After a four-hour weather delay on Sunday and a three-hole playoff on Monday, the 2025 Players Championship is finally, officially a wrap. That means players are now turning their attention to this weekend’s Valspar Championship.
We won’t pretend it’s most prestigious stop on the PGA Tour calendar, but for players like Michael Kim, who’s still vying for a spot in next month’s Masters, the tournament could prove vitally important. On Monday Kim took to X, where he often shares interesting inside-the-ropes insights, to explain why he decided to play the Valspar this year. Kim wasn’t sure if he would tee it up at Innisbrook before the Players, but he ultimately chose to because A. He missed the cut at TPC Sawgrass, giving himself a few extra days rest, and B. The word on the street is player dining is going to be A LOT better this year.
Thoughts from Players:
-Personally, from a player’s perspective, I think The Players is the best run tournament in the world. Everything from the gym, food, practice facility, parking, and staff, it’s all first class.
-Every yr I play this tournament, I appreciate the design of…— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) March 17, 2025
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If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: Tour pros are Just Like Us™. The surest way to get an adult male out of sweatpants and out of the house is to promise them good, free food. That goes 30-handicaps and PGA Tour players alike. Thanks to Keith Mitchell—who Kim says criticized the Valspar’s sub-par player dining last year—the grub at Innisbrook is rumored to be much improved in 2025. It’s obviously not the only reason Kim decided to run back this weekend, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
We’ll see if the Valspar’s new nutrition will help Kim, who has played some of the best golf of his career so far in 2025, finally breakthrough for a second win. Who knows, with a little luck and some better french fries, Kim might just punch his ticket to Augusta National … and we all know how good the food is there …
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
