The 2022 Valspar Championship is coming right up. Get a lowdown on some of the players you should be paying attention to for this upcoming 2021-22 PGA TOUR event. Check out our preview of some of the favorites, sleepers, and long shots in the 2022 Valspar Championship.
Morikawa stunningly missed the cut at the PLAYERS Championship, but no alarms should be sounded. The fact that people are shocked by that result only says a lot about how great Morikawa has been in his still-young pro career. The 25-year-old Morikawa will look to rebound this week at Innisbrook Resort, where he’s not played a PGA TOUR event before. On the season, Morikawa is 4 of 5 with all made cuts ending in a top-10 finish, which includes his runner-ups at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT and at The Genesis Invitational.
Ranked No. 3 in the world, Hovland will look to stay hot. He is 3 of 3 in his last three starts, all of which had him cracking the top 10. Last week, he finished with a T9 at THE PLAYERS Championship. He already has a win this season when he topped the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba back in November and has since gone 4 of 5 in his next three PGA TOUR starts. In his first appearance at Innisbrook, he fired a 13-under 271 to finish third at the 2021 edition of the Valspar Championship.
Johnson was on fire in the final round of last week’s THE PLAYERS Championship, setting a new course record at TPC Sawgrass by going 9-under 63 in the fourth round on his way to a T9 finish. He can build on that incredible performance for more success this week at Innisbrook, where the 24-time PGA TOUR events winner is 2 of 4 with a T6 at the 2019 Valspar Championship.
The 34-year-old Hadwin scored his first top-10 finish of the year with a T9 last week at THE PLAYERS Championship. This could be a signal of better things to come for Hadwin, who is 9 of 12 this season and is a former Valspar Championship winner (2017).
Not a lot of people are paying attention to NeSmith, who was cut last week at THE PLAYERS Championship. But who knows if he comes out of nowhere and finishes high at the 2022 Valspar Championship? Last year, he had a pair of sub-70 rounds to finish 21st at the Valspar Championship.
Blixt is just 2 of 8 this season and 1 of 5 in his past five starts. The lone made cut in that stretch however was a T42 in his most recent start (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am). He has a pair of top 25s in seven career starts at Innisbrook.
