Peter Malnati will receive the grand prize of $1,512,000.
Follow Us
In the recent Valspar Championship, an unusual occurrence piqued the interest of the golf world when seven players named Kevin competed. This PGA Tour event was held from March 21-24 at Florida’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor. It was a standard tournament with many participants, but Camilo Villegas, Justin Lower, Erik Barnes, David Bradshaw, and Pierceson Coody all withdrew after the initial round.
Kevin Roy, Kevin Streelman, Kevin Dougherty, Kevin Yu, Kevin Tway, Kevin Aylwin, and Kevin Kisner were the seven Kevins in the field. Of them, Roy achieved the highest rank, sharing 12th place. His performance included scores of 65, 73, 69, and 72, adding up to five under par, the same as Chez Reavie, Scott Stallings, Billy Horschel, and Taylor Moore.
Streelman opened with a promising 64 but struggled later, ending up tied for 26th at three under alongside Mac Meissner, Dylan Wu, Fred Biondi, Lee Hodges, Cameron Champ, and Seamus Power. Dougherty’s hopeful start, with an opening 69, didn’t hold as he scored 71, 70, and 73 in later rounds.
He was tied for 45th at one under with Greyson Sigg, Sami Valimaki, and Maverick McNealy. Just three of the seven competing Kevins made it past the cut. Yu was cut after rounds of 74 and 69. Tway did not fare better, with two rounds of 72, marking him two over par and outside the qualifying range for the following rounds.
Aylwin started his tournament with a less-than-ideal beginning, recording a score of 75 in the first round and a slightly better 71 in the second. His total ended up being 4 over par, which unfortunately led to him not cutting. Kevin Kisner, who also played in the Valspar Championship, had a tough time as well; he opened with a high score of 80 and ended with a 75, totaling 13 over par.
On the brighter side, Peter Malnati was the standout player, taking home the 2024 Valspar Championship title on Sunday, March 24. The American golfer performed impressively, shooting rounds of 66, 71, 68, and 67, to cement a two-shot win ahead of Cameron Young. Mackenzie Hughes and Chandler Philips shared third place.
Whereas Xander Schauffele, Carl Yuan, Ryan Moore, and Adam Hadwin were collectively in fifth place. Malnati’s victory at the Valspar Championship ended nine years without a win, his previous win being the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2015. This win became his second on the PGA Tour. At 36 years old, he received a $1.5 million paycheck and garnered 500 FedEx Cup points.
After the intense competition settled down on Sunday at the Valspar Championship, Peter Malnati emerged as the winner all by himself. But his victory could have been very different if not for a key rule helping him out near the end of his round. When Malnati got to the par-4 16th hole at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, it was just him and Cameron Young, both tied with scores of 11 under par, and Young was aiming for his first win on the PGA Tour.
Malnati’s drive on 16 was spot-on, landing nicely on the fairway, and it looked like his next shot, about 174 yards to the green, would be easy. However, he knew he didn’t hit it well as soon as it left his club, and he had to watch it go off course, hit the green, and then end up in the thick grass past the green’s edge. His ball landed in a bad spot, but luckily, there was a sprinkler head right next to it.
Malnati got a PGA Tour rules person to come over and talk about what he could do. Usually, things like sprinkler heads are in the rules of golf as things you can’t move, and Rule 16 lets you move your ball for free, within one club’s length from the closest point that’s not in your way, if these kinds of things are in the way of your swing or where you stand.
Read More-
