Golf PGSF FedEx Cup Week 14 The Valero Texas Open

[NoleinATL]

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It’s the final event before the first major of the year, and while there is a hefty contingent who already have their invitation for the Masters teeing it up at the Valero Texas Open, there’s plenty who are keen to see if a recent trend continues: Win and stamp their ticket to Augusta National.
This week is the second of a Texas two-step prior to the Masters Tournament with a half-dozen golfers in the top 15 in the world teeing it up at TPC San Antonio.
This is also the final week for players looking to earn their way into the RBC Heritage via the Aon Swing 5.

Here’s everything else you need to know as the TOUR returns to TPC San Antonio.

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Don’t miss a minute of the action from TPC San Antonio in this final tune-up ahead of the season’s first major.

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FIELD NOTES: Ludvig Åberg is back in action after missing the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship. Åberg is the highest-ranked golfer in the field at No. 5. Åberg finished T14 last year at TPC San Antonio. … Akshay Bhatia returns to defend his title, looking to become the first back-to-back winner at the Valero Texas Open since Zach Johnson in 2008-09. Bhatia has three top-10 finishes in his last four starts on TOUR. … Patrick Cantlay tees it up for the first time since helping lead Atlanta Drive GC to a win in the inaugural season of TGL. Cantlay, whose Atlanta Drive squad defeated New York Golf Club 2-0 in the best-of-three finals series, has two top fives so far this season on TOUR. He is making his tournament debut at the Valero Texas Open. … Corey Conners is a combined 50-under par at the Valero Texas Open over his last five starts – including two victories. Conners comes into the week after three straight top-10 finishes on TOUR. … Justin Rose is teeing it up at Valero for the first time since 2006 – and is playing TPC San Antonio for the first time. … Jordan Spieth is back in action as a final tune-up before the Masters. Spieth, who won Valero in 2021, has four top 10s in eight starts at TPC San Antonio and two top 10s so far this season highlighted by a T4 at the WM Phoenix Open. … There are more than 20 golfers who are set to play the Masters and are using the Valero Texas Open as a warm-up. This is, of course, the final week for someone not otherwise qualified to earn their way into the first major of the year. A win and you’re in – something that’s happened in three of the last five tournaments (Bhatia in 2024, J.J. Spaun in 2022 and Conners in 2019).

HIGHEST-RANKED PLAYERS IN THE FIELD
World Ranking	FedExCup
5. Ludvig Åberg	6. Ludvig Åberg
6. Hideki Matsuyama	7. Corey Conners
11. Tommy Fleetwood	8. Hideki Matsuyama
14. Keegan Bradley	17. Maverick McNealy
15. Patrick Cantlay	18. Akshay Bhatia
16. Maverick McNealy	21. Tom Hoge
21. Corey Conners	22. Patrick Cantlay
23. Akshay Bhatia	23. Jacob Bridgeman
31. Tom Kim	25. Keegan Bradley
33. Tony Finau	26. Daniel Berger

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Ben James will make his first TOUR start of 2025 after teeing it up four times last year – including at the U.S. Open. James, who is the No.3-ranked amateur in the world, made one cut on TOUR in 2024, the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he finished T44. James is a junior at the University of Virginia and was named the ACC Golfer of the Month in September. … Preston Summerhays will tee it up on the PGA TOUR for the first time since 2023. Summerhays is a senior at Arizona State University and finished T2 at the Sahalee Players Championship in September. He sits fifth on the PGA TOUR University Ranking. … Previous winners of the Valero Texas Open round out the sponsor invites including 2013 winner Martin Laird, 2015 winner Jimmy Walker and back-to-back champ (2008-09) Zach Johnson.
SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: The next Signature Event on the schedule is the RBC Heritage. … The top five FedExCup points earners in the Puerto Rico Open, Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open and this week at the Valero Texas Open will earn spots in the RBC Heritage via the Aon Swing 5. … The top 10 FedExCup points earners through the Masters will earn spots in the RBC Heritage. … J.J. Spaun continues to top the Aon Next 10, with Michael Kim (who just qualified for the Masters thanks to his sparkling run of golf since February) sitting at No. 2. … With his win at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Min Woo Lee moved to No. 5 in the Aon Next 10. … With his T2 in Houston, Gary Woodland now sits second in the Aon Swing 5. Woodland’s result in Texas was his best finish on TOUR since winning the 2019 U.S. Open, and, of course, his best since brain surgery two years ago. … Sami Valimaki, who finished fourth in Houston, is third, while Karl Vilips, who won the Puerto Rico Open, remains on top of the Aon Swing 5 standings.
COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: With his T2 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Scottie Scheffler moved from No. 15 to No. 10 in the standings as he looks to return to the top of the TOUR TOP 10 standings. … Thomas Detry was bumped from No. 10 to No. 11 with Scheffler’s jump. ... The rest of the TOUR TOP 10 remains the same from last week, with Rory McIlroy (after finishing T5 in Houston) extending his lead by more than 300 points. … Min Woo Lee, after tilting the trophy in Houston, jumped from No. 60 to No. 16 in the standings, about 200 points behind the 10th spot.
COURSE: TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course), 7,438 yards, par 72. Opened in January 2010, the layout features just 100 feet of elevation and boasts a traditional design that balances wider fairways with narrower tree-lined fairways for strategic options into the greens. The downhill holes often play into the prevailing wind while uphill holes play downwind. This is the 15th time the design will play host to the Valero Texas Open.
72-HOLE RECORD: 254, Tommy Armour III (2003 at La Cantera).

• TPC San Antonio record: 268, Corey Conners (2019), Akshay Bhatia (2024), Denny McCarthy (2024).

18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Bart Bryant (Round 3, 2004 at La Cantera), Zach Johnson (Round 3, 2009 at La Cantera).

• TPC San Antonio record: 62, Trey Mullinax (Round 3, 2018)

LAST TIME: It was a Sunday full of drama at the 2024 Valero Texas Open with Bhatia emerging as the winner in a playoff over McCarthy. Bhatia and McCarthy firmly separated themselves from the pack, both finishing at 20 under for the week (with Rory McIlroy, who finished third, finishing nine shots back at 11 under). McCarthy shot a 9-under 63 including an incredible run of seven straight birdies from Nos. 12-18. In all, he birdied eight of his final nine holes and staged a furious comeback after being six shots back of the lead after making the turn. To his credit, Bhatia still shot a 5-under 67 in the finale but needed to make an 11-footer on the 72nd hole to tie McCarthy and force a playoff. He did exactly that, but in the celebration, he admitted he felt his left shoulder pop out of its socket. Bhatia then hit his tee shot and laid up with a 5-iron on the first playoff hole. McCarthy chunked a wedge about 20 yards short of his intended target and into the middle of a creek. Bhatia called for medical treatment, hit a wedge to 6 feet, and then rolled in the birdie for the win.

How to follow (all times ET):​

Television:

• Thursday-Friday: 4-7 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 1-3:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3:30-6 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
• Sunday: 1-2:30 (Golf Channel), 2:30-6 (NBC/Peacock)

PGA TOUR LIVE:

--	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Stream 1	Main feed: 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m.	Main feed: 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m.	Main feed: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.	Main feed: 10 a.m.-6 p.m
Stream 2	Marquee group: 9:15 a.m.-7 p.m.	Marquee group: 9:15 a.m.-7 p.m.	Marquee group: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.	Marquee group: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Stream 3	Featured groups: 9 a.m.-7 p.m.	Featured groups: 9 a.m.-7 p.m.	Featured groups: 10:45 a.m.-6 p.m.	Featured groups: 10:45 a.m.-6 p.m.
Stream 4	Featured holes: 8:45 a.m.-7 p.m.	Featured holes: 8:45 a.m.-7 p.m.	Featured holes: 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.	Featured holes: 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

PGA TOUR LIVE is available exclusively on ESPN+

• Main feed: Primary tournament coverage featuring the best action from across the course.
• Marquee group: New “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group.
• Featured groups: Traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups.
• Featured holes: Combination of par 3s and iconic or pivotal holes.

PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and free at PGATOUR.com/liveaudio:

• Thursday-Friday: 1-7 p.m.
• Saturday: 3-6 p.m.
• Sunday: 1-6 p.m.

Congratulations again to last week's winner @NoleLizards

@seminoleed maintains overall season lead as we head to the final tune-up before the Masters

Good Luck this week

 

[NoleinATL]

Beautiful

 

[seminoleed]

Beautiful

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God, I get so psyched for this tournament. This, and The Open, are must watch for me, the very essence of professional golf.

 

[NoleinATL]

Fyi

 

[Nolerball]

One more Texas throw-down. This week I will go with:

Daniel Berger
Corey Connors
Denny McCarthy
Jordan Spieth

Good luck this week. And in the immortal and sultry words of Stevie Nicks: even children get older and I'm getting older too. (one can tell by my reading of last week's results) so if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills...blast away.

 

[NoleinATL]

Luckiest break in Masters history, maybe majors history. As Verne said, he had never seen a ball stay up at 12 like Freddie's did

 

[NoleinATL]

I am officially pulling for Bryson next week.
Would love to see a guy playing Top Flite get the green jacket

 

[NoleinATL]

Field update

 

[DFSNOLE]

Good evening Mr. Commissioner and all hail King Ed. Please accept these unworthy picks.

L Aberg
P Cantlay
H Matsuyama
D Berger

Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in the best golf pool on the Rivals platform. Good Luck!

 

[Bill From Tampa]

Akshay Bhatia
Corey Conners
Tommy Fleetwood
Hideki Matsuyama