Valspar Championship 2025 Preview, Picks & Analysis

Still smarting from not being given an exemption to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, I expect Jordan Spieth to have a big week at the Valspar Championship, a tournament he won way back back in 2015.

With The Masters just around the corner, Spieth will be looking to get his game ready for the challenge at Augusta National. He has a wonderful Masters record, having finished second on his debut in 2014 before winning the Green Jacket the following year. He was also tied second in 2016, third in 2018, tied third in 2021 and tied fourth in 2023. In 2016, he looked to be on his way to a second success until he came to the par-three 12th hole, where he put his tee shot in the water and then fluffed his third shot, which also ended up in the drink. He walked off with a ruinous seven - and handed the title to England’s Danny Willett.

Spieth has also won the US Open and The Open and looked to be ready to dominate the game. But after winning The Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017 it all started to unravel. He had to wait until the 2021 Texas Open for his next win. He added the RBC Heritage the following year but has not won since.

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Spieth has won 13 times on the PGA Tour but has suffered some horrible troughs during his career. He struggled for much of 2024 and finally admitted that he had played throughout the year with constant wrist pain. When he failed to make the Tour Championship he realised that something had to be done and underwent what amounted to career-saving surgery. It meant that he was sidelined for months.

He finally returned to the tour at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he finished way down the field. He missed the cut at the Genesis but either side of that was a tied fourth at the Phoenix Open and a tied ninth at the Cognizant. There have been plenty of encouraging signs for the American. Always wayward from the tee, his driving has improved beyond all recognition, and he has started to hole putts again.

Spieth is a golfer who has always done things his own way. I believe that the PGA Tour is stronger with him contending for titles and I am convinced that he will be doing that throughout 2025.

Another former Valspar champion who is looking for improvement is Sam Burns. Between 2021 and 2023 he won five times, including successive victories at the Valspar. In May 2022, Burns won the Charles Schwab Challenge, holing a huge birdie putt to beat Scottie Scheffler in a playoff after starting the final round seven shots adrift.

He has represented the USA at both the Presidents Cup and at the 2023 Ryder Cup.

He has had no trouble making cuts in 2025 but his best finish was a tied eighth at the Sentry and that is most definitely not what he is looking for. He will hope that a return to one of his favourite venues will signal a dramatic change in fortunes.

The Valspar was won 12 months ago by Peter Malnati - his first title in nine years. He was left fighting back tears after carding a final round of 67 at Innisbrook Resort to finish 12 under par, two shots clear of fellow American Cameron Young. Young, who three-putted the 18th in a closing 68, remains without a PGA Tour victory and this was his seventh runner-up finish including in the 2022 Open Championship at St Andrews.

Malnati said: "I told myself I was going to do my best on every shot and that's what I did. I was so nervous coming down the stretch and the approach into 16 was terrible... I just can't describe it. It's so cool. It's just amazing.

"You wonder if you're ever going to do it again because it's hard and in the nine years since my last win it's gotten a lot harder too.

"You look at the level of talent out here, guys coming out when they're 20 years old and they're ready to play on this stage and they're so good. So to have this moment it just feels so amazing."

If you watched the latest series of Full Swing you cannot help but having been moved by everything that former US Open champion Gary Woodland has gone through in fighting his way back from a brain tumour. He admitted that he found it almost impossible to be in a room with his young children - a heartbreaking admission from a self-confessed family man. His road to recovery has been a long and painful but he says that he is now feeling well and happy and that the anxiety that crippled him has all but gone. There would be no more popular winner.

In saying that, a triumph for Tommy Fleetwood would run Woodland pretty close. Colin Montgomerie dominated golf in Europe for years and came agonisingly close to winning the US Open but was never able to win on American soil until he turned 50 and joined the Champions Tour. It is simply unthinkable that the same thing is going to happen to Fleetwood, who is one of the most popular golfers on tour, both among his peers and with the fans. The longer the drought continues the more difficult it will be for this most likeable of individuals but he keeps putting himself in position and he must surely cross the winning line in America at some point.

Young is also still looking for his first victory on the PGA Tour and it is clearly now beginning to affect his confidence. Incredibly, he has now finished second on seven occasions, with two third places.

He qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour's Pinnacle Bank Championship in late July 2020 and tied for 11th. A string of four finishes of 16th or better, culminating with a tie for second at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, earned him enough points to become a special temporary member for the rest of the 2020-21 season. Towards the end of May 2021, he won back-to-back tournaments. He finished the season 19th on the regular-season points list, earning a PGA Tour card for 2021-22.  

In February 2022, Young tied for second at the Genesis and rose into the top 100 in the world rankings. In May 2022, he tied for third at the PGA Championship. At the 2022 Open, he led the field after the first round with a bogey-free round of 64); in the final round, he eagled the last hole to finish one stroke behind the winner, Cameron Smith. And in September, he was selected for the U.S. team in the Presidents Cup and was named rookie of the year.

In March 2023, Young changed caddies, employing Paul Tesori and in their first tournament together, he was runner-up in the WGC-Dell Technologies Matchplay, losing 6&5 to Sam Burns in the final.

In the third round of the 2024 Travelers Championship, he shot a 59, but still couldn’t win the tournament. 

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2015 by Jordan Spieth, in 2016 by Charl Schwartzel, in 2017 by Adam Hadwin, in 2018 and 2019 by Paul Casey, in 2021 and 2022 by Sam Burns, in 2023 by Taylor Moore and last year by Peter Malnati. There was no tournament in 2020 - it was cancelled because of the global pandemic.

The Course:

The Copperhead Course at TPC Innisbrook is a par 71 measuring 7,340 yards. Famous for the fearsome Snake Pit, the course features tree-lined fairways, rolling terrain and a great deal of water.

Form Guide:

Jordan Spieth has slipped down the world rankings but has shown some encouraging signs this year. He is finally fit again and has good memories of Copperhead.

Prize Money:

The winner will collect $1.5m along with 500 FedEx Cup points.

How to Watch:

Thursday, March 20, Friday, March 21, Sky Sports Golf, 6pm; Saturday, March 22, Sunday, March 23, Sky Sports Golf, 5pm.

To Win:

Jordan Spieth. Looking to turn clock back

Each Way:

Tommy Fleetwood. Has gone close here in the past

Each Way:

Luke Clanton. Sensational young golfer

Five to Follow:

Jordan Spieth. Never a dull moment

Tommy Fleetwood. Too good not to win

Luke Clanton. A certain tournament winner

Gary Woodland. Would be a popular winner

Akshay Bhatia. Hugely entertaining