2022 Valspar Championship leaderboard: Sam Burns aims to defend title, Justin Thomas leads contending stars

The leaderboard at Innisbrook is absolutely loaded after 18 holes

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.