Beginning off No. 10 tee, World No. 404 Ted Potter, Jr. fashioned a 4-under-par 35-32=67 in the first round of the Valspar Championship, good for T7, three in arrears of leader Keegan Bradley.
This is the Ocala, Florida, native’s fifth Valspar with one prior payday, a T20 in 2014. That came three tries ago, and included a best at Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead) of 67 in R3, which he matched today. On nine (of 13) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, the 37-year-old lost 0.706 strokes around-the-green but gained 0.496 off-the-tee and 0.185 on approach. He squared a lone bogey-4 at hole 8 (failed sand save), camouflaged by an eagle-3 at 1 (from 17'11"), and three circles at 11, 14 and 18, two from between 12 and 27 feet. The Florida resident recorded 1.667 putts per GIR and 4.160 SG: Putting, ranked No. 3 in the latter, and was buoyed by two par-savers from between 10 and 12 feet. This is the second time this season in 16 events that he’s been in the top 10 after R1, joining a T6 at the WM Phoenix Open seven starts ago, where he eventually cratered to 64th (66-71-71-74). Potter, Jr.'s lone top 10 on the campaign is a T7 at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open five starts ago (69-69-67-69).