Valspar Championship

Valspar Championship

Tournament information
Location	Palm Harbor, Florida
Established	2000
Course(s)	Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club (Copperhead Course)
Par	71
Length	7,340 yards (6,710 m)
Organized by	The Copperheads
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Format	Stroke play
Prize fund	US$8,700,000
Month played	March
Tournament record score
Aggregate	266 Vijay Singh (2004)
To par	−18 as above
Current champion
Viktor Hovland
Location map
Innisbrook Resort Location in the United States Show map of the United States Innisbrook Resort Location in Florida Show map of Florida

The Valspar Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played annually on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, north of St. Petersburg, Florida.

History

The tournament was founded in 2000 as the Tampa Bay Classic, and was originally an alternate event in autumn and late summer. It replaced the JCPenney Classic, held annually in central Florida since 1960, and at Innisbrook since 1990. It was opposite the Presidents Cup in October 2000, and the same week as the WGC-American Express Championship in September 2002. It was scheduled for the same week as the WGC-American Express Championship in 2001 in mid-September, but the September 11 attacks (on Tuesday) forced the cancellations of both tournaments. ^[1]

From 2003 to 2006, the Tampa Bay event had a slot in the schedule to itself in late October (and early November in 2003) as the last full-field event before the Tour Championship. The Chrysler Corporation was the title sponsor.

Since 2007, the Tampa Bay event has been played in March, as the Players Championship moved six weeks later, to mid-May.

For a time, the tournament was without a title sponsor, leading to speculation on its fate beyond 2007. Then, on January 24, 2007, tournament officials and the PGA Tour announced a six-year sponsorship agreement with PODS of Clearwater, Florida. ^[2] However, the company chose to exercise an option to withdraw as title sponsor after the 2008 event, and tournament officials searched to find a replacement. ^[3] On June 4, 2008, Transitions Optical, Inc., the photochromic lens manufacturer headquartered locally in Largo, was announced as the new title sponsor. ^[4] Transitions left the event after the 2012 season. Just two weeks before the 2013 tournament, EverBank agreed to be presenting sponsor for the tournament. ^[5] In September 2013, Valspar Corporation signed a four-year deal to become title sponsor of the event, now named the Valspar Championship. ^[6] On March 9, 2016, the PGA Tour, Valspar Corporation, and Copperhead Charities – the Valspar Championship host organization – announced a three-year title sponsorship extension, thus carrying Valspar's commitment to the tournament through 2020. This extension occurred in the midst of the original contract period, which was from 2013 to 2017. ^[7]

Vijay Singh set the tournament record in 2004 with 266 (−18) and won by five strokes.

Winners

Year	Winner	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Purse ($)	Winner's share ($)
Valspar Championship
2025	Viktor Hovland	273	−11	1 stroke	Justin Thomas	8,700,000	1,566,000
2024	Peter Malnati	272	−12	2 strokes	Cameron Young	8,400,000	1,512,000
2023	Taylor Moore	274	−10	1 stroke	Adam Schenk	8,100,000	1,458,000
2022	Sam Burns (2)	267	−17	Playoff	Davis Riley	7,800,000	1,404,000
2021	Sam Burns	267	−17	3 strokes	Keegan Bradley	6,900,000	1,242,000
2020	Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [8]
2019	Paul Casey (2)	276	−8	1 stroke	Jason Kokrak Louis Oosthuizen	6,700,000	1,206,000
2018	Paul Casey	274	−10	1 stroke	Patrick Reed Tiger Woods	6,500,000	1,170,000
2017	Adam Hadwin	270	−14	1 stroke	Patrick Cantlay	6,300,000	1,134,000
2016	Charl Schwartzel	277	−7	Playoff	Bill Haas	6,100,000	1,098,000
2015	Jordan Spieth	274	−10	Playoff	Sean O'Hair Patrick Reed	5,900,000	1,062,000
2014	John Senden	277	−7	1 stroke	Kevin Na	5,700,000	1,026,000
Tampa Bay Championship
2013	Kevin Streelman	274	−10	2 strokes	Boo Weekley	5,500,000	990,000
Transitions Championship
2012	Luke Donald	271	−13	Playoff	Bae Sang-moon Jim Furyk Robert Garrigus	5,500,000	990,000
2011	Gary Woodland	269	−15	1 stroke	Webb Simpson	5,500,000	990,000
2010	Jim Furyk	271	−13	1 stroke	K. J. Choi	5,400,000	972,000
2009	Retief Goosen (2)	276	−8	1 stroke	Charles Howell III Brett Quigley	5,400,000	972,000
PODS Championship
2008	Sean O'Hair	280	−4	2 strokes	Stewart Cink Ryuji Imada Troy Matteson Billy Mayfair George McNeill John Senden	5,300,000	954,000
2007	Mark Calcavecchia	274	−10	1 stroke	John Senden Heath Slocum	5,300,000	954,000
Chrysler Championship
2006	K. J. Choi (2)	271	−13	4 strokes	Paul Goydos Brett Wetterich	5,300,000	954,000
2005	Carl Pettersson	275	−9	1 stroke	Chad Campbell	5,300,000	954,000
2004	Vijay Singh	266	−18	5 strokes	Tommy Armour III Jesper Parnevik	5,000,000	900,000
2003	Retief Goosen	272	−12	3 strokes	Vijay Singh	4,800,000	864,000
Tampa Bay Classic
2002	K. J. Choi	267	−17	7 strokes	Glen Day	2,600,000	468,000
2001	Canceled due to the September 11 attacks
2000	John Huston	271	−13	3 strokes	Carl Paulson	2,400,000	432,000

Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.

Multiple winners

Four players have won this tournament more than once:

• K. J. Choi (2002, 2006)
• Retief Goosen (2003, 2009)
• Paul Casey (2018, 2019)
• Sam Burns (2021, 2022)

References

1. "2001 PGA Tour Schedule". USA Today . December 17, 2001. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
2. "Tampa Event Named PODS Championship". Golf Channel . January 24, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
3. Page, Rodney (March 8, 2008). "Finding sponsor top priority". St. Petersburg Times . Retrieved April 6, 2008.
4. "Transitions Optical preserves Tampa leg of Florida swing". PGA Tour. June 4, 2008. Retrieved September 24, 2008.
5. Harwell, Drew (March 1, 2013). "EverBank to sponsor PGA event at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved March 12, 2013.
6. "Valspar commits to four-year sponsorship of PGA Tour event in Tampa Bay". PGA Tour. September 6, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
7. "Valspar extends title sponsorship of PGA Tour's Valspar Championship through 2020". PGA Tour. March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
8. Lavner, Ryan (March 12, 2020). "PGA Tour cancels Players and other events thru April 5th". Golf Channel. Retrieved March 12, 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Coverage on PGA Tour's official site

28°06′40″N82°45′14″W / 28.111°N 82.754°W / 28.111; -82.754