Valero Texas Open Preview

This year’s Valero Texas Open offers quite the opportunity for many golfers this weekend.  This years field isn’t exactly stacked which provides a perfect opportunity for many golfers to pick up valuable FedEx Cup points.  The highest ranked golfer in the Valero Texas Open this year is Charlie Hoffman.

The Course

TPC San Antonio is a long, windy course and will reward the big hitters.  It’s a 7,435 par 72 monster with a lot of hazards.  Kevin Na once scored an amazing 16 on the par 4 9th.  So far, American Grayson Murray has navigated it well with an opening round of 67 to put him at -5.  Two shots ahead of fellow American Andrew Landry.  Murray had 7 birdies actually but a double bogey on 7 cost him.  However; if you play the par 5’s just right, you can score well on them.

Favorites and Underdogs

Sergio Garcia is primed to yet again prove he’s for real.  And he has quite the advantage here.  He, along with Greg Norman, redesigned this course in 2010 to make it more difficult.

(Photo Courtesy: Golf Digest)

The bigger names in the field like Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott, and Charlie Hoffman are also looking to pick up precious FedEx Cup points and with the field weaker than usual, you’d have to imagine that the big names are primed to make a crawl up towards the top of the leaderboard.  Now for the underdogs.  Zach Johnson, for some reason, always plays well in Texas.  He can win big tournaments, as he has won both the Masters and Open Championship in the past.  Pat Perez is also looking to prove his worth this week mainly because he, like many others, are fighting to get on the Ryder Cup team.

TV Schedule

Thursday – 3:30-6:30 Golf Channel

Friday – 3:30-6:30 Golf Channel

Saturday – 1-2:45 Golf Channel and 3-6 CBS

Sunday 1-2:45 Golf Channel and 3-6 CBS

Brian Berard (@RockyBerard)