PGA Tour pros will tee it up at TPC San Antonio this week for the 2018 Texas Open.
The course is a 7,435-yard par 72, and will present one of the more difficult tests on the schedule. It played as the 10th-hardest track last year, with a 72.853 scoring average. The biggest challenge with the course, other than its length, is the powerful Texas winds that sweep through it.
Here are five golfers to keep an eye on this week.
Sergio Garcia
After an embarrassing Masters performance, the 38-year-old will tee it up at TPC San Antonio for the first time since 2010, a shockingly long absence considering he helped Greg Norman design the course. The Spaniard is the only golfer in the field ranked inside the top 20 and enters as the betting favorite at 14-1.
Adam Scott
The 2010 Texas Open champion makes his first trip back to San Antonio in seven years. Scott ranks fifth on tour in strokes gained tee-to-green, led by an impressive off-the-tee game. If his putter shows up this week, the Aussie has a strong chance of picking up his 14th career PGA Tour win.
Xander Schauffele
On paper, the 2017 rookie of the year is a perfect course fit. The 28th-ranked golfer in the world has gained strokes off the tee in 20 straight recorded events and is one of the better putters in the field. Schauffele's odds to win opened at 40-1, but are now at 25-1 as the buzz around him has grown.
Charley Hoffman
Hoffman loves this tournament. The 2016 Texas Open champion has made all 12 cuts at this event. Since the tournament moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010, Hoffman is a combined 41-under par, with only one finish outside the top 15. Talk about a course horse.
Luke List
There are few golfers in the world hitting the ball better than List right now, and none of them are in this field. He ranks first in the field in strokes gained tee-to-green over his last 12 rounds. The 33-year-old finished tied for third at last week's RBC Heritage, his third top-10 finish in his last five events.
News and Notes
- Kevin Chappell will look to defend his 2017 Texas Open title and end his missed-cut streak at two.
- Joaquin Niemann makes his professional debut. The 19-year-old Chilean and former No. 1 ranked amateur in the world signed with PING earlier this week. He missed the cut at the Masters two weeks ago.
- 21-year-old Shubhankar Sharma from India is in action. Sharma made a splash at the 2018 WGC-Mexico Championship, where he led after three rounds.
- Kevin Na once made a 16 at this event in 2011, the worst score on a par 4 in PGA Tour history. Luckily, he can laugh at it now.
- Steven Bowditch won the 2014 Texas Open. In the last two years, he has gone on to miss 40 of 50 cuts with the worst scoring average on tour over that span.
