Taylor Moore of San Angelo, Texas won the first PGA tournament of his career on Sunday. The 29-year-old posted a score of -10 to win the 2023 Valspar Championship in Tampa, Florida.
Moore posted a score of even par 71 in round one, a score of four-under-par 67 in round two, two-under-par 69 in round three, and four-under-par 67 in round four. Moore was victorious despite having a double-bogey five on the 13th hole in the first round.
Three other golfers were in contention. Adam Schenk of Vincennes, Indiana was in second place and one stroke off the lead at -9. Meanwhile England’s Tommy Fleetwood and American Jordan Spieth of Dallas, Texas were each two strokes back at -8 and in third place. Spieth, who was one of our three best bets to win the 2023 Valspar Championship, is a three-time major champion. He previously won the 2015 Masters, 2015 United States Open, and 2017 British Open.
Moore is one of three players to win a PGA Tour event for the first time in 2023. He joins Kurt Kitayama of Chico, California, who won the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this month in Orlando, Florida, and Colombia’s Nico Echavarria, who won the 2023 Puerto Rico Open.
Even though Moore won the Valspar Championship, and moved to 49th in the world, his world ranking prior to the last PGA tournament was only 103rd and thus did not qualify for the 2023 World Match Play Golf Championships which begin Wednesday in Austin, Texas. World number one, 2023 Players Championship winner, and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler of Ridgewood, New Jersey is the defending champion of the World Match Play Championships.
