Strong Field Confirmed For Valspar Championship As PGA Tour’s Florida Swing Concludes

Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas — Some big names will play in the Valspar Championship, the last event in the PGA Tour's Florida Swing

(Image credit: Getty Images)

After PGA Tour’s latest Signature Event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which was swiftly followed by its flagship tournament, The Players Championship, a semblance of normality returns next week with the Valspar Championship.

As ever, the tournament comes from the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, with the event marking the conclusion of the circuit’s Florida Swing.

The course is particularly known for its notorious Snake Pit comprising the 16th, 17th and 18th holes.

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A field of 133 will take on the challenge, including seven of the world’s top 20.

The highest-ranked player in the field is currently Robert MacIntyre. The Scot, who is ranked eighth in the world, has only made one appearance at the event, a T33 in 2024.

Robert MacIntyre at The Players Championship — Robert MacIntyre is the highest-ranked player in the field

The second member of the world’s top 10 in the field is Xander Schauffele, in 10th. At the halfway stage of The Players Championship, he appeared back to the form that brought him two Majors in 2024, sitting second on the leaderboard, two back of Ludvig Aberg.

US Open champion JJ Spaun is another big name in the field. Ben Griffin, who was one of the notable names to miss the cut at The Players Championship, Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland and Arnold Palmer Championship winner Akshay Bhatia complete the list of players in the world’s top 20 competing.

Hovland returns as the defending champion, having defeated Thomas by one a year ago. Other former winners in the field include 2024 champion Peter Malnati, Adam Hadwin, who beat Patrick Cantlay to the title in 2017, and Jordan Spieth, who claimed victory in 2015.

Viktor Hovland with the Valspar Championship trophy — Viktor Hovland will defend his title

Other big names committed to the event include former Brooks Koepka, who continues his reintroduction to life on the PGA Tour following a four-year stint on LIV Golf.

Genesis Invitational champion Jacob Bridgeman plays too, as do Cantlay, Matt Fitzpatrick, Corey Conners and Keegan Bradley.

Players will be competing for a share of the $9.1m purse, while the winner will receive $1.638m.

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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