Valspar Championship 2014: Tee times, pairings for Thursday’s round

We’re on to the second half of the Florida swing, as the annual stop in Tampa Bay takes over at the newly-named Valspar Championship. The Copperhead course at Innisbrook has now hosted a PGA Tour event, in one form or another, for 25 years but this is the first time that Valspar, a paint company, is the title sponsor.

The tournament lacks some of the big names that populate the other three stops on the Florida swing, but it’s still a better-than-average group as players continue to ramp up in advance of the Masters. The tournament has jumped around on the schedule, most recently moving from the fall to the early spring. But sandwiched in between the big-money WGC event at Doral, and Arnold Palmer’s party next week doesn’t do many favors for luring the top guys. Throw in the resurgence of the Honda Classic, and it adds to the challenge of drawing superstars who usually aren’t going to play four weeks in a row.

While there’s no Tiger or Rory, there are still multiple groups of international superstars on each side of the tee sheet. Jordan Spieth continues his push to the Masters in his first full season on Tour, and he’ll be paired with another top American prospect, Harris English, and last week’s winner, Chesson Hadley. They will play one group after Luke Donald, Kevin Streelman, and Gary Woodland, the last three winners at Innisbrook and part of the marquee AM cluster. In the afternoon, Jason Dufner, Justin Rose, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, and Ernie Els are some of the bigger names who will play during the TV broadcast window from 3 to 6 p.m. ET.

Here’s the full tee sheet for Thursday’s opening round at Innisbrook:

Morning wave off No. 1:

Morning wave off No. 10:

Afternoon wave off No. 1:

Afternoon wave off No. 10: