Power Rankings: Valero Texas Open

The week after Houston, Texas, hosted the PGA TOUR concurrently with the launch of the Major League Baseball season, it’s San Antonio’s turn, albeit in a different light.

The most faithful of local sports fans in the Texas Hill Country are holding their collective breath that the Spurs can ... somehow ... maybe? ... blaze a trail to the NBA Playoffs, but whatever happens, homers are promised at this week’s Valero Texas Open.

The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio is ready for its 15th consecutive year as the stage. Details of the field, what’s up for grabs, how the course will test and more are laid out below.

For the third time in as many weeks, this week’s field was designed to expand to 156 to accommodate as many fully exempt members who committed as possible. Just like the first two, it has achieved the objective as there are 150 entrants as of midday Monday, and alternates will not be called unless the field drops below 144. When the tournament concludes, this season’s grouping that consists of DP World Tour qualifiers, Korn Ferry Tour graduates, Q-School grads and others with similar status will reorder for the first time, so every opportunity has been invaluable. They will be slotted in Category 26 of the Priority Ranking.

The Valero also is the last chance to qualify for the Masters, and only the winner will gain entry if not already exempt. Of the entrants, 27 already are guaranteed tee times at the first major of the year.

Unlike how the setup of Memorial Park Golf Course last week served as a bit of a practice game for Augusta National, the challenges at TPC San Antonio are geared to sharpen the skills, physical and mental alike.

With a primary layer of ryegrass rough reaching at least 2 inches, and the gnarliest of the native grasses allowed to sky to 6 inches in spots, accuracy off the tee plays up around the par 72 that can stretch to 7,438 yards. Bermudagrass greens are about average size among PGA TOUR targets, but when field is fortunate to split even half of the fairways, the meager clip applies considerable pressure on the approach game.

To wit, last year’s field averaged 6.8 (of 14) fairways hit and 10.17 greens in regulation per round. That positioned TPC San Antonio as second- and fifth-lowest in those metrics, respectively, among all courses during the 2024 season. The overall scoring average of 72.514 essentially was on the edge of the bull’s-eye of the expectation even though Akshay Bhatia prevailed at 20-under 268. But he wasn’t alone.

Bhatia found only half of the fairways for the week but he led the field in greens hit (75%) en route to his playoff victory over Denny McCarthy. True to his reputation, McCarthy did his damage with the putter while hanging around average from tee to green. However, the duo concluded regulation nine strokes clear of Rory McIlroy in third place, so together they epitomized what an outlier is, albeit doubled, but they also proved how TPC San Antonio is not nearly as stingy from lies around the green and once the putter is pulled.

Surfaces are overseeded with Poa and governed to 11½ feet on the Stimpmeter in case the legendary winds of Texas whistle. That component of the forecast always is tricky in advance, but the early version lays out a gradual freshening from irrelevant breezes on Thursday to potentially game-changing gusts for Sunday’s finale. Energy from storms expected mid-tournament will contribute to it. After a cold front passes, the daytime air that might flirt with 90 degrees for the opener could struggle to touch the mid-60s by Sunday.

Related: How to watch action from San Antonio

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton previews and recaps every tournament. Refer to the timing of his contributions below. He’s also active as @RobBoltonGolf on X where you can connect with him.

• MONDAY: Power Rankings
• TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider
• SUNDAY: Payouts and Points; Qualifiers

*Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by PGA TOUR Superstore, which also publishes on Tuesday.