Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio – 2024 Preview

With one week left before the Masters Tournament and the year’s first major, the PGA Tour gathers at the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio for the 102nd edition of the Valero Texas Open. This tournament was founded in 1922 and is the third longest-running event on the PGA Tour. It has been held in the San Antonio area since its origins and has moved to many different courses before finding its current home in 2010 when Adam Scott raised the trophy.

TPC San Antonio winds through the narrow corridors of the Cibolo Canyons, just north of the second most populous city in Texas. With fairways lined by brush and mature oak trees, tricky pin positions on elevated greens, one of the toughest sets of par 5s on Tour, and gusty “Texas” winds, it plays as the 13th toughest annual PGA course with golfers averaging -0.01 strokes per round. It is a unique layout in that it balances narrow tree-lined alleys with wider fairways which provide strategic angles for approach shots.

There have been some shocking winners in the event in past years. From Corey Conners winning as a qualifier in 2019 to Andrew Landry at 200-1 in 2018 and Steven Bowditch triumphing in 2014 with odds of 350-1, anything is possible on the leaderboard come Sunday. Ultimately, it’s a complete challenge from tee to green that doesn’t favor any specific type of player. Keeping the ball in play off the tee, hitting accurate approaches to the proper quadrant on the greens, and gaining shots on the field on the par 5s are among the ingredients needed for success.

The Field

30 players are choosing this event as their warm-up for Augusta National. It includes, perhaps, one of the best fields ever in San Antonio with six of the top-12 players in the world including Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman, Ludvig Aberg, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Tommy Fleetwood. Other headliners include Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Russell Henley and two-time winner here Corey Conners.

For golfers not yet into the Masters field, it is the last chance players will have to make it into Augusta with the winner earning a spot in next week’s field. Motivation will be high for those not qualified. Overall, it’s a great week to chase unqualified golfers as eight of the past eleven winners were not originally in the Masters field. On the flip side, certain Masters participants have appeared to use this week for different purposes. Masters champion, Jordan Spieth won here in 2021 while another stalwart at Augusta National, Conners (three top-10s) has won twice in the last four years at TPC San Antonio. Certain other players have used the week to work on shots in a competitive atmosphere to prepare for next week.

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Finish Position and Strokes Gained Course History (2015-2023)

This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round since 2015 for each of the categories. Players are sorted by SG: Total. TPC San Antonio is the seventh-least (out of 44) predictive annual course on Tour.