As Matt Fitzpatrick won Valspar, 2 different kinds of losses unfolded

David Lipsky, left, and Brandt Snedeker at the Valspar Championship. Getty Images As Matt Fitzpatrick celebrated a 72nd-hole birdie that won him the Valspar Championship , two players were processing different Sunday misses as they prepared to leave Innisbrook Resort . One was ruing what might have been one of his last best shots.

The other was hopeful a defeat could be the key to what comes next. There was Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker, who went off in the final group alongside 54-hole leader Sungjae Im. Snedeker, 45, is a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour, but his last victory came at the 2018 Wyndham Championship, when he opened with a 59.

Since then, Snedeker has been through the wringer. In 2022, he underwent experimental surgery to fix a joint in his sternum that was separating. It took him eight months to return to competition.

While his health is “the best” it has been in a decade, Snedeker has struggled on the course, posting just three top-10s in 62 events over the last three years. But at the Valspar , Snedeker rode a hot putter and tidy short game into contention, giving him a chance to get back into the winner’s circle for the first time in almost eight years. “Nobody expects me to be here,” Snedeker said Saturday.