snedeker stood on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida, watching a firm, fast afternoon test every decision on Friday (ET), a day that pulled him from early promise into a fight to stay close as the Valspar Championship pushed toward the weekend.
What happened Friday at the Valspar Championship, and why did it feel different by afternoon?
Sungjae Im held onto the lead Friday afternoon, rallying on the back nine to edge ahead of David Lipsky in conditions that demanded controlled misses and patient putting. Im shot a 2-under 69 to reach 9-under 133, one stroke clear of Lipsky.
The shape of Im’s round underscored the course’s mood swing. He made three bogeys and two birdies on the front nine for a 37, then steadied himself with birdies on the par-5 11th and par-4 12th. The separating moment came late: a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th broke a tie for the lead.
Lipsky, playing in the first group of the day off the first tee, produced a 65 that looked like a clean answer to Copperhead’s bite. He birdied the first two holes and four of the first six, added birdies on 10 and 11, then protected his round with seven closing pars. “It was excellent. I did everything well, ” David Lipsky said. “Missed it in the right spots, holed the putts early on to get some momentum going. That finishing stretch is obviously tough, so able to save a couple pars down on 16 and 18 and really kept the round going. ”
How did Snedeker’s sponsor exemption turn into a test of staying afloat?
Brandt Snedeker, the 45-year-old U. S. Presidents Cup captain who received a sponsor exemption, had been right in the early picture. On Thursday morning, Sungjae Im’s opening 64 included two eagles and gave him a one-shot advantage over Brandt Snedeker. By Friday afternoon, the same course that rewarded boldness a day earlier demanded restraint: Brandt Snedeker shot 72 and dropped to 5 under.
His words carried the practical tone of a player trying to translate survival into opportunity. “The good thing is it’s playing really tough and tricky this afternoon, ” Brandt Snedeker said. “Try to take a positive from that. Hung in there when things weren’t going great. ”
In a leaderboard shaped by small margins, the sponsor exemption reads less like a ceremonial invitation and more like a compressed audition—one round can make you a primary character; one difficult stretch can push you into the crowd. Yet Brandt Snedeker’s position at 5 under kept him within range of a moving target as others also jockeyed behind the leaders.
Who is in the chase, and what do their rounds reveal about Copperhead?
Behind Im and Lipsky, the next tier showed how quickly momentum can change on this setup. Chandler Blanchet and Doug Ghim were 7 under. Blanchet closed with a bogey for a 66. Ghim shot 67, mixing an eagle on the par-5 11th with bogeys on 15 and 16—an illustration of how Copperhead can hand back gains just as fast as it offers them. “Obviously, I wish I would have finished a little bit better, ” Doug Ghim said. “Two bad holes doesn’t really necessarily kind of ruin a good day. ”
A group at 5 under included Jordan Smith, Matt Fitzpatrick, Marco Penge, Alex Smalley, and Brandt Snedeker. Their proximity to one another, and their differing scorelines, painted a common theme: the path to contention ran through minimizing mistakes, then capturing a handful of makeable chances.
Elsewhere, Jordan Spieth sat at 3 under after a 70, describing a split between ball-striking and putting that he wanted to combine over the weekend. “I definitely hit it better yesterday and putted better today, ” Jordan Spieth said. “So, just try to put them both together on the weekend. ” Brooks Koepka, tied for 10th at 4 under after a 67 in his return to Innisbrook, left strokes on the course with a missed 3-foot birdie putt on his final hole but sounded steady about his approach. “Just keep doing what I’m doing, ” Brooks Koepka said. “Playing well, like the way I’m striking it. ”
What’s the bigger story behind Im’s lead heading into the weekend?
Im’s position at the top carried a layer beyond the day’s shot-by-shot turns. The 27-year-old South Korean player had missed two straight cuts in his return from a wrist injury, then arrived at Innisbrook and built a two-round total of 64 and 69 to lead at 9 under. His two PGA TOUR victories—the 2020 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches and the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open—framed what it means when his game sharpens: he can convert when conditions demand discipline.
That matters because the leaderboard suggests pressure won’t come from one direction. Lipsky is winless on the PGA TOUR yet produced a round that looked built for this course, especially the way he managed the closing stretch with pars. The weekend, then, isn’t only a question of whether the leader can hold on—it’s also about whether a chaser can keep playing with the same freedom when every shot carries more weight.
What comes next, and what should fans watch for on the weekend?
The weekend will ask players to repeat what worked while accepting that Copperhead rarely feels the same from one round to the next. For Im, the blueprint is already visible: withstand a front-nine wobble, then lean on timely birdies like the ones he found on 11, 12, and the decisive putt on 17. For Lipsky, the question is whether the crispness of his early run—birdies on two of the first two holes and four of the first six—can be recreated when the stakes rise.
For Brandt Snedeker, the weekend becomes a chance to turn Friday’s grit into a quieter kind of momentum. He began the tournament as the closest pursuer after Thursday morning’s scoring burst from Im, then absorbed a 72 as the afternoon turned “tough and tricky. ” When the scene returns to that firm, fast stage again, the sponsor exemption will feel less like a footnote and more like an open door—if snedeker can step through it before the leaders pull away.
Image caption (alt text): snedeker on the firm, fast Copperhead Course at Innisbrook during the Valspar Championship.
