PGA Tour Brunch - Valero Texas Open
@PGATourBrunch Coverage and Preview of the First Round at Texas Open
Have a Very Happy and Adventurous April Fools Day:
Valero Texas Open Preview and Notebook:
The Valero Texas Open features four of the Top 30 in the FedExCup standings, led by No. 9 Tony Finau and eight of the Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, also led by Finau (No. 13).
The Valero Texas Open is the 27th of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA Tour season.
Eight past champions are playing this week, including: Zach Johnson (2008, 2009), Brendan Steele (2011), Martin Laird (2013), Jimmy Walker (2015), Charley Hoffman (2016), Kevin Chappell (2017), Andrew Landry (2018) and Corey Conners (2019).
Scottie Scheffler is coming off a runner-up finish in last week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, his best career finish on the Tour. He lost, 2 and 1 to Billy Horschel in the championship match. Finau-Jordan Spieth-Scheffler are the favorites this weekend. Both Spieth and Scheffler hail from Dallas, Texas.
Spieth, a former University of Texas player, seeks a 12th career PGA Tour title but first since The Open Championship in 2017.
A win at the Valero Texas Open is the final opportunity to earn a spot for next week’s Masters Tournament. The Texas Open is being contested the week before the Masters for only the third time in the last nine years (2013, 2019, 2021).
Special April Fools Day Discount:
The Tournament Tee Times begin today at 8:25am (EDT/7:30am local) and go through 3:11pm (EDT)/2:11pm/local). (link)
Weather: Today’s weather in San Antonio calls for sunny skies, 57-degrees with 13 mph winds. Friday forecast is partly cloudy and 61 degrees. A ZERO chance of rain both days.
PGATourBrunch will be posting by 8am EDT/7am (local) from Friday through Sunday.
Next Week: The Masters!
Field Updates:
Jerry Kelly OUT / Rhein Gibson IN (Sean O'Hair replaces Kelly in Pro-Am)
Dustin Johnson OUT / Ryan Brehm IN (John Huh replaces Johnson in Pro-Am)
The Field (link)
Inside the Field (PGATourCom)
THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: Valero Texas Open: 4/1-4/4
COURSE: TPC San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
ARCHITECTS: Pete Dye and Greg Norman
YARDS/PAR: 7,492 yards/Par 72
PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $7,700,000/$1,386,000
DEFENDING Champion (2019) Corey Conners - (Leaderboard link)
PAST RESULTS: (link)
PAST CHAMPIONS of Event: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points Available/Winner Share: 2,989/500
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedEXCup #ValeroTexasOpen
TV COVERAGE: Today, April 1 and Friday, April 2: 4:00pm to 7:00pm (EDT) on Golf Channel. Saturday, April 3 - Early coverage on Golf Channel from 1:00pm to 3:30pm and the switch to NBC for 3:30pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Saturday and then Sunday, April 4 Golf Channel coverage from 1:00pm to 2:30pm EDT then the switch to NBC for 2:30pm to 6:00pm EDT.
STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups today and Friday from 8:15am to 7:00pm (EDT). Twitter will offer free coverage both days from 8:15am (EDT) to 9:30am.
PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Today - Friday - 1:00pm to 7:00pm (EDT); then Saturday and Sunday, 1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT)) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.
What to Watch For at Valero Texas Open: (Golf Week/USA Today)
Odds & Predictions:
A L👀K at the O👀S and A PREDICTION OR TWO:
Valero Texas Open - odds (via William Hill)
Jordan Spieth 14-1
Scottie Scheffler 18-1
Tony Finau 18-1
Hideki Matsuyama 22-1
Corey Conners 25-1
Abraham Ancer 25-1
Charley Hoffman 30-1
Brendan Steele 30-1
Ryan Palmer 33-1
Cameron Tringale 35-1
Chris Kirk 40-1
Matt Kuchar 40-1
Si-Woo Kim 40-1
Cameron Davis 50-1
Keegan Bradley 50-1
Sam Burns 50-1
Zach Johnson 55-1
Lanto Griffin 55-1
Ryan Moore 60-1
Joel Dahmen 60-1
Rickie Fowler 60-1
Aaron Wise 66-1
Andrew Putnam 66-1
Charles Howell 66-1
Harold Varner 66-1
Adam Hadwin 66-1
Byeong Hun An 66-1
Branden Grace 66-1
Denny McCarthy 70-1
Gary Woodland 70-1
Matt Wallace 70-1
Phil Mickelson 70-1
Danny Willett 70-1
Jhonattan Vegas 80-1
Matthew NeSmith 80-1
John Huh 80-1
Erik Van Rooyen 80-1
Doug Ghim 80-1
Sebastian Munoz 80-1
Sam Ryder 80-1
Lucas Glover 90-1
Adam Long 90-1
Harry Higgs 90-1
Tom Hoge 100-1
Russell Knox 100-1
Patton Kizzire 100-1
Martin Laird 100-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 100-1
Sepp Straka 100-1
TL’s Wedge for an Edge: My starting foursome in the PGA Tour Fantasy game will be: Corey Conners, Charley Hoffman, Cameron Davis and Jordan Spieth. Back-ups on the bench for Texas are: Abraham Ancer and Tony Finau.
For PGA Tour One and Done? I’ll be going with Finau.
April Fools Day - Special Discount:
What They’re Saying:
Dustin Johnson to skip Texas Open (ESPN/Associated Press)
Dahmen Claims Vegas Party Cleared His Head for “W” (Yahoo Sports/USA Today)
Texas Open Changed Corey Conners’ Career (PGATourCom)
Final Masters Tune-Up at TPC San Antonio (CBS Sports HQ)
#SportsBiz and Golf Industry News
CBS Sports Odds and Predictions (CBS Sports HQ)
Expert Picks (PGATourCom)
LA Detectives Don;t Reveal Cause for Tiger’s Crash (ESPN)
Augusta National Women’s Amateur (CBS Sports HQ)
On This Day in Golf History:
April 1, 2021 - Digital Sports Desk, the parent company of PGA Tour Brunch, today announced a multi-million dollar deal to bring this six-days-a-week e-News to a burgeoning global audience. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but shareholders of PGA Tour Brunch were seen dancing on 18th Green at TPC Boston with cases of Sam Adams and glasses of fine wine. Social distancing was in order. Company spokesperson Sidd Finch was not available for comment at press time.
