Valspar Championship Weather Report and Forecast
The Valspar Championship is bringing us to my lovely hometown of Palm Harbor, Florida. The wind looks to be an issue on day 1, as well as early on the 2nd day of the tournament, though things are looking up by the weekend with light winds and sunny skies.
As usual in my golf weather forecasts, we’re focusing more on wind than rain. While rain can halt play if it’s heavy enough, it also helps soften and slow the course, which helps as much as it hurts.
With wind, there’s no helpful side; it’s all negative impact. And the impact can lead to dramatic differences in scoring. My goal is always to try to highlight the time frame with the lightest winds and the time frame with the strongest winds to see if there’s a cumulative advantage for one wave over another.
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Valspar Championship Weather Forecast
Thursday, March 20th
Without a doubt the ugliest day of the event, as winds will be an issue for most of the day. We’ll start out with just 5-10 mph sustained winds for our earliest tee times, but that will quickly climb through the day. By the late morning, winds should be nearing 15 mph sustained with gusts over 20 mph, and by the afternoon the winds hit or exceed 20 mph sustained with gusts around 30 mph. The exact timing of the strongest winds isn’t fully certain, but my lean is for the peak winds to be in the early afternoon, closer to lunch time, then dipping a bit (but staying windy) through the remainder of the afternoon. In short: The earlier the better… but be warned that late morning tee times will be dealing with some issues.
Friday, March 21st
Early morning winds could be a bit breezy. I’d expect sustained winds around 10 mph with gusts to 20 mph for our earliest tee times. Those winds will gradually taper off through the morning and should be light winds (5 mph) by the afternoon.
Saturday, March 22nd
Winds are calm or light for the day. I don’t expect winds to exceed 10 mph.
Sunday, March 23rd
Another great day to finish things off. No wind issues, no rain.
Valspar Championship Weather Thoughts
Thursday is the real problem day here; the rest of the tournament should be mostly fine. I do think the earliest tee times on Thursday get a clear edge, but I also realize you can’t purely choose golfers based on tee times, and even within the AM wave, there are later AM tee times that you might want to target. I think those late AM golfers could end up with similar scores to the afternoon wave. As best I can say it, outside of going super early on Thursday, I’m not certain about an edge on that day. Friday is much clearer; the later you golf, the better off you are, though I don’t expect the weather in general to be as disruptive as what we’ll see Thursday. The weekend looks great; no issues there. I prefer a Thursday AM / Friday PM wave, but I especially prefer it (weather-wise) for the earliest golfers Thursday.
For the latest info as the Valspar Championship forecast changes, stay tuned to @KevinRothWx on Twitter or check my main forecast page.
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