In what feels like the blink of an eye, we've had a Monday finish after a wild week at The Players, five days of madness at Austin Country Club, and the coronation of a new world No. 1 golfer. Meanwhile, fans and media are tracking Tiger Woods' whereabouts with less than a week until The Masters.
While all of that might take away from this week's PGA TOUR event, don't tell that to the players taking part in the Texas Open. Some are using the weekend at TPC San Antonio as a tune-up for The Masters because they were already in Texas. Others know that this is one last chance to pull off a victory that would warrant a last-minute invite to Augusta National. That added element makes the Texas Open interesting, and we'll frame who we like and who we don't around that theme this week.
Three draws
Gary Woodland
After a rough start to the season, Woodland turned things around with a pair of T-5s in Florida before getting caught on the wrong side of the draw at TPC Sawgrass. Last year, Woodland made his first start at the Oaks Course in six years and scored sixth. That's enough to get him to come back. In fine form and still looking for his first win since 2019, Woodland is good value for a top 20 at +150. At 30-1 or better, he'd be worth a look to put on the cowboy boots on Sunday.
Jason Day
Day has never played in this event, which isn't ideal when it comes to course familiarity, but he's also never needed to. It might surprise some, but he's not currently in the field for The Masters. Having fallen out of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Day needs to win this week to get back on the hallowed Georgia grounds where he's had so much success. That's a tall task for anyone, but at least we know someone with the talent of Day isn't just going through the motions because he's in the neighborhood. We'll get a full effort for our bet on Day (+220) to flirt with victory and finish in the top 20.
Charley Hoffman
He missed the cut in both his Florida swing starts, but if you know anything about Hoffman, it's that he comes alive in April. Famous in golf circles for his strong opening rounds at Augusta, he's finished runner-up the last two times at this tournament and won the Texas Open in 2016. A true "horse for course," expect Hoffman to linger on the leaderboard. And +280 for a top-20 finish isn't asking much for a decent payout.
Three slices
Bryson DeChambeau
In his return after a long layoff due to multiple reported injuries, DeChambeau split one of the most poorly played matches you'll ever see with Richard Bland. That was the highlight of the week for DeChambeau, as he went on to lose to Talor Gooch and Lee Westwood the next two days. Bryson has played the TPC San Antonio event just twice before, missing the cut both times and shooting over par in all four rounds. He's +250 to head home to Dallas on Friday night.
Tony Finau
Finau has been a reliable fade for us this season, so we'll take another shot on him to miss the cut at a juicy price of +225. Perhaps with an eye on Augusta, Finau missed the cut in this event last year, and that was when he was having his best season. With three missed cuts already in 2022, Finau was out of contention almost instantly with two losses at WGC-Match Play last week before tallying a meaningless win over Xander Schauffele. Like his Ryder Cup teammate above, it may be in Finau's best interests to play just two more rounds while he's in Texas and get an early start on his Masters prep.
Corey Conners
This is more about wanting to avoid getting sucked into past-champion Conners after an epic week in Austin than it is about fading him. The Canadian won here in 2019 and can be proud of his win over Dustin Johnson in the consolation final of last week's event. However, that impressive weekend - where he played four separate matches - had to take a lot out of Conners, who already has his invite for next week.
Matt Russell is a betting writer for theScore. If there’s a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on Twitter @mrussauthentic.
