The Valspar Championship bills itself as the PGA Tour’s most colorful tournament and someone is going to try to paint the town of Palm Harbor, Florida, home of Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, red on Sunday.
It could be Peter Malnati, who scribbled five birdies on his card on Saturday and shot 3-under 68 to improve to 8-under 205 and just two strokes off the lead. In addition to being a colorful character with an ever-present smile, he plays with a colorful ball. After the round, he was asked why he uses a yellow ball. It turns out Malnati, 36, father to Hatcher and Dash, had a quite simple reason.
Peter Malnati hits his bunker shot on the fifth hole during the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
“Well, I started using it in Minnesota at the 3M (Open) last summer,” he said. “And the reason I switched to it is because my, at the time, three year old (Hatcher), who is now four, liked them. And so, he’s kind of over it now, but it still makes me think of him, and that’s worth a smile or two, which is worth a lot out there for me.”
Malnati is bidding for his second career Tour title and first since the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship.
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