Course Preview and Fits: Valero Texas Open

The PGA Tour heads to San Antonio this week for the Valero Texas Open. The final pre-Masters event, the Valero gives players not yet qualified one last chance to do so, and those already in an opportunity to sharpen their game before they head to Augusta next week. With nine of the world’s top 25 slated to be in attendance, the Valero should be an exciting lead-in to one of the best weeks in golf.

The Course:

The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio will host the Valero for the 16th consecutive year, slated to play as a 7,438-yard par 72 with four par 3s, four par 5s, and 10 par 4s. Designed by Greg Norman with Sergio Garcia as a player consultant, the Oaks Course features Bermuda greens overseeded with poa and fairways and rough overseeded with a perennial ryegrass fescue blend.

At nearly 7,450 yards, TPC San Antonio is one of the longest non-major courses on the PGA Tour, but it’s a different test than most of the bomb-and-gouge setups we see nowadays. The fairways are uncharacteristically narrow at just 25-30 yards on average, ranking top 10 in difficulty to hit on Tour since 2019. On top of that, most holes are framed by native areas with scattered trees, rocks, and other messiness capable of creating massive numbers for players who find themselves in there (looking at you, Kevin Na). So, while the rough is almost a non-factor at 2.25 inches, big misses are penalized harshly and force players to think twice before unleashing their driver at will.