2024 Valero Texas Open/Early Masters Look
The PGA Tour heads from Houston to San Antonio for the 2024 Valero Texas Open. The final tournament for players to qualify for The Masters, who are not already in the Augusta National field.
Valero Texas Open: TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course):
Par 72, 7,438 yards
Full field, 36-hole cut
Texas Hill Country which features oak trees and rugged, brush-lined fairways
Rolling terrain, firm fairways that can get very fast if conditions are dry/windy, deep bunkers, elevated green complexes and that always unpredictable wind in the South/Southwestern portion of Texas
Toughest collection of par 5s on Tour (averaging 588 yds)
Driving accuracy, elite short/mid irons, sand scrambling, par 5 scoring, bogey avoidance (this would describe Canadian golfer Corey Conners, a prior winner here)
Greens: Poa trivialis overseed, 11 on the stimpmeter which is slow for PGAT standards, undulating & elevated with runoff collection areas that will test scrambling ability
Rough: Rye/fescue at 2.25" which is shorter for Tour standards
The Scorecard:
Players on this week’s betting card:
Erik Barnes Top 20 +600 (BetMGM)
Andrew Novak Top 20 +350 (BetMGM)
Alex Noren Top 10 +300 (BetMGM)
Christiaan Bezuidenhout Top 20 +175 (BetMGM)
*BetMGM pays out in full, no dead heat rules that can reduce the payout.
Early Masters Look
We’ll have a full breakdown of The Masters next week as the placement markets are released with Top 5/10/20 prices.
Here’s a list of players to keep an eye on for those placement markets as books post prices hopefully by Monday, April 8th.
The prevailing theme with these players is Augusta National course history. Past performance at The Masters is weighted heavily since course knowledge/familiarity is a big factor at ANGC.
Matt Fitzpatrick:
2022 finish: T39
2023 finish: T14
Russell Henley:
2022 finish: T30
2023 finish: T4
Sungjae Im:
2022 finish: T8
2023 finish: T16
Shane Lowry:
2022 finish: T3
2023 finish: T16
Hideki Matsuyama:
2022 finish: T14
2023 finish: T16
Joaquin Niemann:
2022 finish: T35
2023 finish: T16
Patrick Reed:
2022 finish: T35
2023 finish: T4
Quick note on Men’s Basketball Final Four in Glendale, AZ:
No official plays on the games this weekend. If you want to have some fun with the live -in-game wagering, you could look at Alabama if they get down early to UConn. Wouldn’t mind catching the Crimson Tide at around +18.5 since they will keep shooting threes and will not deviate from their philosophy of three pointers or lay-ups. The back door cover could be open for Bama late in the game.
Enjoy the games and best of luck with all your bets!