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The field includes 47 of the top 100 and 17 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings, an improvement over last year's 42 top-100 and 16 top-50 players. Notable names at the top of the rankings include Tommy Fleetwood (#4), Collin Morikawa (#8), Russell Henley (#10), Robert MacIntyre (#11), Sepp Straka (#12), J.J. Spaun (#13), Hideki Matsuyama (#14), and Ludvig Aberg (#18).

Past champions in the field include Brian Harman (2025), J.J. Spaun (2022), Jordan Spieth (2021), Charley Hoffman (2016), and Jimmy Walker (2015).

The field also features 10 of the top 25 on the 2026 FedEx Cup standings, including Collin Morikawa (#6), Sepp Straka (#11), Tommy Fleetwood (#12), Ludvig Aberg (#13), Hideki Matsuyama (#16), Si Woo Kim (#17), Ryo Hisatsune (#21), Daniel Berger (#22), Robert MacIntyre (#23), and Gary Woodland (#25).

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The Valero Texas Open is one of the most historically rich events in professional golf — the 6th-oldest tournament in the world, the 3rd-oldest on the PGA Tour, and the longest continuously held in the same city. This is the 104th edition of an event that traces its roots all the way back to 1922, when Robert MacDonald won the inaugural title at Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. Walter Hagen won the following year, and the list of champions over the decades reads like a Hall of Fame roll call: Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, and Arnold Palmer, who won three consecutive editions from 1960 to 1962. The tournament has carried 16 different names over the years, but it has never left San Antonio.

The event moved to TPC San Antonio's AT&T Oaks Course in 2010, and the course has been a formidable test ever since. It's also worth a nod to the scoring feats at the event's earlier venues: in 1951, Al Brosch became the first PGA Tour player to shoot a 60, doing it at Brackenridge Park. Four years later, Mike Souchak posted a 72-hole total of 257 at the same course — a Tour record that stood until 2001. And in 2003, Tommy Armour III fired a 254 at LaCantera, still the all-time record for par-70 courses on Tour.

This week's venue is TPC San Antonio (AT&T Oaks Course), par 72, 7,438 yards, with a course rating of 76.5 and a slope of 148 from the back tees. Greg Norman designed the course with Sergio Garcia as the player consultant, and it opened in 2010. The layout features 58 bunkers, water in play on three holes, and Bermuda grass throughout the fairways and rough, with Champion Ultradwarf bentgrass greens averaging around 6,400 square feet. The course has ranked among the 20 toughest on the PGA Tour in nearly every season since its debut.

The event carries added weight this week as the final PGA Tour stop before the Masters. Of the 132 players in the field, 24 are already committed to Augusta next week. For the other 108, winning here is the only remaining path into the field at Augusta National — giving the leaderboard chase an extra layer of urgency.

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It's hard to believe that between Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, the two best players in the world have combined for just one win in the last six months — Scheffler's American Express victory in January. Rory's last win was the Irish Open back in September, and Scottie's was the Procore that same month. To add another wrinkle, Scheffler withdrew from Houston last week to be home for the birth of his second child, and as of this writing there's been no update — leaving some to wonder whether he'll be ready for Augusta. McIlroy, meanwhile, has been busy but inconsistent. He posted runner-up finishes at the Genesis and the DP World Tour Championship and was T-3rd at both the Dubai Invitational and Abu Dhabi Championship, but then shocked everyone by withdrawing before the third round of the Arnold Palmer and followed that with a T-46th at the Players. The world's two best players heading into the first major of the year have question marks next to their names.

While those two sort out their form, others are rolling into Augusta hot. Cameron Young won the Players Championship and has been remarkably consistent, finishing in the top 11 in nine of his last 12 starts going back to his Wyndham victory. He has four Masters appearances, with a T-7th in 2023 and T-9th in 2024, but he also missed the cut in 2022 and 2025 — so his record at Augusta is a mixed bag.

Jacob Bridgeman has quietly become one of the most compelling stories of the young season. He spent 2024 largely in the shadows — his best finish was a T-11th at the Sanderson Farms — before knocking on the door last year with a T-2nd at the Cognizant and a 3rd at the Valspar. This season has been a different story entirely: in eight starts, he hasn't missed a cut or finished worse than 18th. He opened with a T-4th at the Sony Open, was in contention at Pebble Beach before a stumble down the stretch, then broke through with his first Tour win the following week and added a T-5th at the Players. He'll be making his Masters debut, and while he missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open last year, first-timers at Augusta have surprised before — Ludvig Aberg finished 2nd in his 2024 debut, and Will Zalatoris did the same in 2021.

Chris Gotterup is another first-time Masters participant worth watching, though he comes with more major experience than Bridgeman. He's played in four majors, including a 3rd-place finish at last summer's British Open at Portrush. He started 2026 by winning the Sony Open, followed that up with the Phoenix Open a month later, and finished T-6th in Houston last week. He hasn't been as consistent as Bridgeman across the full season, but his major pedigree gives him a leg up walking into Augusta for the first time.

The player likely to draw the most attention at Augusta, though, is Bryson DeChambeau. He's won his last two starts on LIV Golf and arrives with strong recent major form: T-5th at last year's Masters, T-2nd at the PGA Championship, and T-10th at the British Open. He's a two-time U.S. Open champion and has been a runner-up at the PGA twice as well. His first seven Masters were a struggle, but he was T-6th in 2024 and came close to winning last year. The course suits his game in many ways, though patience has always been his challenge at Augusta. Along with Jon Rahm, DeChambeau figures to be among the betting favorites when Masters odds are released next week.

Despite stretching past 7,400 yards, TPC San Antonio is not a bomber's course. Power alone won't get it done here. Winners like Brian Harman, Andrew Landry, and Corey Conners all ranked outside the top 50 in driving distance in their winning years, and only 10 of the 15 champions at The Oaks Course have ranked in the top 10 in driving distance for the week. Think of it less like a highway and more like a chess match: position and precision matter far more than raw length.

Greens in Regulation and Putting are the twin pillars of success at TPC San Antonio. Looking at the 15 winners here, virtually every champion ranked in the top 20 in both greens hit and total putts. Last year's champion Brian Harman ranked T-11th in Greens in Regulation and T-4th in putts. In 2025, Akshay Bhatia ranked 1st in GIR and T-16th in putts. The course's undulating bentgrass greens — many featuring false fronts — are its primary defense. Miss them in the wrong spot and you're left with a difficult chip, which is why scrambling is a secondary skill that pays dividends here: the areas around the greens are mostly short grass, making chipping ability a real differentiator.

Hitting Fairways also matters more than the yardage might suggest. The rough is thick, and while missing a fairway isn't a death sentence, it takes away a player's ability to attack the greens with precision. Finding the short grass sets up the clean, controlled approach shots that these greens demand. Players with strong Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green numbers and elite putting stats are the ones to target this week.

For a full breakdown of how players stack up heading into San Antonio, check out our Composite Rankings at GolfStats.com.