Valspar Championship Round 1: Sungjae Im Fires 64, Conners Makes Back-to-Back Eagles

The first round of the 2026 Valspar Championship at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course delivered one of the wildest Thursdays of the PGA Tour season. We got a comeback story, a putter swap that actually worked, and consecutive eagles that made absolutely no sense.

Let’s break it all down.

Sungjae Im Is Back — And He Looks Pissed

Sungjae Im hasn’t exactly been tearing it up lately. He missed the cut at his first two starts back from a wrist injury, and the whispers were starting. Is he healthy? Can he compete?

Thursday’s answer: a 7-under 64 to take the solo lead.

Im went 4-under through his first three holes — the kind of start that makes the rest of the field check the leaderboard and sigh. He played clean, aggressive golf on a Copperhead Course that historically punishes anyone who gets sloppy.

This is a guy with serious talent who’s been sidelined. There’s nothing more dangerous in golf than a player with something to prove and a chip on his shoulder.

Snedeker Switches Putters, Shoots 65

Here’s a stat that matters: nearly every PGA Tour winner in 2026 has been using a mallet putter. Brandt Snedeker — self-proclaimed stats nerd — noticed.

So the 45-year-old swapped to a TaylorMade Spider mallet and proceeded to shoot a bogey-free 65 in Round 1. At his age, on a course this demanding, without a single bogey? That’s elite.

Snedeker’s been a fan favorite for years, and watching him compete near the top of a leaderboard again hits different. Sometimes the simplest equipment change makes all the difference. If you’re still gaming that blade putter because it “feels better,” maybe take a look at what the best putters of 2026 actually look like.

Corey Conners: Back-to-Back Eagles

This is the kind of thing that doesn’t happen in real life.

Conners started on the back nine and hit the flag stick from 145 yards on the par-4 18th for an eagle 2. Wild. Then on the very next hole — the par-5 1st — he chipped in from 40 yards for another eagle.

Back-to-back eagles. One a hole-out from the fairway, the other a chip-in. That’s a 4-under stretch across two holes with zero putts. I don’t even know how you process that while you’re playing.

Spieth Eagle, Schauffele Steady

Jordan Spieth eagled his very first hole of the tournament. The Spieth comeback narrative isn’t dead yet, and every flash of the old magic keeps the dream alive. We wrote about Koepka’s comeback story last week — Spieth’s might be the better one if he can string four rounds together.

Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele — the tournament favorite at +1000 coming in — opened with a solid 3-under 68. Three birdies, fifteen pars, zero drama. Classic Xander. He’s lurking.

The Leaderboard After Round 1

1. Sungjae Im — -7 (64)

2. Brandt Snedeker — -6 (65)

3. Davis Thompson — -5 (66)

T4. Billy Horschel — -4 (67)

T4. Pierceson Coody — -4 (67)

T4. Andrew Putnam — -4 (67)

What to Watch Friday

Im’s durability is the question. Can that wrist hold up for 54 more holes? Snedeker’s round was beautiful but he’s missed four straight cuts coming in — is this a blip or a breakthrough? And Schauffele at -3 is the kind of quiet positioning that wins tournaments at Copperhead.

This is also the last stop on the Florida Swing before things get very real, very fast. The Masters is three weeks away. If you missed our Valspar preview, the Copperhead Course is one of the toughest non-major venues on Tour — and it showed again Thursday.

Round 2 tees off Friday with $9.1 million on the line and $1.638 million going to the winner. Stay tuned.