Valspar Tournament Attracts Top Pro Golfers

March 17-20 at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course

Tampa Bay will have an opportunity to see some of the top professional golfers in the world when Innisbrook Golf and Tennis Resort and Spa hosts this year’s Valspar Championship of its spectacular Copperhead Course. This year’s event is scheduled for March 17-20 and will mark its first “return to normal” since the 2020 Valspar was cut short by the arrival of Covid 19 and last year’s event operated under the PGA limited spectator policy.

Seven of the top 26 players in the Official World Golf Rankings have already committed to play in this year’s Valspar tournament. Dustin Johnson (#3) (LEFT), defending champion Sam Burns (#11), Louis Oosthuizen (#12), Brooks Koepka (#17), Tyrrell Hatton (#22), Jason Kokrak (#22) and Matt Fitzpatrick (#26) are already on the players’ list.

Past Valspar winners Adam Hadwin (2017) and Gary Woodland (2011) are also in the field, along with former Official World Gol Rankings #1 Henrik Stenson. Other top players who have committed to this year’s event include Joel Dahmen, Brandt Snedeker, Bubba Watson, Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa.

Innisbrook Director of Golf Bobby Barnes says that the Copperhead Course should be in great condition for the play this March.

“We did not overseed fairways last year for the event in Nay, and that has resulted in a strengthening of their turf for 2022,” he says. “The course is in amazing condition. We will have significant rough, fast greens and, in March, the strong possibility of significant variable breezes to make for challenging scoring conditions.”

Since the opening round of this year’s Valspar Tournament will take place on Thursday, March 17, all in attendance, including players, are encouraged to wear green. That will be a fitting kickoff to some of the special non-golf activities planned for this year’s Valspar. (See separate article on Valspar Tournament festivities.) The tournament sponson has an impressive number of colorful activations planned around the tournament, including a second Be Bright mural for Tampa General Hospital. In addition, the winner of this year’s competition will be able to choose a community location of his own interest to coordinate his own colorful mural.

In addition, Sara Hackney, Valspar’s Brand Manager, has also outlined a series of on-course activities including a Tiny Home painted in Valspar’s 2022 Colors of the Year and a paint by numbers mural for fans to finish during the week.

The Valspar Championship has a long history of supporting charities in the Tampa Bay area with now more than $47 million generated in the tournament’s history including $1,657,000 in 2021 to benefit Tampa area charities, despite reduced fan attendance. It is operated by the not-for-profit organization, Copperhead Charities, Inc. (Defending champion Sam’s Bur’s right).

More commonly known as the Copperheads, the organization is directed by a volunteer board of Tampa Bay area community leaders and has operated for over 40 years under various tournament names. The event has a history of successfully generating over $47 million for charities, primarily in the Tampa Bay area, while also staging the amenities for golf fans to view the best in PGA TOUR® competition on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Golf and Tennis Resort and Spa in Palm Harbor, Florida.

With more than 2,900 volunteers who contribute their time and efforts during tournament week, with community-minded sponsors and with the support of tens of thousands of golf fans each year, the tournament has consistently raised substantial sums both through its Birdies for Tampa Bay Charities program and other targeted donations to groups like Tampa General Hospital, Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counties, The First Tee, the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation and others.

(NBC and The Golf Channel along with its new relationship with ESPN+ will combine for 4300 exclusive hours of broadcast airtime for this year’s Valspar Championship.)

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