Phil Mickelson And Justin Rose Commit To Valspar Championship
For Immediate Release: April 23, 2021
For Immediate Release: April 23, 2021
Two of golf’s great champions, Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose, will play in next week’s Valspar Championship. Mickelson, winner of 54 PGA TOUR tournaments including five Major Championships, last competed on the Copperhead in 2004 in a fall event.
“We are very excited to add Phil to our field this year, he is a great champion and fan favorite,” says Tournament Director Tracy West. “He has told us several times during the last few years that he wanted to return to Innisbrook where he won an NCAA individual championship in 1990. We are delighted that things have worked out with his schedule in 2021.”
Mickelson, who turned 50 last June, has been a member of 24 U.S. teams at either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. He has continued to turn in quality performances on the PGA TOUR, including his most recent victory at the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Rose is the winner of the first golf Gold Medal at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games, as well as 24 professional tournaments, split almost equally between the PGA TOUR and the European Tour. He is among the small number of players to have risen to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking, that happening in 2018 when he won the FedExCup. One of only five golfers to win official tournaments on all six continents on which golf is played, Rose has been a member of Team Europe for six Ryder Cup competitions.
Three other important commitments this week were Kevin Kisner, #42 in the OWGR and winner of the 2019 WGC Dell Match Play, veteran European star Ian Poulter and 2016 PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker. They will be among those attempting to deny Paul Casey, the winner on the Copperhead Course in 2018 and 2019, a three-peat. The Valspar Championship features 10 of the top 30 players in the current OWGR, led by #1 Dustin Johnson and #2 Justin Thomas. Rose is among the 19 players ranked in the top 50 in the OWGR in the field. The commitment list is updated frequently here.
All available tickets for all four days for the Hooters Owl’s Nest at the 12th hole have been sold out. Only Thursday remains on sale for the upscale Snake Pit Hopper ticket which includes access to the tournament and the KETEL One Snake Pit Club 16G, the AmeriLife Snake Pit Club 17G and DEX Imaging Snake Pit Club 18G. Each shared hospitality open-air venue is designed for corporate and social entertainment and offers an all-included lunch buffet, hors d’oeuvres, desserts and a full-service premium bar, as well as flat-screen televisions. Grounds tickets remain on sale for all four days.
A colorful mural by artist Zulu Painter was unveiled Friday at the North Greenwood Recreation Center in Clearwater. The Back to Bright mural is sponsored by Valspar which is using the power of color and art to promote joy, inspiration and a brighter future and promote “togetherness”. The artist, Zulu Painter, used input from the children who participate in activities at the Rec Center to help create the art. In addition to the Tampa Bay mural, a PGA TOUR professional participating in the Valspar Championship will receive the opportunity to have a mural created. The PGA TOUR pros will have signed paint cans for a wall behind the 18th tee. From those cans, one pro will be chosen randomly to earn the right to select a location in his own hometown or a town of his choosing for a similar mural created by a local artist from that community.