This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
Valero Texas Open
San Antonio, Texas
TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course) - Par 72 - 7,438 yards
Field - 144 entrants
Purse - $8.9M
The Preview
The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is in the rearview as the game's best now look ahead to Augusta, but the PGA Tour still travels from Austin Country Club to TPC San Antonio this week for the Valero Texas Open, where one final Masters invite remains up for grabs. The nearly 7,500-yard Oaks Course invites ample distance off the tee while featuring long par-5s and slow bermuda greens that are overseeded with poa trivialis to combat potentially windy conditions, given a Texan breeze typically acts as this layout's primary defense. It'll be hot and muggy all week, with a chance of rain arriving throughout Thursday's first round.
Recent Champions
2022 - J.J. Spaun
2021 - Jordan Spieth
2020 - Canceled
2019 - Corey Conners
2018 - Andrew Landry
2017 - Kevin Chappell
2016 - Charley Hoffman
2015 - Jimmy Walker
2014 - Steven Bowditch
2013 - Martin Laird
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
SG: Off-the-Tee
Scrambling
Par-5 scoring
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Tyrrell Hatton - $43
While many gamers flock to the course-history narrative and click on past champion Corey Conners atop the board, pivoting to a red-hot Hatton should be a popular strategy as well. With three top-6 finishes in his last four stroke-play starts, the Englishman heads into his Valero Texas Open debut as the consensus outright betting favorite, but we only have to spend 21.5 percent of our budget on him in this setting. Hatton has gained at least 2.1 strokes off the tee in five consecutive outings, and he's second to none in SG: Tee-to-Green and Birdies or Better Gained over his last 24 rounds.
Rickie Fowler - $42
Fowler missed the cut at TPC San Antonio last year after posting back-to-back T17s in his first two appearances here, but again, we'd rather target recent form, and he's been on fire both with the flat stick and with his irons since an 11th-place result at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January. He's No. 1 in SG: Approach and second in SG: T2G over his last 24 rounds, but he's also top-15 in SG: Putting during this stretch. However, his rostership percentage could be astronomical, especially since everyone knows that he needs a win in order to punch his ticket to Augusta National next week.
Glue Guys
J.J. Spaun - $34
The hope is that Spaun doesn't get quite as much love as your typical defending champion due to his four missed cuts in five events from the Farmers Insurance Open through THE PLAYERS Championship, but those all came against significantly stronger fields, and he's still been solid off the tee during this top-25 drought that's extended for over two months now. Encouragingly enough, he advanced to the Round of 16 at this past week's WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which included a couple dominant wins over Matt Fitzpatrick and Sahith Theegala in the group stage.
Nicolai Hojgaard - $29
Hojgaard is coming off a runner-up effort at the Corales Puntacana Championship where he played his final 54 holes in a collective 17-under-par, ultimately pacing the entire field in driving distance and GIR percentage. Prior to his trip to the Dominican Republic, Hojgaard had already racked up a trio of top-15s since the turn of the calendar year on the DP World Tour, with no finish worse than a T38 through five showings.
Bargain Bin
Ben Martin - $23
Not only has Martin made five consecutive cuts dating back to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but he'll pop for the analytical crowd as well, given he sits top-15 in SG: Approach, SG: T2G and BoB Gained over his last 24 measured rounds. There wasn't ShotLink in Punta Cana last week, but we do know that Martin finished the Corales ranked T3 in driving accuracy, fourth in scrambling and T11 in GIR percentage en route to a T8 overall.
Matt Wallace - $21
We dip into even chalkier territory in this spot with a severely underpriced Wallace, whose salary appears to have been solidified before he clinched his maiden PGA Tour victory at the Corales Championship on Sunday. It might not be the worst idea to fade him with such inflated projected rostership due to a well-below market cost of just $21 on Yahoo, but it'd be a disservice not to have mentioned this discrepancy if you're looking for a free-square type play. He'd been really solid with his irons and wedges in the month leading up to his win, ranking third in SG: Around-the-Green and eighth in SG: Approach over his last 24 rounds.
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