Valspar Championship Odds and Predictions: Can Xander Schauffele Win at Copperhead?
Xander Schauffele is favoured on the Valspar Championship golf odds.
It’s not a terrible field but certainly a bit watered-down as there have been big-money, limited-field events the past two weeks on the PGA Tour, so some top guys are skipping this week, will play next week’s Houston Open and then take another week off before teeing it up at the Masters. Seven of the world’s Top 20 are set to play the Valspar.
Cameron Young, who won the Players Championship on Sunday on the other coast of Florida, is not playing this week. A few other guys who were originally going to also have withdrawn after competing at the Players in Robert MacIntyre (solo fourth), Sudarshan Yellamaraju (T5) and Keith Mitchell (T46). The sponsor exemptions this week are Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker and Canada’s Adam Hadwin. Two more golfers were to get in the field through an 18-hole Monday qualifier at Southern Hills Plantation Club in nearby Brooksville.
Americans had won here four years in a row, but Norway’s Viktor Hovland changed that in 2025 by shooting 11-under 273 and finishing one up on Justin Thomas. Hovland, three shots down with five holes to play, shot a final-round 67 to pass Thomas, who bogeyed two of his final three holes for a closing 66. That was Hovland’s seventh career victory and got him back into the Top 10 in the world.
He hasn’t won since and is down to 18th in the world. The USA’s Sam Burns was the last to repeat here in 2022 when he beat Davis Riley in a playoff – the last playoff one in the event. My pick last year was Thomas, so that hurt.
Blades Brown (+10000), just 18, earned a spot in the field off the strength of his third-place finish at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open two weeks ago, where he briefly held the lead on the back-nine in the final round.
The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort is a favorite stop among many players. It’s an unusually hilly course for Florida and has a ton of trees so you better hit straight. It’s a par 71 at 7,352 yards with the very tough closing three-hole stretch – two challenging par 4s sandwiching a 200-yard par 3 — called the “Snake Pit.” If you avoid disaster there, you probably are contending.
The Valspar Championship Golf Odds
American Xander Schauffele is the +1100 favourite. He comes off a third-place finish at the Players Championship, his second Top 10 of the year. Schauffele hasn’t won this tournament, but his stroke average of 69.00 is second-best in the field dating to 2021. He has a best of fifth.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (+1300) also has a best result here of fifth but hasn’t played the tournament since missing the cut in 2023. Fitzpatrick held the lead as late as his 17th hole Sunday at the Players Championship but finished runner-up.
Defending champion Viktor Hovland (+1700), Akshay Bhatia (+2200), Jacob Bridgeman (+2500) and Justin Thomas (+2500) round out the favourites. Hovland is off to a disappointing start to 2026 with a single Top 10 in five events.
Bhatia hasn’t contended here but won two weeks ago at the Arnold Palmer and was 13th Sunday at the Players. Bridgeman was third here last year, has a win already in 2026 and off a fifth at the Players. Thomas always plays well at Copperhead and had that runner-up last year but yet to win.
Canadian Adam Hadwin got his lone PGA Tour win at Copperhead in 2017, shooting 14-under 270, and he’s the only lone Canadian winner of the event. Corey Conners was the top finisher last year at T8, with Mackenzie Hughes T36. Adam Svensson, Hadwin and Ben Silverman missed the cut. Conners is +2700 this week with Nick Taylor +4000, Taylor Pendrith +4000, Hadwin +10000, Hughes +10000, Svensson +25000 and AJ Ewart +25000.
The Valspar Championship Golf Predictions
I like the favoured Schauffele at +1100 as he has not been worse than 12th in three trips to Copperhead. He has played well in the Florida Swing.