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Sam Burns was the leader after the last round of the 2021 Valspar Championship, and he didn't relinquish that position on Thursday with Round 1 of this year's edition in the books. The defending champion shares the 18-hole the lead at 7 under with Jhonattan Vegas, Adam Hadwin and David Lipsky, but a pileup of big-time stars sits just beyond them ready to make a move at surprisingly easy Innisbrook as the first post-Players event gets into full swing this weekend.

Unlike the Players, the 2022 Valspar Championship went off without a hitch on Thursday. With just three weeks until the first major of the season, everyone is aiming to get their game in shape before the start of the 2022 Masters. Some are further along to that end than others, but there's 54 holes left in Palm Harbor, Florida, to work out the kinks.

Let's take a look at our co-leaders and who could run them down over the next three rounds.

T1. Sam Burns, Jhonattan Vegas, Adam Hadwin, David Lipsky (-7): Burns, who shined last week at TPC Sawgrass, putted well, but he finished first in approach shots as well which should carry over to the rest of the tournament, especially for somebody who's had a lot of success on this golf course (even though he said that has no bearing on what's happening this time around). Still, Burns has two other top 30s in addition to his win in three starts here, and he'll be in the mix over the next three days. As the +450 favorite, I don't love him, but he's the real deal even though his name recognition doesn't quite match his talent level or his current world ranking (No. 17). He has every bit as much staying power as the bigger names further down this list.

T5. Danny Lee, Scott Stallings, Richy Werenski, Davis Riley (-6): This is an unexpected quartet that I don't believe will stick around the rest of the week. That's partly due to unusually good putting (especially from Werenski and Stallings) but also because of the quality of players just beyond them and how difficult it will be to keep up with some real firepower over the next three rounds.

T9. Justin Thomas, Doc Redman, Kramer Hickok (-5): J.T. looked like he was going to shoot the greatest 1-under round of all time until he finally made some putts late. Despite burying a 64-footer for eagle on the 14th hole, he still finished 114th in the field in putting on Thursday. He is absolutely flushing the ball right now (first from tee to green, first in the world from tee to green over his last 50 rounds) and on days like today, you can't really tell from his score. He had 10 looks from inside 15 feet and only made three putts longer than 3 feet.

"I felt good about everything," said Thomas. "I played really well. I drove the ball beautifully, hit a lot of really quality iron shots, and I don't think I've ever had a round that I've hit so many good putts that haven't gone in.

"These greens are very tough to read to where the grain is very subtle and it goes a lot of different ways. They do a great job with the pin positions of kind of putting them on little subtle spots that maybe stop breaking when they get to the hole or whatever. And man, I hit a lot of really, really good -- I mean, probably five, six, seven putts today felt like that easily could have gone in that didn't. But [caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay] just told me, 'Keep staying patient, keep your head down, keep doing what we're doing, and some good things will happen.' And it did those last eight holes."

T12. Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Matt Fitzpatrick, Louis Oosthuizen, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Gary Woodland, Tommy Fleetwood (-4): This is what I mean about firepower behind the leaders. That's five major champions lurking at three back, and Collin Morikawa is just behind them at 3 under. D.J. is probably the most intriguing considering he's coming off a 63 at TPC Sawgrass on Monday and rolled that right into a 66 here on a day where he didn't putt the ball well at all. His 3.8 strokes gained on approach were the most he's gained in a round since the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship over a year ago, and he's starting to run downhill a little bit with Augusta National looming (which is scary for the rest of the world). Koepka (25-1) and Woodland (30-1) are probably the value plays here, and I especially like Woodland after two T5s in his last three starts.