PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Fairmont native William McGirt will look to get back on track this week in the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship, played in the Tampa area, after a missed cut in his last start at the RBC Heritage.

McGirt tees off on hole No. 1 at 8:01 a.m. Thursday to start his tournament, paired with Martin Trainer and 2016 British Open champion Henrik Stenson. The trio will tee off at 1:11 p.m. on hole No. 10 in Friday’s second round.

McGirt finished 16th in his most recent start at the Valspar in 2018, shooting par or better in all four rounds. In five previous tournament starts from 2011-15, however, he missed the cut four times.

He has a 71.44 career scoring average on the Innisbrook Resort’s par-71 Copperhead course, a Larry Packard design.

McGirt enters the event having missed the cut in four of his last five starts, dating back to October. He is in the eight start of a 29-event major medical extension and has earned 11 FedExCup points through the first seven starts; he needs 375 total points by the end of the extension to maintain Tour playing status.

For the 2020-21 season, McGirt is ranked 230th in the FedExCup standings.

Tournament favorites this week include world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Corey Conners, Patrick Reed and two-time defending champion Paul Casey; the Englishman is attempting to become the first European to win an event three consecutive times since Willie Anderson in the U.S. Open in 1903-05.