The Valspar Championship is here, and it marks the final week of One & Done Picks for the PGA Tour's Florida Swing. Although some are indifferent about the Florida Swing, it provides the four best consecutive tests on the PGA Tour on an annual basis. It is the only time of the year two minor misses can lead to triple-bogeys that can end a given golfer's tournament.
The Valspar Championship is a perfect end to this run of golf, and this tournament will show which golfers are focused coming off the two big weeks in Orlando and Ponte Vedra Beach.
Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course) requires the full bag to be working for 72 holes. The thick rough will lead to the best drivers taking advantage of being long and straight. Playing out of the fairway is always important, but this week it is emphasized. These greens are tough to hit, so playing out of the think rough will give you little control of your ball to set up birdie looks. All in all, Innisbrook is a difficult test that will separate the best tee-to-green players better than a regular PGA Tour stop will.
Find my Valspar Championship One & Done Picks for 2024 below.
Keegan Bradley +4500
Keegan Bradley missed the cut at THE PLAYERS, but it was not all bad. He was a little better than field average in terms of SG: Ball-Striking but struggled mightily on the greens.
Bradley lost over seven strokes to the field with the flat stick, which is very unlike him. By no means is Bradley a generational putter, but he surely is a golfer who has figured out the flat stick over the last two seasons as he finished 2023 ranked 20th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting.
However, missed cuts may not be terrible for Bradley because his last win came off a missed cut at the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. He followed that poor week up with a dominant three-shot win at TPC River Highlands at the Travelers Championship.
The St. John's product is known to be one of the most consistent ball-strikers on Tour and that is what Innisbrook asks of golfers. I trust Bradley to have a high Greens in Regulation percentage this week, which will lead to birdie looks and stress-free pars. Clean cards are the name of game around Innisbrook, and I trust Bradley to do that.
This a great number on Bradley, and he should not be super chalky, so he is a great pick for your One & Done pools.
Eric Cole +5000
Since everyone used Eric Cole at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches and is sick of him after another poor result, this is a perfect time to jump in on him. Cole missed the cut at this event last season, but that was before he became one of the more consistent players on Tour.
Recently the game has not been there, but I am willing to give Cole a shot on a Florida golf course which he is comfortable on. He is a golfer who will fight for 72 holes if he does not have it out the gates. He tends to backdoor top 10s on a regular basis, which is all you are looking for in the One & Done streets.
The best North Carolina sports betting apps are now live! Learn more and register for the best bonus offers.
Cameron Young +2800
If you want to go toward the top of the board, why not give Cameron Young a look? The other golfers up top make a ton of sense to save for a different spot, but where are you saving Cameron Young for?
He has played the Florida Swing very well and is absolutely striping the irons. He has never played Innisbrook before, but the course fit makes a ton of sense. It is a such a tough tee-to-green test, which is the style of golf Young needs to perform his best.
He tied for fourth at PGA National, which is a great corollary course to what we will see here. Year after year, we see a ton of crossover between the leaderboards across the Florida swing, and Young has played it well. The Wake Forest product will not garner a ton of ownership and gives you top-of-the-leaderboard upside.
