PALM HARBOR, Florida – The PGA Tour wrapped up its Florida Swing this week at the Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. The 2024 Valspar Championship, known as the most colorful PGA Tour event in the world lived up to its billing once again by making this year’s annual hometown event appealing to fans of all ages. The Valspar seems to always be riding the coattails of the previous three Florida tournaments, but actually, it looks like the PGA Tour was just “saving the best for last.”
Following back-to-back high-profile events on this month’s schedule, it’s no surprise to see a number of the PGA Tour’s upper-tier players pass up the Valspar Championship. However, this year’s 152-man field still had 10 of the top 30 players in the Official World Golf Ranking teeing it up.
Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman, Keegan Bradley, Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, and Justin Thomas headline the marquee group.
For the 2024 edition of the Valspar, the Copperhead Course will play to 7,340 yards with a par of 71. The purse at the Valspar this year will be $8.4 million with $1.512 million going to the champion. The winner receives 500 FedEx Cup points.
The Course: Innisbrook
The Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club was built in 1970 with the Island Course as the debut track. The Copperhead Course would not come online until 1974. It was the second of four courses to be constructed at Innisbrook. It was initially set up as a 27-hole track before nine of the holes were used for the development of the Highlands North Course – the third course to be developed at Innisbrook. The fourth and final course was the Highlands South Course.
Designed by Larry Packard, the 18-hole par-71 Copperhead Course features five tee boxes and stretches to nearly 7,300 yards during the Valspar Championship. Both the fairways and greens at the Copperhead are Bermuda grass.
Copperhead’s natural landscape comes into play with pine tree-lined fairways, deep roughs, water hazards, and undulating terrain that continues to challenge golfers. The Copperhead Course quickly became one of the PGA Tour’s most difficult courses with its iconic set of holes known as “The Snake Pit.”
ROUND 1
Kevin Streelman recorded 10 consecutive one-putt greens en route to a 7-under 64, good for a one-shot lead. He birdied each of the four par 5s on the difficult Copperhead course.
But there’s more. Streelman claims that his new “ball marker” was directly responsible for his putting performance today. He said, “It’s kind of a cool little new ball marker that can kind of give you some visual clues that I think are pretty helpful.”
Kevin Roy, who’s playing on a sponsor’s exemption, had eight birdies in his round of 6-under 65. The 34-year-old joined the PGA Tour in 2023. He’s participated in 31 events with only one top-10 finish. His OWGR is 348th.
Celebrating his birthday, Carl Yuan, 27, was one further back on 5 under. He was tied for third with Adam Svensson and Peter Malnati.
Round 1: Top 5
Pos-Player-Score (Rd 1)
1. Kevin Streelman -7 (64)
2. Kevin Roy -6 (65)
3. Adam Svensson -5 (66)
3. Cary Yuan -5 (66)
3. Peter Mainati -5 (66)
ROUND 2
The Palm Harbor area is no stranger to the unpredictable spring weather here on the west coast of Florida. The frequent threat of rain and sustained winds up to 30 miles per hour continued to impact play again today.
“Anything under par today was a heck of a round,” said Lucas Glover, who carded a 2-under 69 on Friday morning.
Stewart Cink has seen it all in his long career on the PGA tour. The 50-year-old’s 67, under difficult conditions on a golf course that stands ready to challenge the very best, was evidence that he’s still ready to mix it up with the young guys.
“There’s a reason that so many players rave about this course,” said Cink. “It requires everything, and so far, this week, I’ve done everything fairly well.”
Cink shared the second-round lead at 6-under par with four other players: Kevin Streelman (72), Chandler Phillips (68), Brendon Todd (69), and MacKenzie Hughes (68).
The cut was set at even-par 142, sending home an all-star cast from a tournament that didn’t have all that many in the first place. Jordan Spieth, two-time Innisbrook winner Sam Burns, British Open champion Brian Harman, Tony Finau and Keegan Bradley all missed the cut.
Round 2: Top 5
Pos-Player-Score (Rd 2)
1. Kevin Streelman -6 (+1)
1. Chandler Phillips -6 (-3)
1. Stewart Cink -6 (-4)
1. Brendon Todd -6 (-2)
1. Mackenzie Hughes -6 (-3)
ROUND 3
The third round in any PGA tournament is referred to as “moving say” as players try to best position themselves for Sunday’s finale. With the winds blowing 15-20 mph from the NW and the deep rough playing like Velcro, the leaderboard looked more like a game of musical chairs than a well-planned move.
The biggest surprise was Keith Mitchell who reached 10-under after a round of 66, putting him alone at the top of the leaderboard. Mitchell also managed to set a new Valspar Championship record and tied a Copperhead course record.
He played the “Snake Pit” (Nos. 16-18) at 4-under (birdie, birdie, eagle), becoming the first player in a Valspar Championship history. His 6-under 29 on the back nine matched the Copperhead’s back-nine scoring record.
Mitchell’s eagle on the 18th hole was definitely the highlight of the day, unfortunately, he missed it.
“When I looked up, something kind of flew in my eyes, so I kind of looked away and never saw it come down and land,” said Mitchell.
Trying to become the first non-American to win the Valspar since Paul Casey (2018-19), Ireland’s Seamus Power (68) and Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes were tied for second on 8 under. They were joined by Peter Malnati (68).
Round 3: Top 5
Pos-Player-Score (Rd 3)
1. Keith Mitchell -10 (-5)
2. Seamus Power -8 (-3)
2. Mackenzie Hughes -8 (-2)
2. Peter Malnati -8 (-3)
5. Three Players -7
ROUND 4
Bright Florida sunshine greeted the early twosomes on Sunday morning but that’s about the only thing that the golfers had in their favor. The 20-25 MPH NE winds were again waiting to do everything possible to keep club selection an ongoing challenge. The course continued to dry out leaving behind lightning-fast greens and deep Bermuda rough that might require a chisel rather than a wedge today.
After 69 holes, it came down to just two players, who both had the vaunted “Snake Pit” to negotiate in order to decide the winner of this year’s Valspar Championship.
Cameron Young and Peter Malnati were both 11 under.
Young managed to par both the 16th and 17th but an errant tee shot on the 18th resulted in a three-putt bogey to finish 10 under.
Malnati (67) parred the 16th with a beneficial drop and then proceeded to birdie the 17th, leaving him with at worst a bogey on the 18th for victory. Malnati made par to claim a two-shot win.
Round 4: Top 5
Pos-Player-Score (Rd 4)
1. Peter Malnati -12 (-4)
2. Cameron Young -10 (-3)
3. Mackenzie Hughes -9 (-1)
3. Chandler Phillips -9 (-2)
5. Xander Schauffele -8 (-6)
5. Ryan Moore -8 (-3)
5. Carl Yuan -8 (3)
5. Adam Hadwin -8 (3)
Winner: PETER MALNATI
In the end, there was only one survivor of the dreaded “Snake Pit.” The winner of the 2024 Valspar Championship was Peter Malnati with a 12-under-par 272. Malnati received the beautiful Bronze Valspar Championship Trophy designed by Malcolm DeMille, a check for $1.512 million, and 500 FedEx Cup points. He is now fully exempt through the 2026 PGA Tour season and gets into the remaining 2024 Signature Events as well as the Masters, the PGA Championship and the 2025 Sentry Open.
Malnati, 36, joined the PGA Tour in 2014. This is his second career win, coming 3,058 days after winning the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship. Malnati’s OWGR moved from 184 to 65.
NBC reporter Kira Dixon caught up with the tearful winner as he walked off the 18th green. She asked him. “Nine years after your first, you’re now a two-time winner on the PGA Tour. Hat did you draw on coming down the stretch to become a winner out of this bunch leaderboard?”
Malnati responded. “I have no idea. I just I told myself I was going to do my best on every shot and that was what I did. I was so nervous coming down the stretch. A lot of the shots, you kind of see it. You know, the approaching 16 was terrible, but I was just like, it’s just amazing, it’s just amazing.”
Kira continued, “I mentioned that it’s been nine years. Can you describe what that weight has been like to get this second win and get to celebrate with Hatcher, Dash and Alicia?”
Peter said, “If you’re ever gonna do it again, you know, because it’s hard and in the nine years since my last win it’s gotten a lot harder too. Like you look at the level of talent out here, guys coming out when they’re 20 years old, and they’re ready to play on this stage. They’re so good.
“It’s just you wonder. Like it just feels so amazing. I mean obviously my family believes in me a long time, through a lot of like down times too. So thankful for it.
“Life is hard. It’s obviously glamorous at times, like this, and this is my dream job. It’s absolutely amazing, but life is really really hard too. When you’re trying to figure out how to live this lifestyle and have two kids and be everything that you want to be it’s really hard. My wife has been an absolute rock through all of it. It’s just feels so good.”
Alone in second place was Cameron Young (68) who finished 10 under and picked up a check for $915,600 and 300 FedEx Cup points.
