Valspar Championship 2024 Each-way Tips: Picks from 50/1 to 70/1

• 60/161.00 Sepp Straka came back to form at Sawgrass

• 70/171.00 Adam Schenk was so close here 12 months ago

• 50/151.00 Christiaan Bezuidenhout looks close to a first win

The Valspar Championship slots in as the final event of this year's Florida Swing, one dominated by Scottie Scheffler.

To the relief of his rivals, the World No.1 won't be heading to the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort this week but two of those who got within a shot of Scheffler in The Players Championship do take part.

Xander Schauffele is the 8/19.00 favourite to atone for his Sawgrass near miss while fellow Players runner-up Harman is 20/121.00.

A quality front end of the market also features 10/111.00 Sam Burns, 12/113.00 Justin Thomas and 14/115.00 Jordan Spieth.

All are continuing their build-up to The Masters which is now just three places down the calendar, following on from the forthcoming fortnight in Texas.

Somewhat unusually, this event has featured two back-to-back winners in the last five editions. Paul Casey and Sam Burns both made successful defences so last year's winner, Taylor Moore, will hope that trend continues.

The Copperhead Course in Palm Harbour is a 7,340-yard par 71 and is known for being more undulating than a typical Florida layout. Adding to the difference, it has four par 5s and five par 3s.

Course form rather than general Florida form works out best and it has correlated well with other venues that feature plenty of elevation changes such as Augusta National and TPC Deere Run (John Deere Classic).

Back Sepp Straka @ 60/161.00

Sepp Straka showed a nice return to form at last week's Players Championship.

The Austrian hasn't really done much this season, managing best efforts of 12th in the limited-field Sentry and 26th at Pebble Beach.

But at Sawgrass he opened with a 68 and stayed solid with three rounds of 70 to finish in a tie for 16th.

Drilling down he was 10th for Strokes Gained: Tee To Green, 16th for SG: Approach and 4th for Greens In Regulation. They were his best rankings for 2024 in all those categories.

Straka comes even sharper into focus when noting that he won last year's John Deere Classic, a tournament whose results correlate very well with this one.

For evidence, check the profiles of Spieth, John Senden, Sean O'Hair and Vijay Singh, who have won both this event and the John Deere.

As for this week's course, Straka only managed 46th on debut last year but, adding some detail, he ended day one as the first-round leader thanks to a 66. He was 21st after 54 holes before a Sunday slip.

Straka likes a tough test as shown by his win with 10-under in another Florida event, the 2022 Honda Classic, and two excellent performances in last year's majors: tied seventh in the US PGA and tied second in the Open Championship.

With two PGA Tour victories under his belt as well as being a winning member of Europe's 2023 Ryder Cup team, Straka has a better CV than many in this field so the 60/161.00 is well worth taking.

Back Adam Schenk @ 70/171.00

As mentioned, there's plenty of evidence linking this week's course and TPC Deere Run.

A very recent example is provided by Adam Schenk, who was runner-up here last year before going on to finish fourth in the John Deere Classic a few months later.

Schenk led this event after 18, 36 and 54 holes 12 months ago but a closing 70 wasn't quite enough to get it done.

Also 18th in 2021, he said after last year's near miss: "It stinks. I hit a really bad drive on the last hole. I toed it. I had a chance with the wedge shot that came up short, and then I had a chance with the [40 foot] par putt, which surprisingly actually hit the pin and came close. It stinks but great week all in all, so I can't really complain."

There was consolation soon after as Schenk and his wife celebrated the birth of their first baby.

He followed up being a new dad with second at Colonial - another course that correlates well with this one - before his fourth at the John Deere.

Sixth places at both St Jude and the Tour Championship completed an excellent year although he hasn't hit those heights yet in 2024.

But 'yet' could be the key word. The 32-year-old was 17th in Phoenix while at Sawgrass last week he shot 66-71 on the weekend for tied 19th.

Schenk ranked 18th for SG: Tee To Green at The Players - his best TTG ranking of the season - so looks well worth a poke at 70s as he returns to a course he clearly gets on really well with.

Back Christiaan Bezuidenhout @ 50/151.00

Christiaan Bezuidenhout has similar credentials to the opening two picks.

He also flashed some improved form at The Players Championship, shaking off a disappointing (MC-44) fortnight at the Cogizant and Arnold Palmer with a tied 13th at Sawgrass.

The South African shot at least 2-under on all four days at The Players and his iron play was sharp as shown by a ranking of 4th in Strokes Gained: Approach.

Bezuidenhout was runner-up at The American Express back in January and followed it up with three other decent finishes: 20th at Pebble, 28th in Phoenix and 24th at Riviera.

In other words, he has a solid bank of form and looks close to getting over the line and landing a first PGA Tour success.

The 29-year-old is a three-time winner on the DP World Tour and it's worth highlighting that since this tournament first came into being in 2000, there are three South African flags by the list of champions.

Retief Goosen won it twice (2003 and 2009) while Charl Schwartzel hoisted the silverware in 2016. Louis Oosthuizen was runner-up in 2019.

Bezuidenhout played all four rounds here on his only appearance in 2022 and broke par in three of them. We can expect improvement this time.

That thought is further fueled by him finishing tied second in the 2022 John Deere Classic for the reasons already discussed.

Read Steve Rawlings' Valspar Championship preview here!