Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2022 Valspar Championship

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2022 Valspar Championship 

Valspar Championship Fantasy Preview

Well, what a week that was.

And cometh the hour, cometh the man at the PLAYERS Championship as Cameron Smith clinched his third PGA TOUR title in the most dramatic circumstances.

After five days of weather-affected action, the Aussie burst clear in benign conditions on Sunday, only to hit the water on the 72nd hole when making a fairly regulation approach shot. A winner’s line twitch? Perhaps.

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That opened the door for the unlikeliest of potential recipients. Anirban Lahiri was priced at 800/1 with some sportsbooks before a ball had been hit at TPC Sawgrass, and yet he made a mockery of that position by firing his way into the mix with a third round of 67 and refusing to budge thereafter.

A perfect drive on the 72nd hole set up the birdie chance he needed to draw level with Smith, but a wayward iron of his own left the Indian with an all-or-nothing chip from off the green. 

He nudged it close, but not close enough and Smith was able to breathe an almighty sigh of relief after one of the most attritional week’s of golf in recent memory.

What will the Copperhead Course have in store for the players this week at the Valspar Championship?

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Conditions were pretty brutal last weekend at TPC Sawgrass, sending a lot of big names to below the cut line. 

Our top three picks last week were JT (T33), Danny Berger (T13), and Shane Lowry (T13).   

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Overall, not a great showing … so let’s put THE PLAYERS behind us and focus on this week’s Valspar Championship.

Valspar Championship Field

Notwithstanding any withdrawals following the carnage at Sawgrass, some five of the world’s top-10 players are set to tee it up at the Copperhead Course.

Collin Morikawa will make his debut at Innisbrook, and he will be joined by the likes of Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele.

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Sam Burns will look to defend what was, at the time, his maiden PGA TOUR title, while a slew of heavyweights – Brooks Koepka, Louis Oosthuizen, Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann to name just four – will be looking to wrestle it from him.

Former Valspar champions like Paul Casey and Adam Hadwin will also be looking to hoist the trophy once more in a highly-competitive field.

This Week’s Course Preview

When you note that there two golf courses that Copperhead bears a resemblance to – Augusta National and Bay Hill – you already get a feel for the place.

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It’s generally a tough old grind around here – Burns’ winning mark of -18 last year coming in benign conditions with the event shunted to late April, and four of the last five editions prior to Burns’ victory were won at -10 or higher.

The reason for that is a combination of tree-lined, doglegging fairways, typically thick rough (and the imposition of 70+ bunkers and water in play on nine holes) and small, slick Bermuda greens.

There’s some elevation changes into the mix too, which can test the strategy of even the sharpest golfing minds, and any golf course with a closing trio of holes known as the ‘Snake Pit’ is clearly serving up troubles with some regularity. Of them, the final hole – an uphill Par 4 with one of the thinnest fairways on the real estate, and a significantly sloping green – provides a fitting finale.

Note that the Par 71 track, that measures around 7,340 yards, features a unique routing of the standard four Par 5s but five Par 3s as well – there’s plenty of emphasis on solid long-range iron play this week.

Weather Forecast for Palm Harbor, FL

Palm Harbour will sample the chaos that unfolded at Ponte Vedra in the days just past, although the forecast suggests that will clear in time for Thursday’s tee off.

Of course, we expect the layout to play softer than usual – there is still some lingering rain around on Tuesday and Wednesday, and while the temperatures are on the rise you wonder if they will be enough to firm up the ground or not.

Thursday and Friday look set to be warm and fairly wind free according to the early predictions, with temperatures reaching 78˚F.

The breeze picks up during the weekend and will probably hit double figures, while there is some suggestion of potential storms on Saturday. But Sunday, if the forecast holds, will at least be played out in glorious sunshine.

PALM HARBOR WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from the Valspar Championship

Following the event’s cancellation in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Valspar Championship returned in April 2021 and handed a first PGA TOUR title to one of the smartest young talents around.

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Sam Burns, chasing his first senior title, showed absolutely zero nerves as he opened up his Sunday round and made two birdies in a row to confirm this was a young guy that was not going to fumble his chance.

The odd birdie here and there were matched by the occasional bogey, but all told Burns never looked in any trouble and would win by three shots from closest challenger Keegan Bradley.

That said, Bradley had chances – he was tied with Burns with six holes to play, but hitting the water on the 13th was not on the agenda, and a five at that Par 3 hole was matched by a bogey at the next short hole….confirmation of how important it is to play the Par 3s well at Innisbrook.

Bradley couldn’t rally from there, and so Burns enjoyed the most serene run to his maiden PGA TOUR victory.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the Valspar Championship this Week

After the chaotic variance of the PLAYERS, it will be nice to return to rather more straightforward fare at the Valspar Championship, and we can be a bit more enterprising in our contest entries given that there are less weather-related variables to consider.

• PGA $1M Pitch and Putt: There’s a few different ways to build your roster this week, and so multi-entry contests are the way to go to ensure that all boxes are ticked. And here’s a handy starter – the Pitch and Putt pays a top prize of $250k from your $20 entries.
• PGA $350k Drive the Green: For a lower budget multi-entry option, the Drive the Green contest offers a not inconsiderable top prize of $50k with just $5 per entry, and there’s plenty of other payouts via which you can scale up your investment too.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the Valspar Championship  

Given that the Copperhead Course is a layout beholden of opportunities and threats, you’ll need to play well through the bag to prevail.

You’ll want players that are going to drive the ball well – hitting out of the long rough here is not advisable too many times, although the nature of the doglegs means that of course some fairways will be missed.

So scrambling becomes the order of the day, and holding these small greens from out of the rough is a tough – but essential – skillset.

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Ordinarily, the Bermuda greens are rapid, but the wet conditions in this part of the world – and a lack of wind heading into this new week – suggest they may just lack some of their usual speed.

And if the surfaces are softer, there will naturally be less ball-run – maybe fairways hit and GIR percentages will be higher than the standard renewal on the Copperhead Course.

What isn’t up for debate is the importance of avoiding danger on the Par 3s, and making hay on the Par 5s. Burns’ winning tally of -17 was made on the back of playing the longer holes in -15, while Casey – who won in 2019 with -8 – also played the Par 5s in -15.

The Copperhead Course is a layout where seizing the moment is vital!

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win THE Valspar Championship  

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

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