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Power Rankings: 2018 Valspar Championship

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The PGA Tour returns to Florida this week for the Valspar Championship. A field of 144 players will tackle the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort, home of the famed “Snake Pit” stretch from Nos. 15-17.

Be sure to join the all-new Golf Channel Fantasy Challenge - including a new One & Done game offering - to compete for prizes and form your own leagues, and log on to www.playfantasygolf.com to submit your picks for this week’s event.

Adam Hadwin won this event last year by one shot over Patrick Cantlay. Here are 10 names to watch near Tampa:

1. Jordan Spieth: Spieth won this event in a thrilling playoff over Patrick Reed three years ago, the highlight of a four-year run where he has never finished worse than 20th. With many other big names racking up early-season victories, Spieth has quietly continued to improve with three straight top-20s including a T-14 finish in Mexico.

2. Sergio Garcia: Garcia may be making his final start before his first child, due later this month, is born. But there’s reason to think he’ll make it a good one considering his T-7 finish last week in Mexico and his sterling record around the Copperhead Course, which includes finishes of T-16 or better in each of his last three trips (2011-13).

3. Henrik Stenson: This is a ball-striker’s course and Stenson is the consummate iron specialist, so it’s not surprising to see that he has finished T-11 or better each of the last three years. The Swede skipped last week’s WGC event and hasn’t played since a T-60 finish last month in Malaysia. Otherwise, he might be topping this list.

4. Adam Hadwin: The defending champ faded from the spotlight down the stretch last season, but he’s once again playing some of his best golf. Hadwin has racked up three top-10 finishes in his last five starts, including a T-9 finish last week in Mexico, and seems poised to make a strong title defense.

5. Justin Rose: Rose has played sparingly this year, and his T-37 finish in Mexico was a bit lower than expected. But the Englishman did close with a final-round 67 and now returns to a course where he has played sparingly, but well. Rose has made six starts at Innisbrook since 2008, compiling four top-15 finishes in that time.

6. Tony Finau: Finau is known for his prodigious length off the tee, but he has also demonstrated an ability to play small ball. That includes last year, where he surged to a T-5 finish on the Copperhead Course, and as he closes in on his maiden Masters appearance Finau has a T-6 (Torrey Pines) and T-2 (Riviera) finish among his last four results.

7. Rory McIlroy: The Ulsterman was considered the main attraction until Spieth and Tiger Woods committed at the last minute, but he’ll still draw plenty of crowds as he makes his tournament debut. Unfortunately for McIlroy, his early-season weakness (iron play) could be accentuated by the tight fairways and rolling hills at Innisbrook.

8. Jason Dufner: Like Stenson, Dufner is a ball-striker who traditionally plays some of his best golf on this demanding layout. Dufner has finished inside the top 25 each of the last six years at Innisbrook, including last year’s T-11 result, and he hasn’t been outside the top 30 since 2008. He also finished T-17 just two weeks ago at PGA National.

9. Kevin Na: Na enters this week at No. 65 in the world, firmly on the bubble for the 64-man WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play with one week until the cutoff. He nearly won this event back in 2014, finishing second to John Senden amid a run of three straight top-25s, and will be teeing it up for the first time since his runner-up finish last month at Riviera.

10. Paul Casey: The Englishman doesn’t win often, but he remains a reliable paycheck for fantasy purposes. Casey finished T-12 in Mexico, his seventh straight finish of T-16 or better in a WGC event. He’d be higher on this list were it not for his mediocre course form that includes missed cuts in his last two trips (2012, 2014).