Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
The Florida Swing ends at this week’s Valspar Championship and considering the world’s best players gathered for Sawgrass a few days ago, the field at the Innisbrook Resort is fairly decent.Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas are the 12/1 co-favourites with betting sites to win at the demanding Copperhead course which is characterised by tight, tree-lined fairways, water on a third of the holes and dog legs on 12 of them – including four double dog legs!Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
This par-71, 7,352-yard track has featured in the top 10 most difficult courses in the past couple of years and winners have generally been strong tee to green, on approach and with the putter, but it generally tests all facets of a golfer’s game.Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
Last week, Aaron Rai and Sepp Straka finished inside the top 20 at The Players Championship, but it was a blank return for this column, which is still dining out on Russell Henley’s 35/1 success at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Corey Conners gave us two other winning tips at Bay Hill in the first-round leader market (45/1 ew) and top 10 (2/1), and he is included in this week’s Valspar Championship betting tips as we start the build-up to major season.
Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
Conners continues to play at an exceptionally high level and this could be the week that he adds to his two Texas Open victories from 2019 and two years ago.
The 33-year-old Canadian has missed just one cut since failing to make the weekend at the 2023 US Open and in the last couple of weeks he has finished third at Bay Hill and sixth at Sawgrass, so his form cannot be questioned.
We have been beating the Conners drum for a while now and he narrowly missed out in the staking plan last week for no other reason that his price had shortened considerably since the article was being written!
This time, Conners won’t be up against the likes of Sawgrass champion Rory McIlroy, world number one Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, so his prospects are better in that regard.
Conners had positive numbers for all the main metrics last week when he was just outside the top 10 from tee to green and another excellent showing looks on the cards.
Looking at the trends, the last nine champions have enjoyed a top-15 finish in their previous four appearances and Conners certainly ticks that box.
Furthermore, in his two visits to the Innisbrook Resort he was 16th in 2018 and 21st in 2021, the year after the Valspar Championship returned from Covid.
All in all, Conners looks in great shape for launching a title challenge this week and looks well priced at 25/1 with betting apps, although BetVictor is offering 28/1 for fewer places.
Valspar Championship Prediction 1: Corey Conners (Each-Way) - 25/1 With William Hill (Eight Places)
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Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
- Corey Conners (Each-Way) - 25/1 With William Hill (Eight Places)
- Shane Lowry (Each-Way) - 25/1 With William Hill (Eight Places)
- Alex Smalley (Each-Way) - 50/1 With William Hill (Eight Places)
- Sam Ryder Top 20 - 13/2 With BetVictor
- Sam Burns First-Round Leader (Each-Way) - 50/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)
Prices correct at 10.00 on March 19
Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
Shane Lowry missed the cut in his first tournament of the year at Torrey Pines, but since then his game has gone from strength to strength and it would be no surprise should the Irishman return to the winner’s circle on Sunday.
It’s been almost six years since Lowry won The Open and his sole victory since then came when he paired up with McIlroy in last year’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event.
However, there have been signs that Lowry is getting closer to winning another PGA Tour title on his own steam, the last of which came 10 years ago at the now defunct WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Runner-up at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Lowry posted three top 20s in his next four events, including seventh at Bay Hill, so he is on an upward curve.
Twelfth on his last visit to Palm Harbor, Lowry is seventh in both the tee-to-green and approach metrics which should stand him in good stead this week.
Indeed, only three players were better than Lowry on approach at Sawgrass, an ideal skill-set when trying to find the smallish greens at Copperhead.
Lowry’s putting remains his Achilles heel, but this is a second-shot course and there are few that can match the world number 15 in this department.
At 25/1, Lowry is the next of our Valspar Championship betting tips.
Valspar Championship Prediction 2: Shane Lowry (Each-Way) - 25/1 With William Hill (Eight Places)
Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
Although Alex Smalley is the outsider of this week’s outrights at 50/1, in many ways the American has just as good a chance of winning what would be his maiden PGA Tour title.
Last year, Peter Malnati defied odds of 250/1 to lift his first trophy in nine years and 12 months earlier Taylor Moore was another shock winner at 70/1.
Sam Burns was 80/1 when he won the first of his back-to-back titles in 2021, so it’s clear that it may pay dividends to skip the big names this week, such as Open champion Xander Schauffele, back playing again following a rib injury.
Smalley is outside the world’s top 100, but he has been playing brilliantly in the first few months of 2025, posting five top-20s and a T21 in his seven events this season.
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Can you cash out of bets before an event has finished?
The 28-year-old from Rochester, New York, stands at fifth in the Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green standings and is inside the top 40 for putting, so his game looks an ideal fit for this exacting course.
Two missed cuts in three trips to Copperhead probably explain why his odds aren’t shorter, but he was inside the top 30 two years ago, so he can play well here.
Smalley looks a different golfer now and we hope to catch him while he’s riding the wave as the next of their Valspar Championship betting tips.
Valspar Championship Prediction 3: Alex Smalley (Each-Way) - 50/1 With William Hill (Eight Places)
Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
Sam Ryder looks worth a dart at 13/2 with golf betting sites in the top 20 market.
Ryder has made the cut in all seven PGA Tour events this season and finally broke into the top 20 at The Players Championship where his putting was the second best over the four days.
The American just missed out on top 20s at the Farmers Insurance and Sony Open in Hawaii, and he was 19th and 33rd in his last two trips to Copperhead.
Obviously, his numbers suggest he won’t be lifting his first PGA trophy this week, but a top-20 does not look beyond his capabilities.
Valspar Championship Prediction 4: Sam Ryder Top 20 - 13/2 With BetVictor
Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
Sam Burns is a two-time winner of this tournament and he was sixth here two years ago, so it’s clear the American has an affinity with this difficult track.
Despite missing the cut for the first time this year at The Players Championship, we expect him to bounce back this week, and suspect he could be worth a dabble in the first-round leader market.
Burns was the co-leader with an opening round 64 when he won here in 2022 and either side of that victory, he shot a 67 and a 69, so this is a place where he seems to burst out of the blocks.
Fourth after Thursday’s first round at Bay Hill, Burns has tended to get off to quick starts in 2025 and he looks well priced at 50/1 for another.
Valspar Championship Prediction 5: Sam Burns First-Round Leader (Each-Way) - 50/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)
Price correct at 10.00 on March 19
Valspar Championship Tips: 5 Selections From Copperhead
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