Here's everything you need to know about the 2024 Valspar Championship PrizePicks First-Round Plays for Thursday's PGA Tour event at Copperhead.
We now look forward to this week's 2024 Valspar Championship following THE PLAYERS Championship. The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort hosts once again, which it has done annually since 2000.
Copperhead is a par-71, 7,340-yard track designed by Larry Packard that presents a strong challenge and rewards those who can scramble along this tree-lined venue.
Find my 2024 Valspar Championship PrizePicks for Thursday below.
2024 Valspar Championship PrizePicks
Xander Schauffele: More Than 4.5 Birdies or Better
Xander Schauffele has been the best player on Tour over the past two seasons to not own a win, and that will end sooner rather than later. Schauffele has now reached the weekend in 28 consecutive tournaments, the longest active streak among all golfers not named Scottie Scheffler.
He finished runner-up to Scheffler at last week's THE PLAYERS Championship, and I believe he will carry that momentum into this tournament at Copperhead, a venue at which Schauffele finished T12 last season. Additionally, he has been a birdie machine this season, ranking ninth on Tour in Birdie Average with 4.89 birdies per round.
The betting favorite in this field, Schauffele's dominance should finally get rewarded this week among a weaker field.
Sam Burns: Less Than 69 Strokes
Sam Burns is another golfer to back on Thursday, and I wrote about him in my first-round leader article this week. If I like him to lead after the opening round, then I definitely like him to go lower than 69.
We are going to hear Burns's name a lot this week due to his dominance at Copperhead. He claimed back-to-back victories here in 2021 and 2022 and then followed those up with a sixth-place finish last year.
In fact, through five career appearances at Copperhead, Burns has never finished lower than 30th. This success here makes sense considering his tremendous ability to scramble.
On Tour this season, Burns ranks 22nd in Scrambling percentage. I mention this because scrambling is key to success here, as getting up and down to avoid bogeys due to Copperhead's difficult layout is usually what separates the top of the leaderboard from the rest.
Last year, all of the top-four finishers here ranked 15th or higher among the field that week in scrambling percentage, the only metric in which such a trend occurred. Burns has made birdies in droves thanks to his hot putter, which has gained strokes in every start so far this season as he ranks 18th in Strokes Gained: Putting.
In his five starts at Copperhead, he has also gained strokes with the flatstick in all five appearances. Finally, Burns is in ridiculously great form entering this tournament, making the weekend in 12 straight tournaments with five top-10 finishes over that stretch.
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Maverick McNealy: Less Than 70.5 Strokes
Maverick McNealy is the last golfer to back on Thursday. The two things that McNealy does best are scramble and putt, which could help him immensely at Copperhead this week.
He's gained True Strokes Putting in five of his past six tournaments, with two top-10 finishes over that stretch. McNealy also ranks first among this entire field in Scrambling percentage this season.
Not only does he profile well for this venue, but he also enters this week in great form after a ninth-place finish at THE PLAYERS Championship last week. He shot a 68 or lower in three of those four rounds.
Dating back even further, McNealy has shot a 70 or lower in 16 of his past 18 rounds. Granted, Copperhead is a tougher test than what he has played recently, but he also shot a 70 or lower in two of his four rounds at this course last year.
The Stanford Cardinal is playing much better golf now than he was at that time.
