The Florida swing concludes this week with the Valspar Championship at Copperhead Course (par 71, 7,352 yards, POA Trivialis greens) of the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. The Copperhead Course has been the home of the Valspar Championship since the event’s inception in 2000. Peter Malnati (-12) won this tournament by two shots last season and Cameron Young (-10) finished second. This week’s field consists of 156 golfers and there will be a standard top-65 and ties cut after the first two rounds.
The Copperhead Course is a challenging Florida venue that features narrow fairways, thick rough, small greens, 74 bunkers and water in play on nine holes. Like most tracks in the Sunshine State, the Copperhead Course is a second-shot venue where being accurate is far more crucial than being long. Not only do you need to be in strong form with your irons at the Copperhead Course, but having a great showing with your putter is a must as well. Of the last four winners at this par 71, three have the event top-14 in both SG APP and SGP.
The Copperhead Course is a rare par 71 that is home to nine par fours, five par threes and four par fives. Being efficient on the par fives is most important, as three of the past five Valspar winners have either led their field or finished runner-up in par five scoring for the week. Plus, with five of the nine par fours falling between 400-450 yards, this is certainly a range of holes to focus on for research. During his two-shot win at the Copperhead Course a year ago, Malnati led his field in efficiency on the 400-450-yard par fours of this par 71, making him the third Valspar victor in a row to finish top-eight in efficiency on these specific holes.
Below, I dive into four of my favorite DraftKings bargain plays for the Valspar Championship, all priced under $7.5K.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $750K Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Andrew Novak ($7,400) – Coming off a missed cut at THE PLAYERS Championship, Novak should come with modest ownership this week and the Copperhead Course is a terrific venue for him to get back on track. Novak has finished T-27th and T-17th at the Copperhead Course the last two years while shooting even par or better in seven of these eight rounds, which is an impressive feat at the difficult par 71.
Novak still gained strokes on approach at TPC Sawgrass last week despite the early exit and before this, he had advanced to the weekend in four of his previous six starts, with three finishes of T-13th or better during that time. Novak brings great upside relative to his low salary and is a player you must have some shares of this week.
Max McGreevy ($7,200) – McGreevy impressed in just his second attempt at TPC Sawgrass last week, finishing T-20th at THE PLAYERS Championship while ranking eighth in SG APP among the world-class field. The 29-year-old has now carded four straight top-25 finishes and he ranks 23rd in SG APP for the season. Furthermore, McGreevy sits at a career-high No. 74 in the world golf rankings.
McGreevy’s best finish at the Copperhead Course is a T-44th in 2022, but he should outdo himself with a better result this week considering his career-best form.
Joseph Bramlett ($7,100) – Bramlett has made four cuts in a row at the Copperhead Course and his best finish at the par 71 came just last season with a T-17th. Bramlett has shot even par or better in 12 of his past 16 rounds at the Copperhead Course and he returns to the Florida track fresh off his best PGA TOUR finish to date with a T-3rd at the Puerto Rico Open.
Bramlett has made seven of his last eight cuts and four of these finishes have come inside the top-35. The 36-year-old should outproduce his cheap salary with a quality finish this week and is an elite bargain at only $7,100.
Matt Kuchar ($7,100) – Kuchar has been extremely consistent at the Copperhead Course throughout his career. The veteran has only missed one cut in 13 starts at the par 71 and eight of these finishes have been top-25 results. Kuchar is coming off a solid T-42nd at THE PLAYERS Championship last week, which is his ninth made cut in his last 12 starts.
Kuchar ranks third in par four efficiency when we compare this field’s last 50 rounds and he is far too cheap for his chances of making the cut this week.
