Valero Texas Open 2023
This tournament has a rich history dating back to 1922, and has been held at various courses in the San Antonio area. Since 2010, the host venue has been the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio, a challenging layout designed by Greg Norman.
The Oaks Course is a par 72 that measures 7438 yards from the back tees. It has played as the 14th toughest course on Tour in the last five years, with an average score of +0.14 over par. The main difficulty lies in the three par 5s that are over 590 yards each, ranking as the second toughest on Tour. The Texas wind can also make a big difference, especially on the elevated and tiered greens that are protected by deep bunkers. The fairways are narrow and lined with oak trees and brush, and penalty strokes await for errant drives. The rough is 2.25 inches of rye grass that is the second most non-penal on Tour. The greens are a mix of bermuda and overseeded poa trivialis, and are slow at 11 on the stimpmeter.
There is just one more spot open in the field for next week's Masters Tournament and it comes with a win here. The field is not as strong as it would be if the major season would not be starting next week but at the same time the "middle men" of PGA Tour are strong.
Betting card and thoughts
After great week at Matchplay and okay week in Corales it's time to take it easy before the "main" season starts next week.
This week the emphasis is on the early tee times on Thursday combined with a good recent form and history here. Some European young stars are added because of a late good form.
Quite easy way to bet this competition would have been to short all 50 and below odds from late-early wave, but I went the other way this time.
Here are the picks:
The models rankings for all the players can be found here with useful data to make your own picks.
Here's a horror story of what can happen here:
Good luck for the week!
