The PGA Tour carries on this week with the 2021 Valspar Championship. Read on to see my prediction for who will win the tournament, as well as my top 10, dark horse, and player to fade predictions.
Winner: Corey Conners- Conners has been playing some of the best golf of his career of late, finishing in the top 15 in each of his last 5 stroke play starts, including 2 top 5’s and 4 top 10’s during that stretch. To go along with 7 top 10’s and 12 top 25 finishes this season, Conners has played well at Innisbrook before, holding the 54 hole lead here in 2018 before finishing T-16. With his recent results and past success here, I believe a win is a lock this week for Corey Conners.
Top 10: Louis Oosthuizen- Oosthuizen is coming off of a runner up finish at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Charl Schwartzel and has been quietly having a solid season, with 5 top 20 results to go alongside just 1 missed cut in 12 starts. Oosthuizen has shown past success in this event too, finishing in the top 20 in each of his last 3 starts here, including a runner up finish in 2019. I believe another top 10 is in store for Oosthuizen this week.
Dark horse: Denny McCarthy- McCarthy has been playing a nice stretch of golf lately, making each of his last 5 cuts and finishing in the top 15 in 2 of his last 3 starts, including a T-3 finish at the Honda Classic. McCarthy has also played well at Innisbrook, finishing T-9 here in his only career start in this event in 2019. I don’t expect McCarthy to win this week, but I believe a top 25 is certainly doable given the strength of this week’s field.
Player to fade: D. A. Points- Points has had a rough season this year, missing each of his last 6 cuts and only making 1 cut in 16 starts. Points has missed the cut 4 of the last 5 times he has played in this event and I don’t see that changing this week. I expect another missed cut from Points.