Welcome to the Snake Pit.
After the Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship event, many Tour pros will head from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to Palm Harbor for the 23rd Valspar Championship—once the Tampa Bay Classic—at Innisbrook Resort. It’s the final leg of the Florida swing.
The 155-player field will vie for part of a $8.7 million purse, with the winner collecting $1,566,000.
From its field, course, history, tee times and how to watch, here’s what you need to know for the 2025 Valspar Championship.
The field
A week after the PGA Tour boasted its strongest field of the year, the Valspar will also feature an abundance of stars.
World No. 3 Xander Schauffele, hoping to keep his Tour-best made-cut streak alive after returning two weeks ago from a rib injury, highlights the field at Innisbrook. Eighteen of the top 50 players in the world ranking and eight of the top 25 are teeing it up this week: Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Billy Horschel and Sahith Theegala.
There will also be seven past champions in the field: Gary Woodland (2011), Luke Donald (2012), Jordan Spieth (2015), Adam Hadwin (2017), Sam Burns (2021-22), Taylor Moore (2023) and Peter Malnati, who last year notched his first win since 2015 with a two-stroke victory over Cam Young.
Amateur Kieron Van Wyk, a 23-year-old South African who plays at the College of Charleston, earned a spot in the field by finishing T4 at the Puerto Rico Open two weeks ago in his Tour debut.
Sponsor’s exemptions include Full Swing Season 3 star Neal Shipley, Donald, Zach Johnson, Hayden Buckley, Will Chandler, Florida State University junior Luke Clanton, who recently secured his Tour card, Nick Gabrelcik and 17-year-old phenom Blades Brown.
The course
The Florida Swing includes some of the Tour’s hardest courses—and that includes Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course.
The 7,352-yard, par-71 has some elevation (peaking at 85 feet, which is high for a Florida course) with an average green size of 5,822 square feet, 74 bunkers and water in play on nine holes.
Scores aren’t usually much under par. Last year, Malnati won at 12 under and Moore won in 2023 at 10 under. In 2024, the Copperhead Course was the eighth-hardest course on Tour, yielding a scoring average of 71.408 (+0.408).
Its toughest hole is the 475-yard, par-4 16th, the start of the vaunted Snake Pit. Last season, No. 16 was ranked the 27th hardest hole on Tour, with a scoring average of 4.294 (+0.294). A player’s victory hopes can be dashed on this hole, as was the case with Spieth in 2023.
Co-leader Jordan Spieth is in the water on No. 16.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 19, 2023
It is the hardest hole @ValsparChamp this week. pic.twitter.com/vL1TEeG6ei
Meanwhile, the Valpsar’s easiest hole is the 560-yard, par-5 1st, which yielded a scoring average in 2024 of 4.558 (-0.442), making it the 79th easiest hole on Tour (out of 900).
When heading to the 16th tee, a sign reads “You are entering the Snake Pit,” which is the final three holes. They’re called the Moccasin, the Rattler and the Copperhead. It’s one of the hardest closing three-hole stretches on Tour.
“There's some difficult holes out there,” Patton Kizzire said at the 2021 Valspar. “There’s not many that you can relax on. The Snake Pit is difficult. 16, 17 and 18 are one of the toughest stretches on Tour. I did pretty well there, played those 1-under, par, birdie, par. So I think if you play those under par you’ll do pretty well.”
History: A star is born
Months before winning the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open, Spieth put his name on the map at the Valspar.
The 21-year-old had already become the first teenager since 1931 to win on Tour at the 2013 John Deere Classic, but nearly two years later, he followed up his maiden win by dazzling with his short game at Innisbrook.
Three strokes back with six holes to play, Spieth caught the lead and made two gritty par saves on the 71st and 72nd hole to get into a three-way playoff against Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair.
Then, Spieth won on the third playoff hole by canning a 28-footer for birdie.
He vaulted to No. 6 in the world with the victory.
With sky-high expectations since bursting onto the scene, Spieth had many close calls in his first two years on Tour, including a runner-up at the 2014 Masters and a playoff loss to Reed at the 2013 Wyndham Championship.
But Spieth put all the pieces together at Innisbrook and was a two-time major winner just a few months later.
Maybe, one of today’s young stars will follow suit this year—but they’ll have to take down Spieth, who is looking for his first win in nearly three years.
How to watch (all times EST)
- Thursday: 2-6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
- Friday: 2-6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
- Saturday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (NBC)
- Sunday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (NBC)
ESPN+ will also have featured coverage each day, starting between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m.
Round 1 and 2 tee times
Groupings and starting times for the first and second round of the Valspar Championship pic.twitter.com/qrQmE35mEV
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 18, 2025
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2025 Valspar Championship Preview: Field, Course, History, Tee Times, How to Watch.
