144 of the best golfers in the planet will tee off at the AT&T Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio for the annual Valero Texas Open from April 1 – 7, 2019. The golfer will vie for a $7.5M purse and the chance to put on the Champion’s boots.
This year’s edition of the Texas Open will be the first of a ten year deal between the PGA Tour and Valero Energy Corporation which moves the tournament to a strategic position in the PGA Tour schedule and that is during the week preceding the Masters Tournament. That change is crucial because some of the world’s top golfers would then use the Texas Open as a tune-up for the Masters, thereby attracting big names. Check out the PGA Tournaments Schedule.
The odds for the tournament aren’t out yet because the field is still incomplete. However, several golfers have already confirmed their appearance in the 2019 Valero Texas Open and from those names, we picked a few whom we think are capable of making noise.
#10 Rickie Fowler and #15 Tony Finau are the first Top ranked players to commit to playing in the 2019 Valero Texas Open. Fowler has two Top-2 finishes in 2019, including a win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last January. Except for a CUT in Phoenix, Finau has not finished lower than T-38 in his 2019 tournaments.
#24 Matt Kuchar will be making his 8th straight start in this tournament. Kuchar, who has two wins on the PGA Tour this season, has three Top-15 finishes here during this stretch. Kuchar is currently 3rd in the FedExCup Points race.
11-time PGA Tour winner #30 Jordan Spieth will be competing in the 2019 Valero Texas Open for the first time since his runner-up finish in 2015, the same year when he won the FedEx Cup. The 25-year old University of Texas product is having a rough start to his 2019. Spieth has not finished higher than 35th in six tournaments played so far this year. He’s missed the cut tin two of those tournaments, including the 2019 PLAYERS championship.
#54 Jim Furyk has also confirmed his participation in the 2019 Valero Texas Open. Furyk has a total of 17 career PGA Tour wins and is the only golfer to break a score of 60 in a round, doing it twice. The 48-year old has a very good track record in this tournament, finishing no lower than T-26 in three out of his last four starts, including a T-3 in 2013 and T-6 in 2014. Furyk has two Top 10 finishes in his last three starts including a runner-up finish to Rory McIlroy at The PLAYERS championship 2019. It’s interesting to note though that the last time Fury won an event in the PGA Tour was in 2015 when he captured the RBC Heritage tournament. #80 Jhonattan Vegas, who is the favorite to win the ongoing 2019 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, is also playing in San Antonio.
Boerne, Texas resident and 2015 champion Jimmy Walker has also committed to play in the Texas Open. Walker has played in 8 tournaments in 2019 and his best finish so far was a T-29 at the The CJ Cup @Nine Bridges. 2017 winner Kevin Chappell is another former champion that has confirmed his participation in the 2019 Valero Texas Open. Chappell underwent a microdiscectomy last year and has not played in a single tournament in 2019.
Martin Laird, who won the Texas Open in 2013 but is having a tough start to his 2019 after missing the cut in four out of his six tournaments started in 2019. 2011 champion Brendan Steele is also off to a slow start as he’s missed the cut in six out of his eight tournaments entered in 2019. Laird, Steele, 2016 winner Charley Hoffman and defending champion Andrew Landry round up the list of six former winners who have also confirmed their participation in the 2019 Valero Texas Open.
The 31-year old from Port Neches-Groves, Texas outlasted Trey Mullinax and Sean O’Hair by two strokes to win the 2018 Texas Open, his first ever PGA Tour win. Landry has missed the cut in three out of his last tournaments entered and his best finish of 2019 was a T-28 at the Desert Classic.
While it may be premature to call a winner given that the field hasn’t been finalized, there are several names on the list of golfers who have commited to this tournament who may have a better shot at winning the 2019 Valero Texas Open than others.
My top choice would be 2016 champion Charley Hoffman who is making his 14th consecutive appearance in the Texas Open. Hoffman has never missed the cut and has finished at least in the Top 15 ten times. Since the tournament moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010, Hoffman is an aggregate 39-under par and has finished in the Top 15 seven times during that stretch. I like Hoffman’s consistency not only in this tournament but in this golf course as well.
It should be noted however that the last time the Valero Texas Open was held prior to the Masters, 10 out of the Top 50 players in the world joined the tournament, including then #2 Rory McIlroy who finished second in that tournament. We know how red hot Rory has been in 2019, especially after his triumph at The PLAYERS championship, so if he does enter the 2018 Valero Texas Open, McIlroy should be a can’t miss pick.
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