Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- Valspar Championship

OVERVIEW
We head back to the east coast for early lock on Thursday, Bermuda greens and Friday cut sweats. Copperhead is considered a “less than driver” course (similar to last week, but without the drastic elevation change and the course forces players to club down, whereas last week players chose to club down as they were able to hit it more accurately while not giving up much yardage), it features greens that are difficult to hit (players will need to be precise on their tee shots to the correct side of the fairway to setup good shots into the greens), its typically windy (though most of the course is protected by trees) and of course it features the final three hole stretch known as THE SNAKE PIT! All week you’ll hear about the difficulty of the course, but that shouldn’t change your approach when targeting golfers, bogey avoidance should be weighted a bit more than usual and I think Par 3 scoring might be a huge differentiator this week. One last note, unless otherwise listed, stats are now from the current season.

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND

o The Course
• Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort
• Par 71
• 7,340 yards
• Bermuda Greens
o Location: Tampa, FL
o Past Champions:
• 2016: Charl Schwartzel -7 in a playoff over Bill Haas
• 2015: Jordan Spieth -10 in a playoff over Sean O’Hair & Patrick Reed
• 2014: John Senden -7 over Kevin Na [-6]
• 2013: Kevin Streelman -10 over Boo Weekley [-8]
• 2012: Luke Donald -13 in a playoff over Sang-Moon Bae, Jim Furyk & Robert Garrigus

KEY STATS TO TARGET

o Strong Emphasis – SG:T2G, SG:APP, Bogey Avoidance, Birdie or Better %
o Important – Par 3 Scoring, Scrambling, Par 4 Scoring

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