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With one week to go before the much-anticipated Masters, the PGA Tour gathers in San Antonio, Texas for the 100th edition of the Valero Texas Open. After a week off for the match play event, golfers return to the stroke-play format at the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio. 

While most Masters participants chose to return home to work on their game, there are a few high-ranked players choosing this event as their warm-up for Augusta. This includes the likes of Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, defending Valero champion Jordan Spieth, and defending Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama. Also, if the winner of the Valero Texas Open is not yet qualified for the Masters, that player will earn a spot in the field. It’s a great week to chase unqualified golfers as seven of the past nine winners here were not originally in the Masters field.

Course Overview

The Valero Texas Open had its origins in 1922 and has always been located in San Antonio. It is the longest Tour event that has been hosted in the same city. The course was designed by playing legend Greg Norman. He was consulted on the build by Sergio Garcia. As opposed to many of the bland TPC courses, one of Norman’s goals was to bring out the rugged natural landscape of the property. Situated at 1,100 feet above sea level, overall, the course is relatively flat with only around 100 feet of elevation change between the highest and lowest points. The course itself winds through oak trees and is filled with rocky areas and native grasses and plants.

Located north of the downtown area in the Texas Hill Country, the par-72 course stretches out to 7,438 yards. It is slightly longer than average and ranks as the 22nd-longest course in the annual Tour rotation. One unique feature of the course is that all of the downhill holes play into the prevailing wind while the uphill holes are typically downwind.

Including the 602-yard second hole, the first four holes add up to 1,708 yards and 0.36 shots over par making it vital that players are focused and striking the ball well from the start. Most of the front-nine holes are quite similar with slight dog-legs and bunkers guarding both sides of the green. There are five par-4s under 410 yards and the four par-5s are among the longest on Tour, averaging 588 yards. Three of the four par-5s are difficult to reach in two shots and, overall, they rank as the third-toughest for scoring on Tour. 

The agronomy team at TPC San Antonio overseeds both the fairways and rough with a mix of 80% Perennial Ryegrass and 20% Chewing Fescue. The rough is a little longer than usual this year at 2.25”. Similar to other courses we have seen in the past couple of months, the greens are overseeded with Poa Trivialis. They are on the slower side compared to average and run at around 11 on the stimpmeter.

Averaging 0.23 strokes over par for the past five events, the Oaks course here at TPC San Antonio ranks as the 14th-toughest annual Tour course. While it doesn’t seem like it should be a difficult track, it can be a stern challenge as it typically plays firm and also requires some level of accuracy off the tee, along with stellar iron play on approaches. The main variable in terms of how tough it really plays will be the wind strength. As is the case with all Texas courses, wind can be a constant factor. The course can be extremely hard if it comes from a northerly direction, which is the prevailing San Antonio wind during the spring. Even with winning scores at upwards of 17-under par the past three events, scoring overall has still averaged over par, which illustrates the fact that bogeys are out there for those not sharp with their game.

Along with the wind and the difficult par-5s, players will come across strategically-placed cavernous bunkers, all manner of off-fairway hazards (see Kevin Na video below), and undulating green complexes. The fairway corridors are some of the narrowest on Tour once tee shots get past 300 yards. The winds have the biggest effect on approaches into the numerous elevated greens where there are also runoff areas to collect stray shots. Another factor for this year’s event that will make the course play more difficult is the recent dry weather that will lead to a very firm course.

Strokes Gained Analysis

TPC San Antonio is a very unique course off the tee. While some holes have narrow tree-lined fairways others are much wider. The average Driving Accuracy here is only 58% compared with the Tour average of 61%. The data shows accuracy off the tee does not matter as much here because the rough is among the least-penal on the entire Tour. In fact, the average margin between hitting a green-in-regulation from the rough compared to the fairway is 34% easier than the Tour average. Even more amazing is that the Birdie or Better percentage when hitting the second shot from the rough as compared to the fairway is the same! 

While almost every driving hole is flanked by either rocky terrain or native Texas brush, it will only impact those who are wildly spraying their ball off the tee. The fairway bunkers are deeper and more troublesome than usual but they are scattered throughout the track and don’t figure prominently on that many holes. While shorter more accurate types do have a better chance of keeping the ball out of trouble, longer hitters do have an advantage on holes that play into the wind along with the opportunity to take more lofted clubs into firm “bouncy” greens on approach. 

The fact that you do not need to be long here is evidenced by the fact that the last five winners have averaged 26th for Driving Distance. Back in 2019, the top five finishers averaged ninth in Driving Accuracy, but then last year’s champion, Jordan Spieth, ranked 109th in fairways gained. 

All the seeming variety and randomness off the tee is a definite reason TPC San Antonio is one of the top “second-shot” courses. When analyzing percent rankings, GIR percentage is 17% tougher than Tour average. Not only are the greens heavily guarded by difficult and deep bunkers, but many are also elevated above the fairway and do not provide bailout areas for errant shots. Players will also need to loft approach shots onto the proper quadrants of the greens due to the many undulations. 

With the average approach distance at 183 yards, players will be taking mid-to-long irons into the par-3s and par-4s 39% of the time. With so many long par-5s, “Going for the Green” data shows these holes are so difficult to score on because only 9.9% of second shots into the par-5s actually hold the green. Throw in some windy conditions and you can see very quickly why approach shots can be so challenging here.

These are all reasons why TPC San Antonio rates as the seventh-toughest course to gain on approach. But to make a run up the leaderboard, elite iron play is a must. Three of the past five winners led the field in GIR% and last year’s winner, Jordan Spieth, finished fourth.

With so many greens missed, players good at scrambling and chipping into elevated pin positions from off the green will have an advantage. While scrambling is 10% easier overall than average, sand saves from the bunkers is 19% harder. Once on the greens, they are contoured and sloping to various degrees. The data shows putting to be more difficult than average here from 20+ feet outside the hole. But once players get inside that number, putting is easier, including one of the highest one-putt percentages on Tour at 43%. Only six of the last 11 winners of this event have finished inside the top 10 in SG: Putting the year they won.