Dustin Johnson teeing up in Sunshine State looking for US PGA Championship boost

World number one Dustin Johnson returns to action this week, starting as favourite for the Valspar Championship, seeking to build on a promising effort in the RBC Heritage last time out.

Johnson tied for 13th place in the Heritage, rediscovering some putting form in the final round after a terrible few months on the greens, and the Carolinian giant will be hoping for further progress at the Innisbrook Resort, Palm Harbor, Florida.

Johnson, a group-stage loser in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play before missing the cut in the Masters, finished sixth in the last Valspar Championship in 2019. If the Valspar goes well, this will almost certainly be Johnson's last tournament before the US PGA Championship, but he is prepared to add the AT&T Byron Nelson to his schedule if he feels he needs to play his way into form before the second Major of the year.

Paul Casey is looking for three consecutive Valspar triumphs, having won in 2018 and 2019. The Englishman became Dubai Desert Classic champion at the end of January.

Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, who beat Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel in a playoff on Sunday night for a 12-1 Zurich Classic success, are skipping the Valspar, but Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed and Viktor Hovland have joined Johnson in a decent line-up.

The European Tour stays in the Canary Islands for the Tenerife Open, which was last staged in 1994. Golf Costa Adeje hosts. Garrick Higgo, the 40-1 winner of the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open on Sunday, is scheduled to go to post again in Tenerife.

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