Steve Palmer's Valspar Championship first-round preview and free golf betting tips

Where to watch the Valspar Championship

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 11.30am Thursday

Best bets

Sam Burns top American
2pts each-way 10-1 BoyleSports

Aaron Rai to win 4.50pm threeball
2pts 6-4 Betfair, Power

Christiaan Bezuidenhout to win 11.40am threeball
2pts Evens general

Matthew NeSmith to beat Webb Simpson
2pts 20-21 BoyleSports

Adam Hadwin to win 5.56pm threeball
2pts 5-6 Betfair, BoyleSports, Power

Valspar Championship first-round preview

Two-time Valspar Championship victor Sam Burns starts his hat-trick bid early this week, teeing off alongside Justin Thomas and Sungjae Im in the marquee morning threeball (12.13pm UK and Ireland time) at the Copperhead Course, Florida.

Burns has produced some great golf this season and will expect to contend on his favourite track. He looks much better value at 10-1 to finish as top American than he does at 12-1 in the outright market, as there are numerous non-Americans with title aspirations.

Burns, who has posted four top-ten finishes on the PGA Tour already this year, can end the week as top American, while a trio of players appeal on the day-one threeballs card.

Florida-based Englishman Aaron Rai possesses the precision to handle the Copperhead assignment and should prove too steady for Thomas Detry and Ryan Fox (4.50pm), while Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who has a rock-solid record in the Sunshine State and could threaten a PGA Tour breakthrough this week, can be fancied to account for Luke Donald and Sam Stevens (11.40am), while former Valspar champion Adam Hadwin fully deserves his odds-on status to defeat JB Holmes and Zach Johnson.

Pick of the 72-hole match-bet options is Matthew NeSmith, who has a 61 to his name in the Valspar, to outscore the increasingly ineffective Webb Simpson.

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