Before the massive excitement of next week hits us, the PGA Tour heads to San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open. It's the last chance to see some form before deciding on those Masters picks- although I'm sure most people out there already have a pretty good idea of who they are going to back, and good performances this week will likely bring prices in and ruin any value the player had anyway!
The course this week is 7,522 yards, and after averaging a brutal 74 strokes last year, has seen some changes: some of the greens have been flattened out, run-off areas around the greens have been made smaller and also the rough is going to be an inch shorter. This should mean that we see more birdies this year, however it looks like a great test still and there will be an emphasis on finding fairways and greens.
Rory McIlroy has made a late change to his playing schedule to be here this week in order to get some extra competitive golf under his belt before Augusta, although I am going to ignore the top 3 in the betting as they are real contenders for next week and I can see this being more of a warm-up / practice for them rather than really worrying about the win.
My first pick this week is Freddie Jacobson- he has been having a really solid year so far and has results of 18th, 5th and 2nd in the last 3 years here, which shows he knows how to play the course. With slightly less depth in this field than the last few weeks, he has the chance to go well here. He's relatively short at 27/1, but I feel the risk is worth it with an each-way placing certainly on the cards.
I was going to avoid players that I thought had any chance at the Masters, but with relatively few wins on the PGA Tour, and as a player who thrives off there being a buzz around him, I can't see Ian Poulter holding back this week. He's a great driver of the ball, and due to the fact he thrives off confidence and what his former coach called the 'peackock effect' I don't think he'll be worried about going into Augusta having won here. He's been playing well this year and is straight off the tee, so could do well this week.
Joining the crowd with the obvious choice this week, I'm going to back Brendan Steele at 50/1. He won this in 2011 and came 4th last year, so clearly loves it here- and with a win possibly propelling him to the heights of Augusta he's certainly going to have plenty of motivation.
My next two picks are horses for courses and I will be backing Charley Hoffman and Charlie Wi. Hoffman has carded results of 13th, 2nd and 6th in the previous 3 years as well as picking up a 20th last week, so he is clearly playing OK. He also picked up T-2 in GIR last year, which will be key to a good performance this week. Charlie Wi has also shown good form here and likes the course- so at 100/1 a repeat performance of 4th last year would definitely be welcome.
My picks for the week:
- 1.75pt ew Freddie Jacobson at 26.0
- 1.75pt ew Ian Poulter at 29.0
- 1pt ew Brendan Steele at 51.0
- 1pt ew Charley Hoffman at 41.0
- 0.5pt ew Charlie Wi at 101.0
All at Coral- paying 5 places.
Good luck everyone!
