Valspar Championship Round 1: Five Share the Lead as the Wind Takes Over Innisbrook

The Copperhead Course spent Thursday doing what it does best, which is turning good rounds into complicated ones. By the time darkness stopped play, five players were tied at the top of the Valspar Championship, and not one of them got there quietly.

Keith Mitchell, Stephan Jaeger, Jacob Bridgeman, Ricky Castillo and Sami Valimaki all posted 4-under 67 at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. Ryan Fox, Nico Echavarria and Nick Hardy sat one shot back at 3 under, and 22 players were within two of the lead. Play was suspended at 7:39 p.m. ET with 10 players still on the course, so the round was finished Friday morning.

Wind, Rain and a Crowded Top

Context matters with that 67. Steady winds of 15 to 20 mph gusted to around 30, and a pop-up shower soaked the afternoon wave. Only 21 players broke 70. If 4 under holds as the first-round lead, it would be the second-highest opening lead or co-lead relative to par in tournament history, according to the PGA TOUR. On a day like this, the scorecard was a survival document.

Mitchell Leaves Some Out There

Mitchell had the best chance to separate. Starting on the back nine, he strung together four straight birdies across the turn at 17, 18, 1 and 2 and climbed to 6 under. Then the closing stretch bit him. He three-putted the par-3 eighth for bogey and went over the back of the green at the ninth to drop another.

"No. 8 was playing really hard today," Mitchell said, per CBS Sports.

There is history hanging over Mitchell at Innisbrook. A year ago he carried the 54-hole lead into Sunday and shot 77 to tumble into a tie for 17th. He told reporters that round still sits with him. "I still think about it," he said. A round like this one, he added, "feels like the opposite of that." The 2019 Honda Classic champion has not won since, so the motivation is not hard to find.

Jaeger's Exit Shot

Jaeger had the most dramatic finish of the five. After dropping a shot at the 16th, the first hole of the Snake Pit, he rolled in a 5-footer for birdie at the par-3 17th and then holed out from a bunker at the 18th for another. The PGA TOUR named it the Shot of the Day. It was his second first-round share of the lead at this event in three years, and it comes a week before he defends his first TOUR title at the Texas Children's Houston Open.

"I felt like my entire game felt pretty solid," Jaeger said.

The Rest of the Five

Bridgeman's 67 was a rollercoaster with a happy ending. He opened bogey, bogey, then eagled the par-5 first on his way to a 32 on that nine. The final tally was six birdies, four bogeys and an eagle, which is a lot of activity for 67 strokes. The 25-year-old is coming off a career-best tie for second at the Cognizant Classic, so the form is real.

Castillo did it with the flat stick. The rookie needed only 20 putts, the fewest in a round on TOUR this season and the first time anyone had gone 20 or under since Adrien Dumont de Chassart at the 2024 RSM Classic, per the PGA TOUR. Six birdies against two bogeys did the rest.

Valimaki drew the short straw on timing and played through the rain. "Yeah, it wasn't the best time to be on the golf course," the Finn said. He absorbed a double bogey at the 14th and still played the Snake Pit in 2 under with birdies at 17 and 18, the best finish through that stretch of anyone Thursday.

Big Names, Mixed Bags

The headliners mostly treaded water. Xander Schauffele, three events into his return from a rib injury that cost him about two months, shot 1-under 70 with three of his four bogeys coming on par 3s, then headed to the range with caddie Austin Kaiser filming his swing. Viktor Hovland also signed for 70. Sahith Theegala ran off five birdies in six holes to reach 4 under, then three-putted 17 and 18 to settle for 69.

Justin Thomas turned in 40 during the afternoon and steadied with a bogey-free back nine for 73. Jordan Spieth, who won here a decade ago, hit only two fairways through 13 holes on his way to 74. Defending champion Peter Malnati missed every fairway and shot 2-over 73, the first player to miss all of them in a round at this event since 2000, per the PGA TOUR. Patton Kizzire withdrew after eight holes with a back injury.

Friday Morning Homework

The stragglers came back Friday at 9 a.m., with the second round already underway, and none of them joined the five at the top. Kevin Velo, who was 2 under through 17 when the horn blew, finished off a 68.

So the leaderboard reads like a group text with too many people in it: five co-leaders, eight within a shot and a wide-open Friday with the cut line waiting. On a course that punishes loose swings this hard, a quiet 69 might be the move that matters most.

Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap and leaderboard), AP, CBS Sports, Golf Today. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.