On the week before The Masters, golfers from around the world will meet up for their last chance to qualify for a chance to play in The Masters at the 2019 Valero Texas Open. This is one of the longest-running tournaments on the PGA Tour and has been around since 1922.
The tournament was originally known as the Texas Open. However, Valero later became the featured sponsor. The Valero Texas Open will take place this year at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course. This course is a Greg Normal design and sits 1100 feet above sea level. Elevation is definitely a factor, but with this course being over 7,400 yards, that elevation will only help as this course is long!
TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course is your typical Par 72 golf course. The course is made up of four Par 3’s, ten Par 4’s and four Par 5’s. It is a long course, so Driving Distance and Ball Striking should be at the forefront of your list of attributes that you are looking for this week in your golfers.
The greens at TPC San Antonio are made up of bermuda grass. The greens are pretty much average by tour standards.
On paper, it appears that the fairways are difficult to hit, but when you look at an overhead of this course, it doesn’t seem that tricky. I’m really not sure if this is just the way the course sets up or if we are getting some false stats due to some guys using this course as a means to prepare for Augusta.
You will definitely want to keep your eye on which golfers need the win to get into Augusta. Some of these golfers are in this tournament strictly to use it as a warm-up course, and for those guys, I’m not so sure I would use them as we see a lot of withdraws over the year, for those golfers playing in Augusta next week.
Let’s take a look at the opening odds for the golfers in the Valero Texas Open:
Rickie Fowler — +1000
Matt Kuchar — +1600
Tony Finau — +1600
Jordan Spieth — +2000
Jim Furyk — +2500
Billy Horschel — +2500
Sung-Jae Im — +2500
Jason Kokrak — +2500
Lucas Glover — +3300
Byeong-hun An — +3300
Lucas Bjerregaard — +3900
Charley Hoffman — +3900
Graeme Mcdowell — +4000
Joost Luiten — +4000
Si-woo Kim — +4000
Abraham Ancer — +4000
Hao-tong Li — +4000
Jhonattan Vegas — +4000
Ryan Moore — +4000
Denny McCarthy — +5000
Joaquin Niemann — +5000
Ryan Palmer — +5000
Aaron Baddeley — +5000
J.b. Holmes — +5000
Luke List — +5000
Daniel Berger — +5000
Jimmy Walker — +5000
Russell Henley — +5000
Joel Dahmen — +6600
Mackenzie Hughes — +6600
Ollie Schniederjans — +6600
Andrew Putnam — +6600
Justin Harding — +6600
Matt Jones — +6600
Sung-Hoon Kang — +6600
Bud Cauley — +6600
Kramer Hickok — +6600
Nick Taylor — +6600
Austin Cook — +8000
Dylan Frittelli — +8000
Luke Donald — +8000
Trey Mullinax — +8000
Chesson Hadley — +8000
J.T. Poston — +8000
Peter Uihlein — +8000
Andrew Landry — +8000
Chris Kirk — +8000
Jonathan Byrd — +8000
Sam Burns — +8000
Kelly Kraft — +10000
Scott Stallings — +10000
Brian Harman — +10000
Martin Kaymer — +10000
Wyndham Clark — +10000
C.T. Pan — +10000
Martin Laird — +10000
Harris English — +12200
Brendan Steele — +12500
Chris Stroud — +12500
Grayson Murray — +12500
Kevin Tway — +12500
Nick Watney — +12500
Ryan Armour — +12500
Brian Gay — +12500
Curtis Luck — +12500
Kyle Stanley — +12500
Padraig Harrington — +12500
Sepp Straka — +12500
Beau Hossler — +12500
Brian Stuard — +12500
Ernie Els — +12500
Kevin Streelman — +12500
Kyoung-Hoon Lee — +12500
Rory Sabbatini — +12500
Vaughn Taylor — +12500
Adam Long — +15000
Carlos Ortiz — +15000
Harold Varner — +15000
Julian Etulain — +15000
Roberto Diaz — +15000
Sam Ryder — +15000
Sebastian Munoz — +15000
Adam Schenk — +15000
D.J. Trahan — +15000
J.J. Spaun — +15000
Peter Malnati — +15000
Roger Sloan — +15000
Sam Saunders — +15000
Shawn Stefani — +15000
Ben Silverman — +15000
Danny Lee — +15000
Jonas Blixt — +15000
Roberto Castro — +15000
Ryan Blaum — +15000
Scottie Scheffler — +15000
Hudson Swafford — +20000
John Huh — +20000
Richy Werenski — +20000
Scott Langley — +20000
Ted Potter — +20000
Hunter Mahan — +20000
Martin Trainer — +20000
Robert Streb — +20000
Seamus Power — +20000
Tom Hoge — +20000
Cameron Davis — +20000
J.J. Henry — +20000
Max Homa — +20000
Scott Brown — +20000
Seth Reeves — +20000
Tyler Duncan — +20000
Cameron Tringale — +23800
Adam Svensson — +25000
Brady Schnell — +25000
Davis Love III — +25000
Hank Lebioda — +25000
Josh Teater — +25000
Kyle Jones — +25000
Alex Prugh — +25000
Brandon Hagy — +25000
Chase Wright — +25000
Freddie Jacobson — +25000
Jim Herman — +25000
K.J. Choi — +25000
Morgan Hoffmann — +25000
Anders Albertson — +25000
Brandon Harkins — +25000
Cody Gribble — +25000
Geroge McNeill — +25000
Jim Knous — +25000
Kenny Perry — +25000
Stephan Jaeger — +25000
Chip McDaniel — +30000
Jose de Jesus Rodriguez — +30000
D.A. Points — +30000
Kristoffer Ventura — +30000
John Senden — +30000
Smylie Kaufman — +30000
Rod Pampling — +50000
Rufus Brijalba — +50000
The Favorites
Matt Kuchar 16/1 – It is really hard to look off Matt Kuchar right now. The guy is playing great golf and has stayed consistent all year long. Kuchar is coming off a 2nd place finish in a tough WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Tournament and has 2 wins in his last 10 tournaments overall. Kuchar hasn’t missed a cut in what seems like forever, the PGA Championship last year, and I expect a strong showing from him this week!
Jason Kokrac 28/1 – Kokrac has been so close but just can’t seem to get over that hump to get the win in a PGA Tournament. That could all come to an end this week as he sets up perfect for this tournament. He has the great approach shot, he has the distance, and he is in great form with a 2nd, 9th, 10th, and 47th place finish in his last 4 tournaments.
The Value
Aaron Baddeley 40/1 – Tough to not like Baddeley with the way he plays here at TPC San Antonio. Baddeley is coming off a 7th place finish last week and actually looked good. He has shown glimpses of playing really well and finished inside the Top 20 in 5 of the last 7 times he has played here at TPC San Antonio. At these odds, you sort of have to look at him and consider him in all DFS games.
Denny McCarthy 55/1 – McCarthy has played really well lately but has missed on Sunday by a notch. It seems that McCarthy has played really well in the first three days and then he sort of forgets how to play on Sundays. He is coming in off a 26th place finish last week in Punta Cana and a 9th place the week before at the Valspar. I like his chances this week and provides you with great value!
The Longshot
Wyndham Clark 90/1 – Clark is playing well lately. I’ve been following this guy for the past 12-months, and he is finally starting to come around. I think he is finally ready for big-time play and to compete at this level. I’m a firm believer that it takes a few tournaments under your belt before you can legitimately compete regularly on this big stage. That is exactly what has happened with Clark. Three tournaments back, he had the league heading for the home stretch on Sunday but simply couldn’t withstand the pressure. Consider it a learning lesson and consider him at nearly 100/1