Tommy Fleetwood, You Have Our Attention at the Valspar Championship

Tommy Fleetwood is the ninth-ranked player in the world. He’s won seven times on the DP World Tour. He’s played in three Ryder Cups. He’s a two-time Olympian with a silver medal. He’s earned nearly $27 million on the PGA TOUR.

But he’s never won on this side of the pond.

Even though the golf world has been having this conversation for years, it’s still wild to think about. How has a player of Fleetwood’s caliber gone this long without getting one over the finish line?

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And it’s not like he hasn’t been in the mix plenty of times. Across 149 TOUR starts, Fleetwood has finished runner-up five times, third five times, and inside the top-10 38 times. Ninety percent players would kill for a resume like that. But for the Englishman, a player who hits it as well as anyone out there, it’s disappointing.

What isn’t disappointing is his start to the year. In four events, Fleetwood has finished T-22 at Pebble Beach, T-5 at the Genesis, T-11 at Bay Hill, and T-14 last week at THE PLAYERS.

Not too shabby, Mr. Fleetwood.

But it’s time to get it done, and it’s hard to find a better opportunity than this week at the Valspar Championship.

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He’s played at Copperhead twice, tying for 16th in 2022 and for third in 2023. Despite a goose egg in the win column, Fleetwood is the betting favorite on most books this week at 14/1. Although I didn’t take him to win—I just couldn’t take him at that number—I wouldn’t blame you if you did—and, let’s be honest, there’s a good chance I add him to my card before Thursday morning.

There will be a clear wave advantage in Palm Harbor, as there’s wind expected to blow in Thursday afternoon into Friday morning. Players scheduled for the early/late wave are set to have a huge advantage to position themselves for the weekend.

Guess when Fleetwood tees off Thursday.

Yup, 8:35 a.m. ET. Big names such as Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry, Sahith Theegala, Corey Conners, Jake Knapp, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young, and amateur Luke Clanton are all slated to tee off in the afternoon.

Form, course history, wave advantage.

You couldn’t draw it up better for Fleetwood. Now he just has to take care of business.