After a week of glorious chaos at the Dell Match Play, the PGA TOUR returns this week with more of its regularly scheduled programming at the Valero Texas Open. This event is one of the oldest and long standing events on the PGA TOUR and unlike last week, we have a standard 72-hole stroke play tournament with a cut after the 36th hole on Friday. There are 144 golfers in the field at the Valero Texas Open and only 65 players will play the weekend (yes, the glorious Friday cut sweat is back). Lastly, Augusta National and our first major championship of 2023, the Masters, is only a week away and there are plenty of players playing Valero to continue their tune up.

The Course – TPC San Antonio

The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio is a par 72 that plays at 7438 yards from the Championship tees. The setup is a traditional one with four Par 3s, ten Par 4s, and four Par 5s. The par 5s seemingly play long with two out of four playing over 600 yards. Additionally, based on data and industry conversation, it appears that driving accuracy is far less important than driving distance (and total driving). The penalty for being in the rough appears to be small, but keeping the ball in bounds is imperative. Stats that I’ve been focused on are: approach from inside 100 yards, greens in regulation, strokes gained off the tee.

Golfers to Target

I’ll continue to highlight DK Reignmakers golfers that I like but I’m going to attempt to bucket these players into groups based on odds. You can find every DK RM golfers’ odds to win and DK RM prices at every tier on our site for your own analysis: https://www.otmnft.com/reignmakerspro/market/players?page=1.

Odds based groups and my picks are:

Group 1, Best odds (Sub +2500) Si Woo Kim LOW ASK, CORE $19.75, RARE $72.99, ELITE $555
- Si Woo Kim has had a really strong start to the 2023 season and I look for him to continue top notch play against this field. He gained 7+ stokes on approach at The Players Championship and when he does miss with the driver he misses incredibly small which shouldn’t be a problem this week. Additionally the COURSE HISTORY for Si Woo looks impeccable. He’s made the cut in 5 straight years at this event and finished T13 in 2022 while gaining 5+ strokes tee to green. Look for Si Woo to stay hot as we head into the Masters.
Group 2, Middle (+2500 – +10000) Aaron Rai LOW ASK, CORE $5.69, RARE $23.99, ELITE $185
- Aaron Rai continues to strike the ball well but he’s been on the bad side of putting variance. I’m looking for him to turn that around and put his full game on display as the season continues.
Group 3, Long shots (+10000+) – Zac Blair LOW ASK, CORE $0.75, RARE $6, ELITE $55
- At TPC San Antonio we have seen plenty of long shot winners. In this range, I’m focused on recent form and upside and Zac Blair checks those boxes. He gained 6 strokes total at the Valspar (a lot of which was with the putter so beware) and gained 3+ strokes around the green at the Honda. He made the cut at both events and finished T10 at the Valspar. For his price, I think he can nicely round out a lineup or two and help you get more golfers through the cut!

That’s all for this week. Get your lineups together and your Friday popcorn ready for the best sweat in fantasy sports, the cut sweat. I’ll be on Playback on Friday sweating the action so meet me there: https://www.playback.tv/otm