The Valspar Championship kicks off this week in Palm Harbor, FL, as the Tour wraps up its Florida swing on one of my favorite courses: Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course. With rolling hills, pine tree-lined fairway doglegs, and thick rough, first-time viewers won’t recognize the typical sandy Florida landscape as it instead looks like a course that belongs in the North Carolina foothills.
Let’s take a closer look at a couple of guys I expect to navigate its challenges quite well.
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Top-20 Finish
Louis Oosthuizen (-115 on DraftKings Sportsbook)
Currently #10 in my power rankings from this week, the South African’s mix of course history here and recent play sets him up for what I believe to be a low finish come Sunday afternoon. Already known as a Florida course-horse, Oosthuizen’s history here at Copperhead is something special.
In his past four starts, Oosthuizen has finished no worse than T16, including three top 10s over that span. In his 16 total rounds, Oosthuizen has navigated the difficult terrain impeccably, shooting par or below in all but three rounds. Add in a red-hot start to the 2021-22 season that includes 5-for-5 made cuts and two top 20s. I like for Oosthuizen to be in contention come the weekend and finish well inside the top 20.
Dustin Johnson (-110 on DraftKings Sportsbook)
Remarkable odds for a guy of DJ’s pedigree. I think we see a return to elite form starting now, with Augusta now just a few weeks away. We just about saw it last week at the remarkably hard TPC Sawgrass, as DJ tied the course record 63 on Sunday to finish T9 in the stacked field that was.
As far as his history here at Copperhead, his best result was a T6 here in 2019, a performance he is more than capable of repeating given this week’s conditions. As well-rested as nearly anyone in the field, THE PLAYERS was DJ’s just third event of this calendar year, as he has turned into a major-focused player. In what I think he is viewing as his first tune-up for Augusta, expect DJ to put his best foot forward this week and find himself in contention come Sunday afternoon in Palm Harbor.
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