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Joe Nicely ranks his top-10 PGA Tour players to watch at the 2026 Valspar Championship at Copperhead Course. His data-backed insights into who is primed for success.
Ok ... that was an awesome PLAYERS Championship! With the golf world still buzzing, we stay in Florida for the Valspar Championship on the infamous Copperhead Course.
While there's a natural drop-off in excitement following an event like The PLAYERS, this Valspar field is actually a very good one that features nine of the world's top-25 players teeing it up.
Which golfers stand out as the cream of the crop among this talented group of Valspar Championship entrants? Let's go through this week's power rankings and my top-10 golfers to watch at the Copperhead Course!
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No. 10 - Corey Conners
The Canadian was ice cold throughout the West Coast Swing, but the irons have warmed up since the schedule moved to Florida. A T13 last week at The PLAYERS doesn't paint a truly accurate picture of how well Conners struck the ball at Sawgrass. He finished the week ranked sixth in the field in SG: APP.
Conners owns a 69.83 career scoring average at the Valspar and has gone T8-T21-T16 across his last three trips to Palm Harbor. This layout rewards elite ball striking, and despite his sluggish start to the year, the Canadian still fits that bill.
No. 9 - Patrick Cantlay
Despite a ho-hum start to 2026 and a winless streak that dates back to 2022, I’m going to give Cantlay the respect of including him in this week’s top 10.
I’ve always been a bit puzzled as to why Cantlay doesn’t make more of an effort to play the Valspar, as I feel that Copperhead is actually one of the better fits for him on the PGA Tour schedule. A runner-up result in his last Valspar start way back in 2017 would seem to confirm that notion.
Cantlay's accuracy off the tee and normally sharp iron play translate well to this layout, on which position means so much. Usually a reliable putter at minimum, the Californian has struggled to find anything on the greens this year, but perhaps something will kick on for him on a course that fits him so well from a T2G perspective.
No. 8 - Jordan Spieth
It's no surprise that we had a Jordan Spieth "moment" at The PLAYERS in a second round that featured five consecutive birdies -- and seven overall -- but finished with an on-brand double bogey on his final hole of the day. Despite all the excitement, the Texan settled in for a T32 finish at a TPC Sawgrass layout that's always been a challenging fit for him.
Q. Later today will you be able to think mostly about the good stuff and sort of set the finish?
“Never. Have you ever played golf?”
Jordan Spieth had an extremely relatable response to his double bogey on the last. pic.twitter.com/50NWbZyzhM
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) March 13, 2026
Those fit concerns aren't in play at the Copperhead Course, a layout on which Spieth won in 2015 and has recorded two additional top-10 finishes across eight career Valspar starts. The irons have looked good in his last three 2026 outings, which have led to sneaky-good results at both Genesis (T12) and API (T11).
No. 7 - Brooks Koepka
Don’t look now, but the five-time major champion is slowly finding his form. After a rocky end to his LIV stint, Koepka came out of the gates with a T56-MC in his return to the PGA Tour -- a start that can largely be attributed to horrific putting.
A switch to a mallet putter has helped stabilize things on the greens, while his ball striking has also leveled up enough to propel him to strong results in each of his last two starts (T9 at Cognizant and T13 at PLAYERS).
Koepka finished the week at TPC Sawgrass ranked fifth in the field in SG: Approach. The Florida native has only made two career appearances at the Valspar, but did log a T12 in his most recent trip to Palm Harbor back in 2022.
No. 6 - Justin Thomas
It feels as though Thomas has been banging on the door of winning this event forever. A quick review of his Valspar record reinforces that notion, as he’s posted top-10 finishes in half of his eight career starts at the Copperhead Course, with a pair of finishes inside the top three since 2022.
After missing the first two months of the season following back surgery, Thomas’ road back to relevancy appears to be on the fast track. A knock-the-rust-off outing at API was followed by a superb -- and somewhat surprising -- T8 last week at The PLAYERS, though it should be noted that a lot of his damage at TPC Sawgrass was done thanks to a white-hot putter.
Just two starts removed from a serious medical procedure and subsequent layoff, Thomas is a true wild card this week with a wide variety of outcomes that swing from missing the cut to winning the tournament.
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No. 5 - Jacob Bridgeman
A high-profile win at Riviera put Bridgeman on the map for many golf fans, but the true ball-knowers have been well aware of the 26-year-old's steady ascension up the PGA Tour ranks.
The Clemson product’s recent output is undoubtedly impressive, with a T5 at The PLAYERS being just his latest accomplishment. Bridgeman has now finished T18 or better in all seven of his 2026 starts.
His two biggest weapons this season, his putter and his irons, are often the key to success at the Copperhead Course. He recorded a T3 in the second Valspar start of his career last year.
No. 4 - Viktor Hovland
The defending Valspar champion, who by his own admission was a bit lost in the wilderness with his game when he scored a surprising win in this event last year.
While Hovland’s game hasn’t yet returned to the form we saw in a breakout 2023 campaign that included three wins and a FedEx Cup title, there have been some encouraging signs of late, namely a strong fall season on the international circuit that’s led to impressive recent outings during the Florida Swing.
Even before last year’s win, the mercurial Hovland had shown a liking for the tree-lined, positionally demanding Copperhead Course, posting a T3 and a T33 in his previous Valspar starts. His 68.50 career scoring average in this event is the best mark among this year’s entrants.
Leaving The PLAYERS with some positive momentum -- though the ball-striking numbers left a lot to be desired -- he should once again put himself in the mix in this year’s edition.
No. 3 - Akshay Bhatia
The 24-year-old phenom followed up the biggest win of his career at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a stellar performance at The PLAYERS. Bhatia’s ball-striking was tremendous at TPC Sawgrass, as he ranked third in the field in SG: OTT and fourth in SG: APP for the week en route to a T13.
A pair of missed cuts in the first two Valspar starts of his career left the impression that perhaps Copperhead isn’t the greatest course fit for the lefty, but a T17 in the 2024 renewal, coupled with his output to this point in 2026, puts Bhatia firmly on the radar this week.
No. 2 - Matt Fitzpatrick
A summer surge led to a November win at the DP World Tour Championship for the Englishman. He’s kept his foot on the gas in the States, recording four top-25 finishes in six 2026 starts, including last week’s impressive runner-up at The PLAYERS.
Matt Fitzpatrick congratulates the Young family despite coming up one shot short ❤️ pic.twitter.com/7EPnNRNju0
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 15, 2026
After experiencing a swoon in results in 2024, Fitzpatrick appears to have regained the form that helped him win the U.S. Open in 2022. Though he’s missed the cut in two of three career Valspar starts, a T5 in 2022 suggests this tough layout is a good fit when he is in form.
No. 1 - Xander Schauffele
Despite an underwhelming weekend at TPC Sawgrass, Schauffele was one of the top performers in The PLAYERS field from T2G and on Approach. It continued a recent trend of the X-Man’s ball-striking heading in the right direction.
The Californian has performed well in previous trips to the Valspar with a pair of T12s and a T5 in his three career starts at Innisbrook, and his event scoring average of 69.0 is the second best in this year’s field.
Schauffele's short game was a borderline disaster at TPC Sawgrass, but with his combination of course history, recent form, and pedigree, he must be considered one of this week’s top contenders if he can shore things up on and around the greens.
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