PGA DFS Core Plays - DraftKings & FanDuel: Valero Texas Open
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS plays at various salary ranges for the coming week’s golf tournament. Who should you be building around? Find out below.
Valero Texas Open
I am back from Austin and ready to break down the Valero Texas Open. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t routinely checking every Tiger Woods tracker account, as he potentially gears up to play The Masters next week. While we are all giddy with anticipation for Augusta National, we have business to attend to in San Antonio. If golfers aren’t already in the field for the Masters, the only way to get in is to win this week’s event.
TPC San Antonio is a Par 72 that measures over 7,400 yards. It features some of the toughest fairways and toughest greens to hit on the PGA Tour. Driving the ball well is critical this week, but the fairways are narrow (especially at 300+ yards). While distance certainly provides an advantage at this course, that’s only if golfers can keep it in the short grass. I’m mostly looking at strokes gained off the tee for my main driving statistic this week.
The greens here are average in size and feature Bermudagrass that is over-seeded with Poa Trivialis. We’ve seen this exact grass type on greens a few times over the last few months. With the field missing a ton of greens, scrambling will play a critical factor this week. On top of that, each of the last four winners here have finished fourth or better in strokes gained approach that week.
Ideally, I am looking to target golfers that are good off the tee, golfers that are good with their irons, golfers that are good around the greens, and golfers that can gain strokes putting on bermuda and/or poa putting surfaces. Experience in Texas doesn’t hurt, experience in the wind doesn’t hurt, and experience on long courses doesn’t hurt.
We need to give a big shoutout to Harry Brandt aka birdiemonster for shipping $200,000 at the WGC Match Play last week. He uses the Customizable PGA DFS Model as part of his research process each week. It is available to all premium members, so make sure to check it out each week. You can create your own ratings and read my player notes for nearly half of the field.
Tournament Info
Field Size:
- 144 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties
Key Statistics for the Week
- Strokes Gained Approach
- Strokes Gained Off the Tee
- Strokes Gained Around the Green
- Bogey Avoidance
Weather Forecasts
Hole Yardage Specialists (based on holes at TPC San Antonio)
- Jordan Spieth
- Tony Finau
- Corey Conners
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Abraham Ancer