With the exception of two years — 1943 during World War II and 2020 because of the COVID-19 pause — the Valero Texas Open has been played continuously since 1922. Since 2010 the host course has been the par-72 AT&T Oaks at TPC San Antonio.
The champion the last time the tournament was contested was Corey Conners, who defeated 2016 champion Charley Hoffman by two shots for his first career PGA Tour victory. Conners is one of eight former winners in the field this week and has been playing very well of late.
Betting Odds Leaders
Dustin Johnson was a surprising late entrant in the Valero Texas Open, but has since withdrawn from the event to prepare for the Masters next week. The top player in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) was a big favorite at odds of +620.
Next in the odds at +1200 is former University of Texas player Jordan Spieth, who has been playing well in 2021 with three top five finishes since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open at the end of January. The three-time major champion and winner of 11 Tour events had been struggling before finding his game the last two months.
Tony Finau at +1300 hasn’t been able to win since his lone Tour victory in 2016, but he’s been in the hunt numerous times and is due to break through again. Defending champion Corey Conners is at +1600, with last week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play runner-up Scottie Scheffler, also out of the University of Texas, at +1700.
There isn’t much to indicate that 30-year-old Englishman Matt Wallace is ready to win a PGA Tour event, but he’s showing improvement, and it’s just a gut feeling that he could post a victory at +6800 odds.
Underdogs to Watch
It hasn’t been that long since Matt Kuchar broke a 4 1/2-year drought and won twice on Tour in 2019. The 42-year-old, who seems like he has to be a few years older because he’s been in the limelight for so long, might be ready to do it again with odds of +4000.
After struggling for much of the last season and into 2021, Kuchar seemed to have found something during his third-place run last week.
There isn’t much to indicate that 30-year-old Englishman Matt Wallace is ready to win a PGA Tour event, but he’s showing improvement, and it’s just a gut feeling that he could post a victory at +6800 odds. He’s contended in the past, including a tie for fourth in the 2020 Memorial and a tie for third in the 2019 PGA Championship.
With five winners picked on these pages in the last seven tournaments, we can afford to take a flyer on a longshot.
Fifty-year-old Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters Tournament and five-time major champion, is just tuning up for a return to Augusta National, but he’s still as competitive as ever. At +7200, his odds are probably pretty fair.
It’s hard to believe the 2019 Pebble Beach Pro-Am will be his 44th and last win on the PGA Tour. He might have another one in him, and it might just be this week in San Antonio.
