Valspar Championship
The heartwarming reason why Valspar winner Peter Malnati uses a yellow ball
Julio Aguilar
A cynic might say that golf could always use a little more color, and, accordingly, Peter Malnati, the winner of the Valspar Championship on Sunday, prevailed using a yellow golf ball for the right reason.
“Well, I started using it in Minnesota at the 3M Championship last summer,” he said. “And the reason I switched to it is because my, at the time, 3-year-old, who is now 4, 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, 36, closed with a four-under 67 to win by two over Cameron Young at Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Fla. The victory was the second of his PGA Tour career, the first coming at the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2015.
Incidentally, he isn’t the first to win on the PGA Tour using a colored golf ball. Jerry Pate began using orange golf balls in 1980 and won three times with one, including the Players Championship (then called the Tournament Players Championship) in ’82. Wayne Levi, meanwhile, also won with a yellow ball.
