Valero Texas Open: Big Stakes for PGA Tour Players

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00:00to be the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio, always the week before, which is like the

00:06golden ticket tournament, right, Smiley, because you have you have a group of guys who obviously

00:10are in and they're looking to tune their game like Scotty and Rory did this week.

00:16So you're going to have Ludwig Oberda, you're going to have Fleetwood, you've got Cantlay,

00:20Jordan's playing Matsuyama.

00:21So those guys, you know, we know what's on their mind.

00:24They want to get their game right.

00:25That's why they're playing.

00:26And then, Smiley, we have all these other guys who aren't in to Augusta yet.

00:32And there's only one way for them to get there now.

00:34And that's to win this whole thing.

00:36A lot of big stakes if you're a few of these guys who are not going to Augusta.

00:39Yeah, a good example is last year, Akshay Bhatia, he was a player that was trying to

00:45play his way in.

00:46He went to put in the golf tournament.

00:48So there's young players that are, you know, trying to find their way to, you know, playing

00:53their first major championship.

00:55It's an opportunity.

00:57You've seen first timers win at this golf course.

01:00And then you got other players like you're talking about that are trying to, you know,

01:03work on their game a little bit.

01:05They find their way into contention.

01:07That's great.

01:08But it's not the end all be all.

01:09It's just like, let's not wear ourselves out.

01:11Let's work on the shots we need to work on.

01:14And I think that's what you are probably going to see from guys like Oberd.

01:19Probably he's going to play his way into contention.

01:21And I think that would be the goal of many of the top guys.

01:24But we'll see if the, if the players with everything on the line, as far as making it

01:28to the major, we'll be able to take down a, you know, a Ludwig coming down the stretch

01:33that I think that would make for some fun TV.

01:35Well, look, and there's plenty of guys at the top of this board this week who would

01:39love a win and not just to tune up.

01:41I mean, Tommy Fleetwood would love to finally win an event on the PGA tour.

01:45I know Jordan would love to get back in the winner's circle and get himself high up on

01:50that boards list again after being hurt last year.

01:54How about Gary Woodland, how he played, because he needs to win Smiley and he finished second

01:59my 19 under this past week.

02:02How about his game?

02:03Is that going to translate this week into San Antonio?

02:05Well, he sure played good last week.

02:08You have to be a little bit more accurate, obviously, off the tee of Valero.

02:10It's a completely different golf course.

02:13You get some crosswinds and some really difficult tee shots that can lead to some lost balls.

02:19You know, with the way Gary putted last week, that's got to be a huge positive for him.

02:23He's worked really hard on that.

02:25I think it's one of the main reasons why he found himself near the top.

02:29It's obviously still very long.

02:30He's second in driving distance.

02:32Gary could be a really good pick.

02:34But the guy who always plays good at this golf course is Corey Connors.

02:38He's the one that just it's almost it's almost just a no brainer every year to take Corey

02:43at this place because driving is so important.

02:45His iron game is is good, but the greens play small.

02:50And with him always being in the fairway, he's always somewhat around the lead.

02:55He's the first guy that pops in my in my brain for Valero.

02:59But as you know, Corey Connors struggles closing out golf tournaments and Valero is a place

03:04he's done it.

03:05So maybe those, you know, just the memories of winning at a place will help him get through

03:09this week.

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