SAN ANTONIO - Rory McIlroy is making his second start at the Valero Texas Open and his first since finishing runner-up at the event in 2013. McIlroy, making just his fifth start of the PGA Tour season, enters the week No. 26 in the FedEx Cup standings. Hideki Matsuyama, who will defend his title at next week's Masters Tournament, made his tournament debut last year at the Texas Open a week before winning his first major championship title and finished T-30.

World No. 16 Abraham Ancer, winner of the 2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, is competing at his adopted hometown event for the fifth time, but first as a PGA Tour winner. His best result to date was a T-23 in 2021.

Richard Bland, competing on a sponsor exemption, is one of 121 players in the field who can qualify for the Masters with a win this week. Bland advanced to the Round of 16 of last week's WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play where he was eliminated by Dustin Johnson. Bland would have qualified for the Masters Tournament if he had won that match, via the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

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Preview | Valero Texas Open

COURSE: TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course)

ARCHITECT: Pete Dye and Greg Norman

YARDS/PAR: 7,438 yards/Par 72

PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $8,600,000/$1,548,000

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jordan Spieth

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 500

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @ValerotxOpen

TV COVERAGE: First two rounds of the Valero Texas Open (March 31 & April 1) are scheduled for coverage from 4:00pm to 7:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel.  On Saturday, coverage is set for 1:00pm to 3:30pm (ET) on Golf Channel and 3:30pm to 6:00pm (ET) on NBC. On Sunday, Golf Channel only goes from 1;00pm to 2;00pm (ET) and NBC coverage runs from 2:00pm to 6:00pm (ET)

PGA TOUR LIVE STREAMING on ESPN+: Streaming coverage from TPC San Antonio will be featured on ESPN-Plus Thursday and Friday with Main Feed, Featured Hole and Featured Groups from 8:30am to 7:00pm (ET). Weekend streaming on ESPN+ from 8:30am to 6:00pm (ET).

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: SiriusXM Radio will have live radio coverage Thursday and Friday as broadcasts originate from TPC San Antonio from 1:00pm to 7:00pm (ET). Saturday coverage is 3:00 to 6:00pm (ET) and Sunday coverage on Sirius XM Radio runs from 1:00pm to 6:00pm (ET). PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92 or online via PGATourCom.

How to Watch/Stream the PGA Tour Live: (ESPNCom)

How to Watch: In case of changes, visit: (PGATourCom)

The Basics:

Tournament site: Valero Texas Open

The Valero Texas Open -  Tee Times start Thursday at 8:30am (ET) and go to 3:26pm (ET).

Weather: Thursday’s forecast is for sunny skies and 71-degree temperature with zero chance of rain. Winds at 9 mph.

PGA Tour Brunch will post at 8:00am (ET) on Thursday.

Next Week: The Masters

Texas Open - The Field and Tee Times:

The Field: (link)

Updates: Hideki Matsuyama did not play in the Pro-Am

Tee Times: (link)

Odds for the Valero Texas Open:

Source: CBS Sportsline

Rory McIlroy +750

Jordan Spieth +1400

Corey Conners +1800

Hideki Matsuyama +1800

Abraham Ancer +2200

Bryson DeChambeau +2500

Si-Woo Kim +3500

Keegan Bradley +3500

Chris Kirk +3500

Maverick McNealy +3500

Adam Hadwin +3500

Gary Woodland +3500

Tony Finau +4000

Jhonattan Vegas +4500

Jason Day +4500

Kevin Streelman +4500

Luke List +5000

Russell Knox +5000

Patton Kizzire +5000

Charley Hoffman +5000

Mito Pereira +5000

Davis Riley +5000

Sahith Theegala +5500

Rickie Fowler +6500

Brendan Steele +6500

Ryan Palmer +6500

Robert MacIntyre +6500

Rasmus Hojgaard +6500

Martin Laird +8000

Lanto Griffin +8000

Denny McCarthy +8000

Scott Stallings +8000

Ian Poulter +8000

Kyoung-Hoon Lee +8000

Lucas Glover +8000

Matt Kuchar +8000

Doug Ghim +8000

Anirban Lahiri +8000

Richard Bland +10000

Matthew NeSmith +10000

Lee Westwood +10000

Kramer Hickok +10000

Chad Ramey +10000

Dylan Frittelli +10000

C.T. Pan +10000

Takumi Kanaya +10000

Charles Howell +10000

Troy Merritt +10000

Min Woo Lee +10000

Alex Smalley +10000

Brian Stuard +10000

Matt Jones +10000

Aaron Rai +12500

Matthias Schwab +12500

Danny Lee +12500

Branden Grace +12500

David Lipsky +12500

Pat Perez +12500

Taylor Moore +12500

Adam Svensson +12500

Nick Taylor +12500

Cameron Champ +12500

Beau Hossler +12500

Nate Lashley +12500

Doc Redman +15000

Chez Reavie +15000

Garrick Higgo +15000

Zach Johnson +15000

Austin Smotherman +15000

Brendon Todd +15000

Nick Hardy +15000

Brice Garnett +17500

Joseph Bramlett +15000

Wyndham Clark +15000

Greyson Sigg +15000

Adam Schenk +15000

Sam Ryder +15000

Doc Redman +15000

Hayden Buckley +15000

J.J. Spaun +15000

Andrew Putnam +17500

Kevin Chappell +17500

Harry Higgs +17500

Tyler Duncan +17500

Lee Hodges +17500

Hank Lebioda +17500

Ben Martin +20000

Vince Whaley +20000

Robert Streb +20000

Brandon Hagy +20000

Adam Long +20000

Patrick Rodgers +20000

Matt Wallace +20000

Graeme McDowell +20000

Luke Donald +20000

Ryan Brehm +20000

Andrew Novak +20000

Hudson Swafford +20000

Brandt Snedeker +20000

Trey Mullinax +20000

John Huh +22500

Max McGreevy +25000

Stephan Jaeger +25000

Kevin Tway +25000

Kyle Stanley +25000

Henrik Stenson +25000

Camilo Villegas +25000

Roger Sloan +25000

Justin Lower +25000

J.T. Poston +25000

Peter Malnati +25000

Ben Kohles +25000

Nick Watney +25000

Dylan Wu +25000

Henrik Norlander +30000

Andrew Landry +30000

Bill Haas +30000

Jim Herman +30000

TL’s Wedge for an Edge: This week at the Valero Texas Open, the famed foursome for Tee Els’ PGA Fantasy game (and two reserves) will include some horses-for-course in San Antonio: Corey Conners will get a start, along with Chris Kirk, Hideki Matsuyama and Tony Finau. TL’s bench players will be strong, just in case they’re atop the leaderboard on Friday night: Rory McIlroy and Justin Spieth.

For the One and Done: Corey Conners who placed third in last week’s Match Play in Austin.

What They’re Saying:

Monday Qualifiers at Valero Texas Open (PGATourCom)

First Look at the Valero Texas Open (PGATourCom)

Draws & Fades for the Valero Texas Open - (PGATourCom)

Power Rankings for the Valero Texas Open (PGATourCom)

FedExCup Standings (PGATourCom)

Industry News, #Sports Gambling and Daily Fantasy News

Tiger Woods Played a Full Round at Augusta (ESPN)

Seven Picks for Texas (Action Net)

Expert Picks at the Valero Texas Open - (PGATourCom)

Sleeper Picks at Texas - (PGATourCom)

On This Day in Golf History:

March 30, 1975 - Davis Love III won The PLAYERS Championship by four strokes over Ian Baker-Finch, Phil Blackmar, Nick Faldo and Tom Watson. LOve shot a final round (67) to post a (273) total, 15-under par. - Courtesy of Randy Walker, Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE

Parting Putt:

Valero Texas Open @valerotxopen

The wait is over…tournament week has officially begun! Welcome to the 100th Anniversary of the #ValeroTexasOpen!🏆

March 28th 2022

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