What would it be like to earn $1.5M for hitting a little yellow ball into 72 little holes? With a few million people watching you on TV; and tens of thousands of people in person watching and shifting and drinking and wishing you were Tiger and not a journeyman playing a yellow ball in a bucket hat. Well, Peter Malnati knows firsthand how bloody awesome it is. Banking $1.5M, and lifting a Big-A on a big day.
Malnati turned pro in 2009. Fifteen years later, he now owns two PGA TOUR events and no one can question anymore why he’s getting sponsor exemptions into PGA TOUR Signature events. Because he doesn’t need them anymore. And that invitation that was FedEx’d to him this AM from Augusta, wowzer. We’re guessing that piece of parcel is heading straight to a frame to be hung in his home office.
Throughout Thursday and Friday at Valspar, JT was hitting it pure, rolling in a great putt every few holes. Then came Saturday when he had to take 38 tear-inducing putts to complete his round. That isn’t a high number if you’re a 25 handicapper. It is however if you’re a +8. For giggles, let’s just say it only took him 29 putts, which is an average number of putts per round for a PGA TOUR player. Instead of finishing T64 and making $18k, he would have finished the tourney in 11th and would have taken home $212k. What’s the lesson to be learned here? Don’t putt like a chump, putt like PRO!
The 2024 Valspar Championship Payouts:
| Position | Player | Score | Earnings |
| 1 | Peter Malnati | -12 | $1,512,000 |
| 2 | Cameron Young | -10 | $915,600 |
| T3 | Chandler Phillips | -9 | $495,600 |
| T3 | Mackenzie Hughes | -9 | $495,600 |
| T5 | Xander Schauffele | -8 | $298,725 |
| T5 | Ryan Moore | -8 | $298,725 |
| T5 | Carl Yuan | -8 | $298,725 |
| T5 | Adam Hadwin | -8 | $298,725 |
| T9 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | -7 | $237,300 |
| T9 | K.H. Lee | -7 | $237,300 |
| 11 | Lucas Glover | -6 | $212,100 |
| T12 | Billy Horschel | -5 | $166,740 |
| T12 | Taylor Moore | -5 | $166,740 |
| T12 | Chez Reavie | -5 | $166,740 |
| T12 | Scott Stallings | -5 | $166,740 |
| T12 | Kevin Roy | -5 | $166,740 |
| T17 | Andrew Novak | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Akshay Bhatia | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Aaron Baddeley | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Matti Schmid | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Matt Wallace | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Thomas Detry | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Ben Griffin | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Joseph Bramlett | -4 | $104,020 |
| T17 | Keith Mitchell | -4 | $104,020 |
| T26 | Mac Meissner | -3 | $60,060 |
| T26 | Dylan Wu | -3 | $60,060 |
| T26 | Fred Biondi | -3 | $60,060 |
| T26 | Kevin Streelman | -3 | $60,060 |
| T26 | Lee Hodges | -3 | $60,060 |
| T26 | Cameron Champ | -3 | $60,060 |
| T26 | Séamus Power | -3 | $60,060 |
| T33 | Sam Ryder | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Robert MacIntyre | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Justin Suh | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Max Greyserman | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Stewart Cink | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Adam Schenk | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Eric Cole | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Ryo Hisatsune | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Robby Shelton | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Tom Whitney | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Michael Kim | -2 | $39,410 |
| T33 | Brendon Todd | -2 | $39,410 |
| T45 | Sami Valimaki | -1 | $25,704 |
| T45 | Maverick McNealy | -1 | $25,704 |
| T45 | Greyson Sigg | -1 | $25,704 |
| T45 | Kevin Dougherty | -1 | $25,704 |
| T49 | Matt Kuchar | E | $21,151 |
| T49 | Joel Dahmen | E | $21,151 |
| T49 | Roger Sloan | E | $21,151 |
| T49 | Jorge Campillo | E | $21,151 |
| T49 | Adam Svensson | E | $21,151 |
| T54 | Ryan Palmer | 1 | $19,404 |
| T54 | Alexander Bjork | 1 | $19,404 |
| T54 | Carson Young | 1 | $19,404 |
| T54 | Webb Simpson | 1 | $19,404 |
| T54 | Vince Whaley | 1 | $19,404 |
| T54 | Norman Xiong | 1 | $19,404 |
| T54 | Rico Hoey | 1 | $19,404 |
| T61 | S.H. Kim | 2 | $18,564 |
| T61 | Chris Gotterup | 2 | $18,564 |
| T61 | Hayden Buckley | 2 | $18,564 |
| T64 | Sam Stevens | 2 | $18,060 |
| T64 | Nick Taylor | 3 | $18,060 |
| T64 | Justin Thomas | 3 | $18,060 |
| T67 | Harry Hall | 4 | $17,388 |
| T67 | Chan Kim | 4 | $17,388 |
| T67 | Parker Coody | 4 | $17,388 |
| T67 | Ben Martin | 4 | $17,388 |
| T67 | Doug Ghim | 4 | $17,388 |
| T72 | Ryan Brehm | 5 | $16,716 |
| T72 | Callum Tarren | 5 | $16,716 |
| T72 | Hayden Springer | 5 | $16,716 |
| T75 | Bronson Burgoon | 10 | $16,212 |
| T75 | Alejandro Tosti | 10 | $16,212 |
| T75 | David Skinns | 10 | $16,212 |