,” while most of them are in boxes as Johnson is between homes.

The world No. 1 was on the verge of claiming the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship in Atlanta in September and was paired with Sungjae Im whose caddie Bobby Brown previously worked for Johnson before he hired his brother Austin for that role. Brown sidled over to Johnson and teased him that he was on the bag for the “bad years,” when Johnson only won once or twice, before he dialed in his wedge game.

“Typical DJ, he gave me this look and said, ‘Bob, I’ve never had a bad year in my life,’ ” Brown recalled.

Johnson won earlier this year on the European Tour in Saudi Arabia but is in what to amounts to a mini-slump for him, five straight events without a top-10 finish including a missed cut in his Masters title defense and a tie for 13th at the RBC Heritage in his most recent start. But he’s confident he can return to his winning ways soon.

“I feel like it’s really close,” he said. “I just haven’t put it all together, especially for a week. But I feel like I’m driving it good again. Just the only thing, just a little off with the irons at Hilton Head. Obviously, I hit a lot of good shots, but just didn’t hit enough and made too many costly mistakes with the irons.”

It also doesn’t hurt that the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Golf Resort is one he’d always liked. This is his fourth appearance in the event highlighted by a tie for sixth in 2019. Johnson stood one stroke off the lead heading into the final round but failed to make a birdie on Sunday.

“You don’t have to shoot way under par,” Johnson said. “You just shoot a couple under each day, and you’re going to have a chance to win come Sunday.”

But defending champion Paul Casey may have put it best.

“What golf course doesn’t suit Dustin Johnson?” he said.

[lawrence-related id=778099647,778099451,778098600]

After getting the band back together, world No. 2 Justin Thomas raring to go at Valspar Championship

Justin Thomas on playing at Innisbrook: “I love this tournament. I love this golf course. The golf course is right in front of you.”

The Spring Break gang – Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Smylie Kauffman – reunited earlier this month in Nashville in what turned out to be a much more relaxed gathering with their significant others compared to the raucous SB2K16 in the Bahamas that went viral on social media.

That’s not to say fun wasn’t had. For Thomas, it was a welcomed part of a two-week break following a taxing stretch of golf that included his emotional triumph in the Players Championship and the annual grind of the Masters.

The break which ends with this week’s start in the Valspar Championship also provided additional relief for Thomas in a year that has included turmoil and sorrow and has tested him mentally, physically and emotionally like never before.

In contention at the Sentry Tournament of Championship, Thomas muttered a homophobic slur after missing a short putt and despite owning up to his mistake and sincerely apologizing profusely, one of his sponsors dropped him and another publicly reprimanded him.

VALSPAR: Yardage book | Tee times, TV info | Odds

A few weeks later he was in contention again in the Waste Management Phoenix Open when he learned before the final round his grandfather, Paul, had died. Two weeks later, his good friend, Tiger Woods, was seriously injured in a single-car accident that shook Thomas.

It certainly wasn’t the year the world No. 2, who won the 2017 PGA and FedEx Cup and has 14 PGA Tour titles on the resume at age 27, expected, especially after he and his father, Mike, teamed up to win the PNC Championship in December.

But in a Zoom meeting with the media on Wednesday, Thomas looked rested and recharged and a long ways from the days he was out of sorts.

“I always try to take time off after Augusta, definitely one week off,” Thomas said. “I’m just not in the physical or mental state to be able to play a golf tournament after the grind the week of Augusta. Taking two weeks off was nice. I like to get just away. I kind of feel like it’s breaking the season up a little bit almost into two parts from how much we’ve played so far this season and the rest of the season, so I really want to feel like I’m fresh and ready to go, and that’s the case.”

Thomas knows he won’t be able to relax this week on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. Not with the terror-filled stretch known as The Snake Pit, a 1,135-yard punch in the face on holes 16-18.

Thomas, however, welcomes the challenge. He played here in 2015-17, tying for 10th and 18th and missing one cut. His schedule has kept him away but he’s glad to fit the Valspar in this year.

“I love this tournament,” he said. “I love this golf course. The golf course is right in front of you. It’s not anything that’s tricked up. It’s not anything that’s hidden. It’s all right there. You see the narrow fairway out there and you’ve got to hit it, and if you don’t, you get out of position, you’re really just trying to somehow make a par, and the greens are small and severe.

“It’s one of those places you can shoot over par so quickly, but if you have control of your ball and you hit it in the fairway to where you can put the ball where you want on the greens, you shoot a couple under each day, you’re going to be doing pretty good. It’s a great test. I like golf courses like that, but at the same time, you can’t just kind of slap it around.”

[listicle id=778101413]

Valspar Championship Thursday tee times, TV and streaming info

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the 2021 Valspar Championship.

The PGA Tour is back in the Sunshine State this week.

Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead course in Palm Harbor, Florida, plays host once again for the 2021 Valspar Championship after the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three of the top-seven players in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking are in the field, as well as two-time defending champion Paul Casey. A lot will be said for Copperhead’s Snake Pit, holes 16-18, but each of the holes on the 7,340-yard layout can be a killer.

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the 2021 Valspar Championship.

Valspar: Betting odds | Fantasy golf rankings

Valspar Championship tee times

1st tee

Tee Time Players
6:55 a.m. Byeong Hun An, Abraham Ancer, Jamie Lovemark
7:06 a.m. James Hahn, Emiliano Grillo, John Huh
7:17 a.m. Ryan Moore, Chris Kirk, Bo Van Pelt
7:28 a.m. Jim Herman, Andrew Putnam, Kevin Streelman
7:39 a.m. Martin Laird, Kevin Tway, Ryan Armour
7:50 a.m. Keith Mitchell, Keegan Bradley, Wesley Bryan
8:01 a.m. Martin Trainer, Henrik Stenson, William McGirt
8:12 a.m. Nick Taylor, Pat Perez, Mackenzie Hughes
8:23 a.m. Lanto Griffin, Austin Cook, Jason Dufner
8:34 a.m. Sean O’Hair, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Robby Shelton
8:45 a.m. Jonas Blixt, Charley Hoffman, Daniel Chopra
8:56 a.m. Adam Hadwin, Sam Ryder, Doug Ghim
9:07 a.m. Hank Lebioda, Brad Adamonis, Michael Visacki
12:05 p.m. Vaughn Taylor, Cameron Tringale, Bronson Burgoon
12:16 p.m. Chesson Hadley, Lucas Glover, D.J. Trahan
12:27 p.m. Scott Stallings, Scott Brown, Louis Oosthuizen
12:38 p.m. Branden Grace, Graeme McDowell, Charles Howell III
12:49 p.m. J.T. Poston, Brandt Snedeker, Russell Knox
1 p.m. Max Homa, Viktor Hovland, Sungjae Im
1:11 p.m. Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann
1:22 p.m. Richy Werenski, Adam Long, Luke Donald
1:33 p.m. Scottie Scheffler, Mark Hubbard, Bo Hoag
1:44 p.m. Tom Hoge, Doc Redman, Tom Lewis
1:55 p.m. Peter Malnati, Peter Uihlein, Henrik Norlander
2:06 p.m. Rafael Campos, Michael Gligic, Chase Koepka
2:17 p.m. Kramer Hickok, Ryan Brehm, Jordan Hahn

[listicle id=778101413]

10th tee

Tee Time Players
6:55 a.m. Jhonattan Vegas, K.J. Choi, Kelly Kraft
7:06 a.m. David Hearn, Xinjun Zhang, Matthew NeSmith
7:17 a.m. Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Patrick Rodgers
7:28 a.m. Tyler Duncan, Grayson Murray, Kevin Stadler
7:39 a.m. Corey Conners, J.B. Holmes, Bubba Watson
7:50 a.m. Jason Kokrak, Gary Woodland, Paul Casey
8:01 a.m. Patrick Reed, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Phil Mickelson
8:12 a.m. Hudson Swafford, Chez Reavie, Kevin Kisner
8:23 a.m. Kevin Na, Sung Kang, Scott Piercy
8:34 a.m. Brian Stuard, Tim Wilkinson, Sam Burns
8:45 a.m. Russell Henley, Nick Watney, Beau Hossler
8:56 a.m. Rob Oppenheim, Vincent Whaley, John Augenstein
9:07 a.m. Brandon Hagy, Kris Ventura, Sam Horsfield
12:05 p.m. Camilo Villegas, Alex Noren, Cameron Davis
12:16 p.m. Charl Schwartzel, Talor Gooch, Cameron Percy
12:27 p.m. Kyle Stanley, Adam Schenk, Chase Seiffert
12:38 p.m. Andrew Landry, Troy Merritt, Kevin Chappell
12:49 p.m. Justin Rose, Jimmy Walker, Danny Willett
1 p.m. Brian Gay, Ian Poulter, Ted Potter, Jr.
1:11 p.m. Ryan Palmer, D.A. Points, Zach Johnson
1:22 p.m. Michael Kim, Satoshi Kodaira, Patton Kizzire
1:33 p.m. Rafa Cabrera Bello, Denny McCarthy, Erik van Rooyen
1:44 p.m. J.J. Spaun, Wyndham Clark, Scott Harrington
1:55 p.m. Danny Lee, Rory Sabbatini, Luke List
2:06 p.m. Joseph Bramlett, Sebastian Cappelen, Rod Perry
2:17 p.m. Roger Sloan, Nelson Ledesma, Rasmus Hojgaard

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

‘I made it:’ Journeyman Michael Visacki never quit, will live out his PGA Tour dream at Valspar Championship

“I made it,” said journeyman Michael Visacki, who will live out his PGA Tour dream this week at the Valspar Championship.

Michael Visacki never once thought about quitting.

Not after all the missed cuts and low finishes playing 30-to-45 mini-tour events and other tournaments every year the past six years on the back roads of professional golf throughout the country.

Not as the tens of thousands of miles – some 170,000 or so – piled up on the odometer of his 2010 Honda Accord.

Not after all the times he had to stretch a dollar or pinch a penny.

Not even after he missed earning status on the Korn Ferry Tour two years ago when he lost a ball in a tree on the 17th hole of the final round of the second stage of Q-School.

“I know I have the game to compete out here,” the 27-year-old Visacki said. “I said I got to keep going, I’m not getting any younger, so just keep on fighting.”

There was a dream to chase, after all. And this past Monday, Visacki, playing about an hour north of his home in Sarasota, Florida, was in a playoff of a Monday qualifier to earn a spot in this week’s Valspar Championship on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor.

And then he was behind a bush after his drive on the first playoff hole that forced him to punch out, but he then got up and down to move on. And then he was 100 yards short of the green on the second extra hole before knocking his approach to 20 feet – 20 feet from a dream fulfilled.

“If I make this putt I’m playing, I’m going to be playing in the Valspar,” he said he remembered thinking. “But after that I was like, OK, I got to not think about that.

“I’ve got to think about putting the best stroke possible, picking out a good line with me and my caddie and we picked out a great line and I hit the spot and it went in the hole.”

Yes, Visacki rammed home his 20-footer and tears started to flow as he picked the ball out of the hole. After playing in just one Web.com Tour event since turning pro seven years ago, Visacki will be playing in his first PGA Tour event starting Thursday alongside the likes of world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Paul Casey, Gary Woodland, Viktor Hovland and others.

Hello, big leagues.

“I made it,” Visacki told his dad in an emotional phone call, video of which has gone viral on social media. “You did it,” his father, Mike, replied. “Oh my goodness. I’m crying. Congratulations.”

“Pops was emotional, never seen him cry so much,” Visacki told reporters on Tuesday. “We’re not very much of a crying family, but this is the first time in a long time I think that we all cried because we knew how much work and effort, blood, sweat, tears, has gone into me trying to make it and to finally be able to do it, it’s a dream come true.”

Visacki recalled many of the sacrifices his parents made as their only child continued his journey toward his lifelong goal, including passing on meals so their son could eat or not paying the phone bill. And it was his father’s steadfast confidence in his son that helped Visacki push on.

“My dad pushing me because he knew that I had it,” Visacki said when asked what kept him going. “If he knew that I didn’t have it, I don’t think he would have been pushing so hard, but he saw the talent, he kept on saying keep your head down, keep grinding, because I’ve seen what you’re able to do.

“I’ve been playing some pretty good golf and he said just keep knocking on the door and you’ll step in and I finally stepped in.”

It’s a nice place to be. Visacki’s best financial year was in 2018 when he made roughly $70,000; this week’s purse is $6.9 million, with $1.242 million going to the victor. Visacki’s not thinking about that at the moment; he just wants to do the best he can and see what happens. And if things don’t go his way, the Honda Accord will be ready to go to the next mini-tour event.

“I think it’s just trying to get 1 percent better every day,” Visacki said about the fine line between playing on the PGA Tour and getting there. Starting Thursday, Visacki will be looking to add that 1 percent.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]