The rust is officially off Sungjae Im. After missing the cut at his first two starts following a lengthy layoff while nursing a wrist injury, Im played the first three holes at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in 4 under and posted 7-under 64 Thursday to take an early lead a the Valspar Championship .
Coming off an impressive run at the Players, Xander Schauffele is the favorite at the Valspar this week, and he started with a birdie on his second hole, teeing off on the back nine during Thursday’s opening round.
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2026 Valspar Championship highlights, leaderboard, Round 1 scores
If you’re looking at the golf calendar, you probably noticed the Masters drawing nearer. We’re just three tournaments away from the first major of 2026.
This week’s stop at the 2026 Valspar Championship is also the final leg of the four-week Florida Swing. Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida, is host this week. There is $9.1 million in total prize money up for grabs, with $1.6 going to the winner.
Get caught up on all the leaderboard updates, scores, highlights and more from the opening round of the 2026 Valspar Championship right here.
You can see the complete Valspar leaderboard here. Here’s the top of the board:
Pos. Player Total Thru
1 Sungjae Im -7 F*
2 Brandt Snedeker -6 F
3 Davis Thompson -5 F
T4 Billy Horschel -4 F*
T4 Pierceson Coody -4 F
T4 Andrew Putnam -4 F
The rust is officially off Sungjae Im. After missing the cut at his first two starts following a lengthy layoff while nursing a wrist injury, Im played the first three holes at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in 4 under and posted 7-under 64 Thursday to take an early lead a the Valspar Championship.
Cameron Young hit the longest drive on the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass during Sunday’s final round of the Masters. On Tuesday at the Valspar, Wyndham Clark uncorked one 446 yards, which checks in as the longest drive of the season on the PGA Tour. Ok, this one was cart-path aided, but still…
Long rough is no problem for Tony Finau, who’s 2 under through 15 holes in the first round as of 5:35 p.m. ET.
Could this be the week Jordan Spieth finally gets back in the winner’s circle? Well, he’s off to a hot start at Innisbrook.
Who needs fairways when you can just take the cart path?
Brandt Snedeker shot bogey-free 6-under 65 in the opening round of the 2026 Valspar Championship, and he has a new putter to thank for it. The 45-year-old Tour veteran is a self-proclaimed stats geek, and it didn’t go unnoticed by him that nearly all the winners on the PGA Tour this year have been using a mallet putter. Read more from Golfweek’s Adam Schupak about Snedeker’s flat-stick switch that led to a stellar round Thursday at Innisbrook.
Adam Schenk, who secured his first PGA Tour victory at the Bermuda Championship last fall, is using an unconventional putting method at Innisbrook.
Peter Malnati, the Valspar Championship winner from two years ago, is giving the crowd something to cheer about Thursday afternoon at Innisbrook.
Beware of wildlife!
Can’t draw it up much better than this. Spieth is 2 under through 1 as he gets his week started at Innisbrook.
Xander Schauffele made three birdies and 15 pars en route to a 3-under 68 in the opening round of the Valspar Championship. Schauffele, the pre-tournament betting favorite, was four shots off the lead when he signed his scorecard just after 1 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Through 13 holes, Sungjae Im’s first round scorecard includes a bogey, five birdies and two eagles. He’s 8 under on the day and three shots clear of the field as of 12:20 p.m. ET.
Corey Conners was in contention at the Players Championship before a 74 on Sunday ultimately knocked him out of the top 10, but the Canadian product had his best finish of the year, tying for 13th place.
If Thursday at the Valspar is any indication, the two-time PGA Tour winner is continuing to trend in the right direction.
Conners posted consecutive eagles during the first round at the Copperhead Course, moving to 5 under and holding the solo lead as of 11 a.m.
Coming off an impressive run at the Players, Xander Schauffele is the favorite at the Valspar this week, and he started with a birdie on his second hole, teeing off on the back nine during Thursday’s opening round.
In three appearances at this event, Schauffele has a pair of T-12 finishes sandwiched around a T-5. Last year, he had been struggling after returning from an injury when he got to the Copperhead Course and a 66 on Sunday spurred a strong stretch.
“It was really confidence-boosting,” Schauffele said this week. “I was definitely coming back from injury. I was told not to play Bay Hill and Players as my first two coming back, two really hard just two really hard courses, two really hard cuts to make. Just two sort of punch-you-in-the-face courses after taking some time off, so definitely not a great place to gain confidence. And this one can bite you too. It’s not like this is an easy track.
“Like I said, we have seen winners in single digits up to low teens kind of win this tournament. So just was able to start hitting my irons really good last year is what I remember. Just started hitting a lot of really quality approach shots. Didn’t play really well off the tee, but sort of managed around the property and was able to take advantage of a good Sunday is what I remember.”
UPDATE: Schauffele made the turn at 2 under, three shots off the lead.
The Valspar has a solid field with seven of the top 20 players in the world, but a handful of players did pull out of the event, including Akshay Bhatia, who played at the SoFi Center on Tuesday night, helping Jupiter Links to a victory over Boston Common in the semifinals of the TGL playoffs. He even made a virtual ace during practice.
Two weeks ago, Bhatia captured his third PGA Tour victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in dramatic fashion, erasing a five-shot deficit on the back nine to defeat Daniel Berger in a playoff at Bay Hill. He also had a solid showing at the Players Championship this past week, finishing tied for 13th. Robert MacIntyre, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Keith Mitchell and Max Greyserman also pulled out of the event.
Joel Dahmen, Sam Ryder, Doug Ghim, Andrew Putnam and Kris Ventura all got into the field because of the withdrawals.
Looks like a beautiful day for golf in the Tampa area, although there will be a breeze.
Who’s in the field at the 2026 Valspar?
Defending champ Viktor Hovland is there. Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka are there. All in all, it’s a pretty good field for Innisbrook, but there have been a few withdrawals since Sunday. That includes Akshay Bhatia, a winner two weeks ago at the Arnold Palmer, and Sudarshan Yellamaraju, a surprise top-5 finisher are the Players. Those WD’s came on the heels of two other top-ranked players backing out on Monday.
The last 10 champions of the Valspar Championship
Six of the last 10 winners of the event are back in 2026. The only past champs not in the field this year are those who left for LIV Golf.
2025: Viktor Hovland
2024: Peter Malnati
2023: Taylor Moore
2022: Sam Burns*
2021: Sam Burns
2020: Cancelled due to COVID
2019: Paul Casey
2018: Paul Casey
2017: Adam Hadwin
2016: Charl Schwartzel*
2015: Jordan Spieth*
(* won in a playoff)
Where is the Valspar played?
The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort hosts the Valspar. Designed by Larry Packard, the course opened in 1970 and has been the site of the Tour event since 2000. The Copperhead will play to 7,352 yards with a par of 71 for the Valspar.
