The 2021 Valero Texas Open will serve as the warm-up for the 2021 Masters Tournament slate in April, so expect heavy action at the TPC San Antonio down in Texas. Check out our preview of some favorites, sleepers, and long shots for this tournament below.
Spieth has seen a resurgence of sorts this season. He has four top 10s in 13 starts this season and is coming off a solid performance at the WGC Match Play where he almost defeated Matt Kuchar in the “Sweet Sixteen” round. Spieth is from Texas, so he should feel very comfortable playing at the TPC San Antonio, where he once finished runner-up in the Valero Texas Open back in 2015. Spieth had nice back-to-back showings back in February when he had a T4 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and a T3 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He also recently finished with a T$ at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard early this March.
Scheffler nearly bagged his first PGA TOUR victory last week but settled for a runner-up finish at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Still, that’s not too shabby for Scheffler, who now has a top-five finish in two of his last three starts. He has solo fifth at the WGC-Workday Championship late last February. Scheffler is 16th this season in terms of birdie average, as he keeps a 4.48 mark.
Finau is still searching for his first win of the season, but he’s come close to getting that — at least three times already. He had a solo second-place finish at the Genesis Invitational, a T2 at the Farmers Insurance Open, and a solo fourth-place at the American Express. In three starts at TPC San Antonio, Finau has had a couple of sub-60 finishes but was a solo third back in the 2017 edition of the Valero Texas Open.
Kirk last saw action in the Honda Classic where he ended up tied for 25th place. Prior to that, he had a T48 in THE PLAYERS Championship. He’s still worth a look, as he’s had two top 10s in 12 starts this season, including a runner-up finish (T2) in the Sony Open in Hawaii back in January. He is 13th overall this season in SG: AROUND-THE-GREEN.
Burns hasn’t seen action since missing the cut in THE PLAYERS Championship. He’s actually missed the cut three times this season. But he’s a volatile pick who can also put up a great performance out of nowhere. The 24-year-old Burns has three top 10s on the season, including a third-place finish in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Burns also had a pair of seventh-place performances in the Safeway Open and in the Vivint Houston Open.
Snedeker has several missed cuts this season, including in the last event he played in which was THE PLAYERS Championship. Only once in 14 starts has Snedeker finished inside the top 25 this season.
In nine starts this season, Holmes has missed the cut five times and he’s yet to crack a top 25 finish. However, he has three top 25s in seven starts at the TPC San Antonio.
