Valero Texas Open
Course: TPC San Antonio Oaks Course (7,438 yards, par 72)
Purse: $9,800,000
Winner: $1,764,000 and 500 FedExCup Points
Tournament Preview
There's just one event left before the first major championship of the year at Augusta National, and plenty of players will be trying to lock up the last spot into The Masters with a win at this week's Valero Texas Open. There isn't very much about TPC San Antonio that players will be able to use going into next week, but nothing can replicate the competitive reps of being in contention to help prepare you for all the pressure that will be in place trying to win the Green Jacket.
Monday's OWGR rankings finalized the new players who earned invites into The Masters via the Top 50. Nicolai Hojgaard, Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp and Matt McCarty were the players who were not yet exempt that can now book their trip for Augusta. Among the notables just missing out were Pierceson Coody, Michael Thorbjornsen, Rickie Fowler and Ryo Hisatsune. All of those guys with the exception of Coody, who is nursing a back injury, will tee it up in San Antonio and will be looking to win and secure a spot in The Masters.
There are plenty of players on the other side of the spectrum who have been well secured in the first major of the year, but are looking to play their way into form heading into Augusta. Tommy Fleetwood is the highest ranked player in the field who will be searching for PGA Tour win No. 2 after breaking through at the TOUR Championship last August. Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka, J.J. Spaun, Hideki Matsuyama, Ludvig Aberg and Alex Noren make up the other Top 25 players in the OWGR teeing it up this week.
The Texas Open is one of the longest running events on the PGA Tour. It dates back to 1922 when Bob MacDonald took home the first title. 10 different players have won this event more than once, with the most recent joining that club being Corey Conners in 2023. Brian Harman enters as the defending champion after besting Ryan Gerard by three strokes last year.
The winning score at TPC San Antonio has varied a lot over the years. It's a course where we typically see some separation on the leaderboard between those who are playing very well and those that are playing average. Harman won at just 9-under-par last year. The year prior we saw a playoff between Akshay Bhatia and Denny McCarthy at 20-under-par, but they were a full nine shots clear of Rory McIlroy in third place.
After a really good run of weather the last couple weeks, it appears we might have to dodge some thunderstorms. The most likely day to see storms will be Saturday. Hopefully we are able to avoid lengthy delays and get 72 holes in by Sunday night. That will be especially crucial as a number of these players will be wanted to get on property at Augusta National to begin their major prep. Nevertheless, TPC San Antonio appears it is going to play a little softer than usual, but the traditional gusty winds should still be a factor.
Recent Champions
2025 - Brian Harman (-9)
2024 - Akshay Bhatia (-20)
2023 - Corey Conners (-15)
2022 - J.J. Spaun (-13)
2021 - Jordan Spieth (-18)
2020 - No Tournament
2019 - Corey Conners (-20)
2018 - Andrew Landry (-17)
2017 - Kevin Chappell (-12)
2016 - Charley Hoffman (-12)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- Bogey Avoidance/Proximity 50-125 Yards
Champion's Profile
TPC San Antonio is one of the most predictive courses on the PGA Tour. Course history will definitely mean a lot this week. That said, the players who are in the field this week that have very good records here cover a wide range of styles of play. There's a nice mix of short and long hitters, as well as those who gain a lot of strokes with the ball-striking and those who gain a lot of strokes on and around the greens.
I've always thought The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio was one of the most challenging driving courses on the PGA Tour. While the rough isn't that big of an issue, the fairways are very well bunkered and it's also not hard to get in really bad spot with a big miss. Iron play will be a big separator as well. The last three winners ranked either first or second for the week in SG: Approach. Two of them also led the field in GIR's as well. The wind always seems to play a big factor here, and makes both driving the ball in the fairways and hitting quality approach shots quite difficult.
Because of the difficulty from tee to green, players are going to have a lot of scrambling opportunities. Ryan Gerard, who finished second last year, ranked second in both SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting. The year prior Denny McCarthy and Akshay Bhatia were first and second in SG: Around-the-Green. Maybe things will be a little easier this year with the expected precipitation during the tournament, but it does feel like another ball-striking and short-game week.
Last thing to mention about this course is the difficulty between the two nine's. The front averaged nearly 1.5 strokes harder than the back. It's about making pars early and then attacking on the second nine. This is also one of the hardest sets of par-5s on the PGA Tour. Three of them are typically three-shot holes, which does place added emphasis on being a solid wedge player. There's also a number of short par-4s where wedge will be in hand.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Tommy Fleetwood ($12,100)
I think a lot of people will pivot to Ludvig Aberg at the top, especially considering the Swede is a little cheaper, but Fleetwood fits this golf course very well. He is leading the PGA Tour in SG: Around-the-Green, and has also been quite strong on approach, particularly with his wedges. Fleetwood is also 11th in driving accuracy and 11th in putts per GIR. He has made four starts on the PGA Tour this season and has three top-8 finishes. The Englishman also has a T7 in this event back in 2024.
Russell Henley ($11,800)
Henley is always one of the most reliable players in DFS. He's one of the most accurate off the tee, his distance control is excellent, the short game is really tidy and the putter has been hot this year. It's a big reason why he has finished top 20 in five of his six starts this season. Given his consistent ball striking, it's a surprise that Henley has only played this event three times in his career. That said the last time he was here was in 2024 when he finished solo fourth.
Si Woo Kim ($10,900)
Kim was the top ranked player in my model this week which placed a lot of emphasis on approach play, driving it well and converting around the greens. Kim has cooked down a little bit from his red-hot start to the season, but he doesn't feel far off at all. The 30-year-old now lives in Texas and is very familiar playing in the conditions we are going to get this week. Kim has collected four top-25 finishes in his career at TPC San Antonio.
The Middle Tier
Keith Mitchell ($10,300)
Mitchell may very well be the safest player on the board this week. He has yet to miss a cut this season and his finished T26 or better in all four of his starts at TPC San Antonio. The ball striking has been excellent ranking top 40 in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach, total driving, GIR percentage and proximity 50-125 yards. Mitchell might not be in the field for The Masters, but he is certainly hitting it well enough to contend.
Sudarshan Yellamaraju ($10,000)
Yellamaraju has had a very impressive rookie campaign coming off the Korn Ferry Tour. He collected his second straight top-6 finish last week in Houston and his fourth total top 20 on the season. Yellamaraju is an impressive ball striker ranking second in total driving and top 30 in SG: Approach, GIR percentage and proximity. The Canadian was high on my model and that didn't even factor much in the putting department where Yellamaraju is top 20 in SG: Putting and putts per GIR.
Jordan Smith ($9,500)
Whenever we come to a course with a high emphasis on ball striking then Smith should be a name to keep in mind. The Englishman ranks 17th in SG: Off-the-Tee, seventh in total driving and eighth in GIR percentage this season. Smith has finished top 25 in three of his last five starts, including a solo third at the Valspar Championship. Something similar may very well be in the offering at TPC San Antonio.
The Long Shots
Zecheng Dou ($8,700)
Dou graded out very well for me because he ranks high in a number of key stats I'm looking at. He is top 35 this season in SG: Approach, proximity 50-125 yards, SG: Around-the-Green and scrambling. Dou is coming off his third top-25 finish of the season last week in Houston. He's played this event twice before with not much to show for, but he is a much better player now. Dou is sneaky long and is fully capable of getting hot with the putter.
Adrien Dumont de Chassart ($8,700)
Everyone recognized the talent coming out of college, but it has really taken him until now to really start putting results together on the PGA Tour. The 26-year-old rides into this event on the strength of four straight finishes of T26 or better. Dumont de Chassart is a long driver with an excellent short game (11th SG: Around). The iron play looks average at first glance, but he is 16th in proximity from 125-150 yards and 22nd in proximity 150-175 yards, two important distance buckets on the PGA Tour.
Andrew Putnam ($7,900)
Putnam has made his last four cuts and now comes to a place where he has had some success before. The veteran has a pair of top-15s in San Antonio, and has been quite strong on approach at this course in his last four appearances. That's good to keep in mind considering the strength of his game is putting the ball in the fairway (1st driving accuracy) and his short game (4th SG: Around, 12th scrambling).
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
This is one of the better fields I can remember for this event since they moved the week before The Masters. There's a lot of options to choose from and most of them are playing well. I think we will see a pretty solid spread in the $11K and high $10K range. I wasn't the biggest fan of the $9K range, so I'm leaning towards picking four players at $10K+ and then trying to find a couple players deep in the weeds to round things out. TPC San Antonio is a quirky course and it will be a bit of a different challenge than some courses recently. Don't be surprise if a few guys with no form end up having a good result. Some other players in the long shot range not mentioned above that I will be considering are John Parry ($8,400), A.J. Ewart ($8,000), David Ford ($7,800) and David Lipsky ($7,700).
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