Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley prepare for the Masters at ever-improving field at the Valspar

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Around the turn of the 20th century, a Philadelphia-born paymaster named John K. Cheyney left Pennsylvania to oversee land his father owned on Florida’s west coast. By the early 1900s, Cheyney had established the Anclote and Rock Island Sponge Company in Tarpon Springs, Fla., assembled investors from Florida and Philly, and imported Greek sponge divers to harvest the product in the Gulf of Mexico.

Those divers established what the state of Florida today calls the largest Greek community in the United States, with more than a dozen authentic Greek restaurants in the town of about 25,000. Most nights this week that’s where you’ll find Viktor Hovland, who won the 2025 Valspar Championship.

“I eat a lot of Greek [food],” said the 28-year-old Norwegian. “I’ve probably eaten at every Greek restaurant down there.”

It’s not the grilled octopus or the spanakopita that keeps Hovland coming back to this nonmajor, non-Signature Event. It’s the tournament’s quality.

He’s not alone.

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For the second year in a row, the Valspar will feature 18 of the top-50 players in the Official World Golf Rankings, an impressive pull for a full-field tournament held on a devilish course at the end of a grueling series. The field rating last year was ninth-best according to the OWGR, and it should be about the same this year (the rating is compiled when the tournament finishes). The Players Championship usually leads that metric, but last year only the Waste Management Phoenix Open had a higher field rating than the Valspar among the Players and the nonmajor, non-signature tournaments. That was a marked improvement, since it averaged 18th in field rating from 2016-2024.

What is making it more attractive?

“It’s a tough course, and it’s stood the test of time,” said Xander Schauffele.

Schauffle, ranked No. 7, leads the pack at the Valspar, but look around and you’ll see reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun (12), two-time major winner Justin Thomas (12), and Matt Fitzpatrick (15), who just finished second at The Players Championship. Then there’s Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka, who have eight major championship wins between them.

They’re all hoping the three finishing holes, known as the “Snake Pit,” don’t take a bite out of them, but they’re all willing to take the chance.

“I love this place,” Thomas said after his final tuneup Wednesday. “I hope it’s a tournament that work in my schedule every year.”

That’s the issue with the PGA Tour’s second tier. Top players engineer their schedules to play in the four majors, reserve their energy for the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs, and are required to play in at least seven of the eight “Signature Events.” They’re generally eager to play in the Signature Events, since those tournaments feature limited fields and have $20 million purses and first prizes of up to $4 million. That’s more than twice the money available at events like the Valspar, whose purse is $9.1 million and whose winner takes home $1.6 million.

What’s more, Signature Events often feature no cut. At the Valspar, with a field of 135 players that will be cut to the top-65 and ties after 36 holes, about half the participants won’t make any money at all.

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Pontus Nyholm might knock Spieth out of the tournament on Friday with a 60-footer on No. 18.

That ain’t happening at the no-cut Cadillac Classic at Trump Doral next month.

Of course, competition builds character, and $1.6 million will still buy a lot of gyros, but a lot of the players here could opt to save their time and, more importantly, with all four majors and the FedEx Cup playoffs yet to play, they could save their energy.

The Valspar is the fourth stop on the challenging Florida Swing. It began four weeks ago in South Florida at the Cognizant Classic, pushed north to the elevated Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, moved northeast to The Players outside of Jacksonville, and ends this weekend at the Innisbrook Resort, which is northwest of Tampa and, luckily for Hovland, just south of the hellenic heaven that is Tarpon Springs.

Hovland likes the course — he tied for third in 2021, his first Valspar, and won it out of nowhere last year, ending an 18-month slump — but even he didn’t come every year. Thomas does. He hasn’t missed since 2021, but he understands why some players avoid the daunting Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, with its narrow fairways, lush rough, and tiny greens, which presenting yet another exhausting challenge after the API and The Players.

“I think it’s one of the most underrated courses that we play,” said Thomas, who recalls a Connecticut tournament whose quirky course and whose spot on the schedule often deterred the more faint of heart. “I remember the Travelers being like that back in the day. Because of it being the week after the U.S. Open, a lot of guys wouldn’t play. But whenever somebody would go once they’d be like, ‘Wow, this is a great tournament.’”

The Travelers still follows the U.S. Open, but now it is an elevated event, so it doesn’t need to entice players, but it earned a reputation as an easy place to be. That’s been the strategy at Valspar for the past few years.

“The tournament does a really good job of making players feel wanted and taking recommendations on what we need,” said Spaun, who often travels with his young family.

The results: On-site daycare; on-site rooms available for players and many caddies; carving stations as well as steam-table buffets; and healthier food options. Also, fun.

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The Valspar allows an extra “honorary observer” to walk inside the ropes with each golfer, which means a dad or buddy or wife can tag along right on the course. And, of course, the Valspar allows caddies to wear nicknames or social media handles on the backs of their bibs instead of the player’s last name.

Furthermore, if a player is focusing on the next big show and doesn’t want to go to Houston and San Antonio for the next two weeks, this course also offers better prep than the Texas Two-Step.

“You have to think your way around this golf course, like Augusta National,” said Valspar tournament director Tracy West.

The elevation changes and undulating greens better mimic Augusta, too.

“The lead-up to the Masters is important to us,” said Keegan Bradley, who is playing in his ninth Valspar Championship. “This would be the best preparation for that.”

His peers appear to be figuring that out.