Valero Texas Open: Initial Picks
For some of the golfers this week, Valero is the final tune up before the Masters, and for others, this is the last tournament before they get to watch the Masters on TV next week. Either way, we have decent field that is likely going to be playing in moderately windy conditions at this 7500 yard Par 72 at TPC San Antonio. I’m looking for ball strikers as usual, but I will also give a slight bump to Driving Accuracy and ARG. With that said, we are looking for ball strikers this week as is typically the case. The Win Daily team has quite a bit coming for this tournament, but let’s get started with the Valero Texas Open: Initial Picks.
Corey Conners (9500) – The ultimate ball striker who has great recent history plus a great track record at this course as the defending champion. I like his chances at an outright win.
Ryan Palmer (9400) – An earlier exit than he would have liked last week, but he may have actually played better than Jon Rahm. This is a Texas guy that has been striking the ball great lately. I don’t love the price and you can easily pivot to a less popular golfer like Branden Steele, but Palmer is a solid play.
Cameron Tringale (9300) – I like every single guy in this 9k range but I do think Tringale and Steele may be slightly lesser owned than the rest of the range, and that’s why I like Tringale here. His track record here isn’t great but he did have a 17th place finish last year. I like his all around game and think he will be competing on Sunday.
Chris Kirk (8600) – Has been very good lately in the ball striking department and is piling up the good finishes as a result. 3 of his last 4 at Valero have resulted in Top 15’s so he’s clearly comfortable here.
Adam Hadwin (8300) – Hasn’t been on many people’s radar lately and that’s for good reason, but his swing is starting to remind me of a Hadwin from a couple years ago and I think he’s a sneaky GPP option.
Brendan Grace (7800) – Another sneaky GPP option who has a game that may be rounding into form. He also has a great track record here with two Top 10’s his last two efforts here (2017 and 2016). Add to that the wind is likely to be consistently in the double digits this week and he should handle that just fine.
John Huh (7400) – His track record here is average at best, but his ball striking as of late has been excellent and I think he has sneaky value at this price.
Doug Ghim (7300) – Typically a good ball striker who has recently flashed plenty of upside. Now that his price has come down to a more realistic number I think he has some value here.
Matthew NeSmith (7100) – We are looking for good ball strikers, and while NeSmith had a bit of a rough patch earlier this month, he appears to have bounced back with a 36th place finish at the Honda. If he reverts back to his solid ball striking that he started 2021 with, he’ll make the cut and get your lineups in the green.
Roger Sloan (6700) – No history here other than an MC in 2019 but he’s good enough OTT and on APP to make the cut. He’s got 3 Top 25’s in his last three tournaments. Mind you, 2 of those 3 were at alternate PGA events, but I like the upside here when you consider the price.
Secret Weapon (less than 7k/less than 5% owned) – Check out the SW every Wednesday night in the Win Daily Discord PGA Channel.
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