The first round of the 2026 Valspar Championship presented players with a tough test typical of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort. Those who got out early had the advantage of being able to play before the wind started to swirl. Of the top 15 on the leaderboard, only four came from the afternoon wave as the weather improved and caused serious problems.
Among the players who had to overcome difficult conditions in the afternoon was Jordan Spieth, who seemed to be in a great position after the first round. Spieth came out of the gate strong with an eagle on the first hole and added three more birdies in the first seven holes to tear apart the front nine with a 5-under 31.
But Spieth faltered a bit on the back nine as conditions became more challenging. Still, he was able to maintain a 5 under with a strong birdie on the par 3 15th hole. Unfortunately for Spieth, this is where things started to go out of whack. He hit a nasty double bogey on the par-4 16th and missed a 5-foot par on the 18th, finishing with a bogey.
Looking all the way to the clubhouse when there’s a chance to get down low has been a challenge for Spieth all season. That was the case in the second round at The Players — when he finished with a double bogey on the par-5 ninth after going red in the middle of the round — and it was again this Thursday when he put a 3-wood in the middle of the water with his tee shot on the 16th after getting back to 5 under.
Spieth is still searching for his first PGA Tour victory since the RBC Heritage in 2022, and his game appears to be closer to such a breakthrough victory than in recent years. But his challenge with getting big numbers off the card remains, and he’ll have to find a way to keep a cleaner card on difficult golf courses if he’s going to get that elusive 14th PGA Tour win this week.
leader
1. Im Sung Jae (-7): After missing the start of the season with a wrist injury, Im returned to the PGA Tour and missed the cut in his first two matches at Bay Hill and The Players. Third time seems to be the charm for Im, who caught fire on the Copperhead course and returned to what he does best: striped irons and aggressive play. Im led Thursday in strokes gained on approach, but that’s paired with the second-best putting performance in the field, always a great combination.
As was the case with Justin Thomas last week, the second step after finding your game again after an injury is always finding a way to produce your best. Thomas had a solid but lackluster weekend after a strong start at The Players, and now it’s time to see if Im can maintain this pace over the next three days. Considering his winning scores at Valspar have been between 10 and 12 under lately, he probably doesn’t need to keep hitting 64s to win, but he needs to keep putting up solid scores and can’t afford to fall far behind.
contestant
2. Brandt Snedeker (-6)
3. Davis Thompson (-5)
T4. Billy Horschel, Pierceson Coody, Andrew Putnam (-4)
T7. Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jacob Bridgman, and 6 others (-3)
T17. Jordan Spieth, Corey Connors, Tom Kim, and 12 others (-2)
T37. Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Windham Clarke and 14 others (-1)
Snedeker, a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour, is a phenom in a group that sits on the first page of the leaderboard. His last top 10 at a PGA Tour main season event was of the Backdoor variety at last year’s Memorial. He hasn’t won on tour since 2018 and has missed all four qualifying rounds to the start of 2026. Still, on one of the most difficult courses in the tour’s rotation, he shot an opening 65 and finished alone in second place. Will he continue his best round of the season on Friday afternoon? Either way, it was a great start for the beloved veteran.
Schauffele’s winless streak hasn’t been as long as Spieth’s, but he shot a 3-under 68 on Thursday, putting him in position to compete again after finishing in the top five at The Players. So far this season, he looks much closer to the form he will be in when he won two majors in 2024 than he did last year, when his development was hampered by injuries.
Schauffele’s ball-striking that led to his strong showing at The Players appears to have carried over to the rest of Florida’s coast this week, as he finished second in strokes gained on approach Thursday. He’s still trying to wake up his putter — he was 92nd in the first round — but Schauffele’s iron play and tee-to-green performance are encouraging.
Schauffele is tied with Fitzpatrick and Bridgeman at 3 under, a group that includes some of the biggest threats going forward.
Connors had perhaps the strangest round of anyone. He hit back-to-back hole-out eagles on the 18th and 1st holes to reach 5 under, but then his round fell apart and he fell back to 2 under.
Athletes wearing red numbers after the first day should feel pretty confident in their performance, including the event’s defending champion Viktor Hovland. He enters at 1 under along with Cantlay, Clark and many others, and will be looking for another big week in the Tampa area.
Updated odds and picks for the 2026 Valspar Championship
Odds from Caesars Sportsbook
- Im Sung Jae (5-1)
- Xander Schauffele (15/2)
- Matt Fitzpatrick (19/2)
- Davis Thompson (12-1)
- Jacob Bridgman (13-1)
- Jordan Spieth (22-1)
- Pierceson Coody (22-1)
- Billy Horschel (22-1)
Schauffele and Fitzpatrick are unlikely to be out this weekend. Both have little value at this point. An elite golf ball driver, Coody is also a strong option on courses where mistakes are extremely difficult. If he can make some putts this week, he could be in serious contention for his first PGA Tour victory.
