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
While I didn’t get to see as many shots as I would have liked last week, I had a great time at the WGC Match Play. I’ve gone to the last three with my father and son, so it’s become somewhat of a tradition for us. Unfortunately, we’ll have to find a new one, as the match play is no longer on the PGA Tour schedule. It’s such a fun event to watch and to sweat, so hopefully they’ll bring it back in some capacity in 2025. I had a lot of sweats heading into the elite eight last week, but ultimately the golfers I needed to advance were eliminated before reaching the Final Four.
For those that have been living under a rock, we are officially one week away from the Masters. We are going to have all kinds of content for the year’s first major. As of now, I am on the schedule for my regular content, a betting trends article, and some short-form videos. But before we get there, we need to focus on the Valero Texas Open. This is the last chance for golfers to punch their ticket to Augusta National and to do so, they’ll have to win this week’s event (looking at you, Rickie Fowler). The field isn’t great at the top, but it’s not as thin at the bottom as we’ve had in most of the non-designated events this season.
TPC San Antonio is a Par 72 that measures 7,438 yards. It features four par fives, but they are some of the more difficult ones on the PGA Tour. Distance continues to improve each year, but we’ve seen many of the par fives play as three-shot holes for a large portion of the field in the past. The fairways here aren’t particularly narrow or wide, as they should be around 30 yards wide in the landing areas. The rough here is extremely playable (easiest on tour actually), but you can get into a lot of trouble if you wonder too far off the beaten path (Kevin Na once made a 16 on a hole).
The greens here are average in size and usually tough to hit compared to other venues on the PGA Tour. This could be why around the green play has been so important here in the past. I suppose we can look at this in two ways — the really good ball strikers won’t have to chip as often, while the really good scramblers can stay in the mix even when they are missing greens. We’ve seen a nice mix of short game specialists and ball strikers win here in the past. The difficulty of the course typically hinges on the wind, but has averaged out to be the 15th toughest on tour over the last five years. And for what it’s worth, we do have wind in the forecast this week.
This is one of those weeks where there’s not a specific course fit that we need to target. Being a good total driver is helpful, being good with irons is helpful (especially from 125-175 yards), being good around the greens is helpful, and putting well on bermuda is helpful. However, there are very few golfers in this field that do everything well.
Model Video & Download Link for the Valero Texas Open
Field Size:
- 144 golfers
Cut Rule:
- Top 65 and ties move on after the first two rounds
Weather Forecasts
Golf Course
- TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course)
- Par 72 that measures 7,438 yards
Course Notes
- Difficulty last five years — 18th, 15th, 28th, 12th, 10th (depends on wind)
- Fairly generous fairways (30+ yards wide) that narrow at 300 yards
- Plenty of hazards in play off the tee, but very playable rough
- Water is in play on only three holes, but can’t stray too far off fairways
- Kevin Chappell, Corey Conners, and J.J. Spaun play into the ball striker narrative
- Jordan Spieth, Matt Kuchar, Andrew Landry play into the short game narrative
- Average-sized bermudagrass greens (6,400 square feet)
What to Look For
- Total driving
- Iron Play
- Around the green play
- Bermuda putting
- Par 5 scoring
- Texas/wind experience
Core Plays
Rickie Fowler
DK: $10,200 — FD: $11,700
SG: OTT — 55
SG: APP — 46
SG: ATG — 36
SG: Putting — 14
Bogey Avoidance — 39
Noto’s Rating — 82.7