Sam Burns of Shreveport, Louisiana won the 2022 Valspar Championship in Tampa, Florida for a second straight year. Burns defended his title by beating fellow American Davis Riley of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In an interesting statistic, Burns is the second golfer to defend his title at the Valspar Championship. Paul Casey of Cheltenham, England won in 2018 and 2019.
Burns beat Riley in a two-hole sudden death playoff. Both golfers had a score of a par on the par-four 18th hole, before the golfers went to the par-four 16th hole. There Burns won with a birdie.
Riley and Burns finished 72 holes tied at -17. The 2017 PGA Championship winner, Justin Thomas of Louisville, Kentucky and Matthew NeSmith of North Augusta, South Carolina finished one stroke back at -16. Meanwhile, Brian Harman of Savannah, Georgia, and Matt Fitzpatrick of Sheffield, England were in a tie for fifth place at -14.
Burns becomes the fourth golfer this year to win a PGA tournament in a playoff. Reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama of Matsuyama, Japan beat Russell Henley of Macon, Georgia with an eagle to win the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii. Luke List of Seattle, Washington won the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego over Will Zalatoris of San Francisco, California, and Scottie Scheffler of Ridgewood, New Jersey won the 2022 Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff over Patrick Cantlay of Long Beach, California.
This was Burns’s third PGA title. When he won the 2021 Valspar Championship over 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley of Woodstock, Vermont, he shot a four-round score of -17 to beat the major champion by three strokes. Burns also won the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi over Americans Nick Watney and Cameron Young.
