The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio for the 2024 Valero Texas Open. First opened in 2010, the Oaks Course was designed by two of the most vilified players in golf: Greg Norman and Sergio Garcia. This year’s layout will play as a Par 72, 7,438 yard layout.
TPC San Antonio is a course that offers a little something for everyone, making it playable for both pros and the Average Joe alike. A relatively flat layout, the Oaks Course offers lovely contrasts: wide fairways and narrow fairways, towering oak trees and natural bunkering and of course, few forced carries and several avenues of approach to scoring on each hole. Given the length of the course, the players who are most apt to find success here will not only be able to hit it far off the tee, but accurately also, have good control of their iron play and have an excellent short game if the winds start to pick up this weekend.
The Valero Texas Open, despite changing sponsor names and host courses over the years, has hand a long and storied history on the PGA Tour, as it was first contested over 100 years ago, with the very first edition taking place in 1922, making it the third oldest, non-major event on the PGA Tour schedule. Many legends of the game have won here, including Walter Hagen, Joe Turnesa, Macdonald Smith, Bobby Cruickshank, Bill Mehlhorn, Denny Shute, Dutch Harrison, Byron Nelson, Lawson Little, Chick Herbert, Ben Hogan, Ed Oliver, Sam Snead, Jack Burke Jr., Mike Souchak, Gene Littler, Arnold Palmer, Bruce Crampton, Frank Beard, Chi-Chi Rodriguez, Deane Beman, Ben Crenshaw, Don January, Hale Irwin, Lou Graham, Lee Trevino, Bill Rogers, Jay Haas, Calvin Peete, John Mahaffey, Corey Pavin, Mark O’Meara, Blaine McCallister, Nick Price, Bob Estes, Duffy Waldorf, Tim Herron, Hal Sutton, Justin Leonard, Loren Roberts, Tommy Armour III, Bart Bryant, Robert Gamez, Eric Axley, Zach Johnson, Adam Scott, Brendan Steele, Ben Curtis, Martin Laird, Steven Bowditch, Jimmy Walker, Charley Hoffman, Andrew Landry, Corey Conners, Jordan Spieth and J. J. Spaun, just to name a few.
Arnold Palmer and Justin Leonard are tied for most wins in this event with 3 wins a piece, with Palmer’s wins coming in 3 straight years from 1960-1962. There have been a myriad of players to win this event twice, including Bill Mehlhorn, Sam Snead, Dutch Harrison, Ben Crenshaw, Jay Haas, Duffy Waldorf, Zach Johnson and Corey Conners. With multiple courses hosting this event through the years, there are 3 different scoring records. The lowest score to Par is -27, which was fired by Mike Souchak in 1955 when he fired a 72 hole total of 257 strokes. The lowest stroke total is 254 (-26), which was accomplished by Tommy Armour III in 2003. The Oaks Course at San Antonio has hosted this event since 2010, with the scoring record for this specific course being 268 (-20), which was achieved by Corey Conners in his first victory here in 2019.
Last year’s edition was won by Corey Conners, who came from one stroke behind to begin the final round to win by one stroke over Sam Stevens. Sam Ryder and Matt Kuchar finished T-3, two strokes back, with Patrick Rodgers finishing in fifth place, four strokes back.
Brian Harman is my player to fade, as he hasn’t played much at the Valero in the past. I know he has some good playing in the past months, but also just haven’t seen him preform consistently. He had a couple good tournaments sprinkled in, but over his career when he is playing solid, he runs with it, and I don’t see him in the running this week.
Ryan Moore is my pick for a long-shot here. His game sets up well for the Valero and he has had multiple top 10 finishes at this event in the past. Last few events, he has been playing a more solid version of his game and had a T5 at the Valspar a few weeks back. If he can get putts to fall and a few favors from the Golf Gods, he will thrive at this event.
Rory McIlroy, in my eyes, has no reason to not make the top 10 this week. He is in great shape to play well and I feel as we approach the Masters, he is going to start ramping up his play. Rory has all the potential in the world to be in top 10 the majority of the time; he just needs to focus on the journey over the four days to get there.
Ludvig Aberg is my winner pick for this week. He is viewed as a favorite after some really great playing over the last couple of months. He is pretty steady and if he can get out of the gate with a fire opening round, he can put a win in his pocket. Solid off the tee, this might be a great advantage for high winds and typical Texas playing conditions. I would love to see him take this one.
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