🏌️ Masters' Dinner Menu Revealed

Good Morning. 10 of the top 30 players in the Official World Golf Rankings are a part of the field that tees off at the Valspar Championship tomorrow. Don’t miss out on our top picks for the tournament we’re betting on!

Trivia: Who are the only two players to have won The Valspar Championship in back-to-back editions? Answer at the end of the mail.

⛳ This day in history: On this date in 1950, Cary Middlecoff won the Jacksonville Open at Hyde Park Golf Club. He shot a 69 the final day to win the $2,000 first-place money.

ODDS AND PICKS
Our Top Picks For Valspar Championship

🚩 The 2024 Valspar Championship at the Copperhead Course tees off tomorrow with a strong field of competitors, highlighted by top players from the OWGR and a host of PGA TOUR winners.

💰 Purse: $8.4 million, winner takes home $1.51 million and the last/65th player takes home $18,000.

Here are our top picks we’re betting on:

🚀 Most Likely to Win: Sam Burns (+1200) posted back-to-back wins here in 2021 and 2022, before a T6 last year and a T12 in 2018. Burns has not missed a cut here in five trips. He also leads this field with a mark of 1.68 strokes gained per round on the greens at Copperhead. Burns is our favorite to win the tournament.

🚀 Key Player in the Top 5: Doug Ghim (+800) finished T16 last week at THE PLAYERS, which marked his fifth straight top-16 dating back to the Farmers Insurance Open. He also ranks No. 2 in this field in Total Strokes Gained over the past 24 rounds and has gained strokes on the greens in four of his last five starts, including 7.9 combined over the past two weeks. We back him to finish in the top 5.

🚀 Key Player in the Top 10: While Xander Schauffele (-120) hasn't won since July 2022, it's also important to note that he hasn't missed a cut since even before then. He already has five top-10s in 2024 and tied for 12th in his lone Valspar appearance in 2022. Schauffele's consistency makes him a strong favorite to finish in the Top 10.

🚀 Key Player in the Top 20: Justin Thomas (-125) has been consistent at Innisbrook, going T13-T3-T10 the past three years. You'd think at a track where short putting is so critical, that would be a deal breaker for Thomas. But he's actually in the top one-third in putting inside 10 feet in this field. And his Approach and Around-the-Green numbers are among the best in the field.

🚀 Underdog Likely to Emerge: Players will need to be extremely accurate with their irons at the Copperhead Course. Keegan Bradley (+4000) enters this week's event ranked 27th on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation percentage (71.50%). His ability to constantly put himself in advantageous positions has the 37-year-old averaging 4.17 birdies per round this season. He is the underdog that has potential to win the tournament.

* All odds via BetMGM, at the time of publishing.

ALBATROSS
Rahm's Heritage To Flavor Masters Dinner

Jon Rahm plans to treat his fellow Masters champions to a taste of Spain on April 9 at the Augusta National clubhouse.

🍽️ Dinner Menu Revealed: The meal starts with six options for tapas and pintxos, Spanish words for starters and small snacks.

The salad course is an Ensalada de Txangurro which is Basque crab salad and potato while for the main course, Masters winners will get to choose between two traditional Basque country dishes.

🤝 Asks For Co-Existence: Rahm will compete in his first tournament alongside PGA Tour players since joining LIV Golf when he defends his title at next month’s Masters and believes that both leagues can co-exist peacefully.

⛳️ To Miss 2025 Ryder Cup? Rahm is 6-3-3 in three Ryder Cup appearances, but he may not be on the team at Bethpage Black in 2025.

He has been suspended from one DP World Tour event and fined for every start he's made on LIV Golf. That total is already up to four. 10 tournaments remain on LIV's 2024 schedule, so the bans will continue to add up.

Rahm is only eligible for the 2025 Ryder Cup because he's still a member of the DP World Tour, but he needs to play at least four events on the tour this season to retain his card.

The more suspensions and fines he racks up, the less likely it will be for him to fulfill that four-start requirement.

TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
PGA Tour's Viewership Decline Continues

The PGA Tour's recent trend of declining viewership continued at the Players Championship despite a thrilling finish.

📌 NBC’s coverage of Sunday’s Players Championship drew 3.5m viewers, a 17% drop from last year’s final round of 4.1m.

📌 The 2024 Players Championship was the least-watched final round for the event bin the past 10 years, with the exception of 2022 (2.91m) when the tournament concluded on Monday due to weather delays.

📌 The PGA Tour’s signature events followed a similar decline, with only 2.3m tuning in to NBC’s final-round broadcast of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a 30% from last year’s 3.3m.

Ratings for the final round of the Genesis Invitational were down 5% from 3.4m in 2023.

What's the Solution?

✅ Unification of golf is much needed and the PGA Tour and LIV Golf need to resolve their issues for the good of the game.

✅ A dramatic win by a big name emerging from a packed leaderboard at the Majors like next month’s Masters, can ignite some momentum.

✅ The PGA Tour plans to introduce more engaging fan experiences via the launch of PGA Tour Studios in 2025 and that's definitely the need of the hour to bring fans closer to the game.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

2028 Olympics: Olympic officials are close to finalizing a mixed-team competition for the 2028 Games at Riviera in Los Angeles.

PGA-PIF Meet: Jay Monahan confirms 'constructive' meeting with PIF, LIV Golf head Yasir Al-Rumayyan in the Bahamas.

New Deal: LIV Golf announces a new multi-year deal with AEG Presents that will see the live entertainment company book musical acts and produce live concerts at LIV events around the world.

Team Van Crash: Few hours after their teammate celebrated a victory in a college tournament, the University of South Carolina men’s golf team was involved in a terrible crash caused by a driver who reportedly ran a red light.

Zurich Classic: Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala are set to team up for the 2024 Zurich Classic on April 25-28 at TPC Louisiana in New Orleans.

LaunchPad Golf: Canadian company LaunchPad Golf will open its first US location next to Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake to provide another game-like driving range.

BIRDIE
Best Players At Valspar Championship

The Valspar Championship tees off tomorrow - here are the top performers with some of the best course history over the last five seasons.

🏌️ Sam Burns: Two-time Champion Sam Burns has been the best player at this tournament by miles.

His finishes: 6th (2023), 1st (2022), 1st (2021), T-30 (2019) and T-12 (2018)

🏌️ Justin Thomas: Thomas has only made three starts in this tournament and has been very consistent in all of them.

His finishes: T-10 (2023), T-3 (2022) and T-13 (2021)

🏌️ Luke Donald: Donald has a mixed record in this event and makes this list despite missing the cut last year.

His finishes: MC (2023), T-16 (2022), T-54 (2021), T-9 (2019) and T-64 (2018)

🏌️ Scott Stallings: Stallings has been one of the most consistent players in this tournament over the last five editions.

His finishes: T-16 (2022), T-29 (2021), T-9 (2019) and T-31 (2018)

🏌️ Webb Simpson: Simpson has a decent record with a T-7 finish last year being his best result at this tournament.

His finishes: T-7 (2023), T-48 (2022), MC (2019) and T-8 (2018)

DRIVING RANGE
Best Drill To Control Low Point

The low point is where the club touches the ground and it is a key separator of skill level. In this video, we show you an efficient drill to improve your low point control and play better golf.

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