PALM HARBOR, Florida – The Florida Swing of the PGA Tour begins next week with four straight weeks in the sunshine state. It kicks off with the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens followed by The Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando. Then its “the 5th major”, THE PLAYERS Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach with The Valspar Championship In Tampa Bay rounding out the foursome. Where THE PLAYERS attracts one of the greatest, if not the best, field on the PGA Tour all season, this years Valspar is attracting one of its best fields ever.
Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay,Tommy Fleetwood and Jordan Spieth have committed to the field of the 2024 Valspar Championship that has four of the current top 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking ready to play March 18-24 on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor.
That group will join defending champion Taylor Moore, two-time winner and Ryder Cup member Sam Burns as well as Cameron Young and Akshay Bhatia. Young, the 26 year old who went to Wake Forest, has risen to number 25 in the OWGR while Bhatia, the 21 year old lefty, won the 2023 Barracuda Championship.
“Our field is off to a great start as these commitments testify,” said Tournament Director Tracy West. “We look forward to finding out in the next few weeks who else will be competing.”
Schauffele, 5th in the current OWGR, will be making his second appearance at the Valspar Championship having tied for 12th in 2022. He is the reigning Men’s Olympic champion having won gold in 2021 in Japan. Schauffele owns 7 PGA TOUR wins since 2017, including the 2022 Zurich Championship team competition with Cantlay.
Cantlay last appeared on the Copperhead in 2017 when he finished 2nd as a sponsor’s exemption. Shortly thereafter, he began his run of what is now 8 PGA TOUR wins and stands 6th in the OWGR. He and Schauffele have each been a member of Team USA in the last four Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup competitions.
Fleetwood is coming off last month’s victory in Dubai on the DP World Tour that elevated him to 11th in the OWGR, one spot shy of his career best. The 32-year-old native of England has found the Copperhead to his liking the last two years with a 3rd place finish last year after a tie for 16th in 2022. Now with 7 wins on the DP World Tour, he looking to gain the first PGA TOUR crown that has proven elusive among 22 top-five finishes. Fleetwood has been a member of three Ryder Cup teams, posting a 3-0-1 record for the European team that won in Rome last summer.
Spieth tied Fleetwood for third last year at The Valspar. He was the 2015 Valspar champion. That year he was the PGA Tour’s leading money winner, FedEx Cup winner and Player of the Year. He is a 3-time major winner and has 13 PGA Tour wins. He is currently number 16 in the OWGR.
Tickets for the 2024 Valspar Championship, including the Valspar Live! Presented by Chick-fil-A concert starring Cole Swindell on Saturday, are on sale at ValsparChampionship.com.
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