Valero Open: Players to Watch
VALERO OPEN: PLAYERS TO WATCH – This week the PGA Tour takes center stage in San Antonio, TX at TPC San Antonio. The defending champion and Canadian stripe show maestro, Corey Connors, is poised to defend his title.
The week before a major championship is always a guessing game, field-wise, for the tournament organizers and this week’s Valero Texas Open is no different.
The Headliners
The headliner is clearly Rory McIlroy and whenever the Irishman is in the field he has a good chance to win. Simply said, if Rory putts well, he wins. The world may have never known a better driver of the ball and with that sort of weapon at his disposal, most courses, even on the PGA Tour can be whittled down to nothing more than driver, a variety of wedges, and mid to long irons into the par 5’s.
Another headliner, who often rules the flat stick is Hidecki Matsuyama…he’s not as spectacular off the tee but fantastic nonetheless.
If you didn’t happen to see Hidecki’s closing round at the iconic Riviera CC this past February, head to the internet. He absolutely put on a clinic with a closing 62 and a 3 shot victory.
Do They Have a Shot?
Sliding down the list a bit further, there are two players who catch my eye. Both are super gritty and have tons of game, which happens to be trending in the right direction right now.
First up is last year’s Open Champion, Brian Harmon. Gritty should be his middle name and this guy putts the eyes out of the ball every week. He has proven that no stage is too big for him. The only drawback that I can see, watching him stand over an iron shot, and ‘waggle’ could make coffee nervous. I mean wow!!! It reminds me of a young Sergio, and I am always inclined to call tour psych guru Bob Rotella every time I see Harmon play.
Next up: Billy Horschel. Fresh off a sizzling six under par 65 close, low round of the day and a T7th finish at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Billy Ho is a force to be reckoned with this week. He is a proven winner. Billy Ho’s game is coming around at a very important time of the year with Masters next week.
Oh yeah, the only way Billy, who has played in every major since 2018, can gain access into this year’s Masters field, is to win.
The Laundry List
Here are a couple guys on my laundry list to watch.
Denny McCarthy is a great putter and has knocked on the door several times in his career.
Eric Cole is an extremely good player that no one knows about. Kevin Yu is my favorite rookie to watch this year.
The Wind
One thing to watch for this week: wind. It’s springtime in Texas and it can blow!! There are basically two things that can raise scores on the PGA Tour: fast greens and windy conditions.
The greens at TPC San Antonio have been redone several times. The initial Greg Norman design was disastrously too slopey and, even with reconstructing the greens, the speed will not be enough to make these tour pros think twice from twenty feet so….wind.
It is just very hard to control your golf ball when the winds exceed 15 MPH. The golf course was carved out of small canyons and hills, which can make the wind swirl and even appear to change directions.
Just that sentence alone gives me cause for concern (even though I’m not playing and am 1000 miles from San Antonio, my palms are sweating). With that concern comes indecision and some degree of guess work.
Hitting the ball solidly and controlling its trajectory become the main components to playing well in the wind. Taking an extra club never hurts either.
Putting can also become challenging. If it blows hard enough, it can affect your speed on the putting green. I am 6’5” and tried to make myself as small and compact as possible in high winds. If the wind picks up, Brian Harmon is my choice. Oh yeah: he’s 5’7”.
Hit em straight everyone!
