This week’s PGA TOUR event takes us out to San Antonio, Texas, for the Valero Texas Open, a full-field event that features 144 golfers and a Friday cutline.
The event is held at TPC San Antonio, the long-running host of this event, which also acts as the final warm-up event before the Masters next week. I wrote more about TPC San Antonio in my PGA Cheat Sheet this week. The course is a medium length Par 72 at 7,400+ yards and is a relatively open design where wind can often factor into play. Here’s a little more of what I wrote about TPC San Antonio this week.
“TPC San Antonio was designed by Greg Norman and has been the host of this event since 2010. The course sets up longer than average (for the PGA TOUR) at 7,435 yards and features a mix of tree-lined fairways and some open, almost links-style driving areas where the Texas brush comes into play. There are four par 5s, but three of them come in right around 600 yards, and none guarantee a great shot at birdie. Fairways are narrow, and driving accuracy stats are always well below the TOUR average, making accuracy almost as important as length off the tee. However, going a bit offline generally won’t crush a golfer since the course plays wide open in many spots, too, and has almost no water on it.”
It should be noted that two of the past six winners ranked 66th (Andrew Landry in 2018) and 78th (Spieth in 2021) in driving accuracy for the week of their win. 2025 runner-up, Denny McCarthy, also gained less than 1.0 strokes OTT last year.
The overseeded greens here are known to be tough, too—players have to navigate lots of sharp falloffs and contours—and that also makes them a good warm-up for Augusta. Greens in Regulation percentages tend to trend around 5-to-10% lower than the average PGA TOUR stop. This plays into the hands of the best ball-strikers in the game—Conners led the field in GIR stats here in 2019 and 2023, and Spieth gained +7.4 strokes on Approach for the week in 2021.”
This is an interesting and somewhat demanding setup in some regards, that certainly requires some precision from approach games, but also strong play on the greens.
DraftKings Pick6 has Full tournament totals up for this week, so I’ll again be focusing on FULL TOURNAMENT totals and finishing positions to use for your Pick6 lineups.
Below, I’ll give you my best ideas for this week’s Valero Texas Open DraftKings Pick6 lineups for the full event.
Tom Kim Better Than 33.5 Finishing Position
Despite being held winless since the 2023 Shriners, Kim remains one of the top young players on the PGA TOUR. He’s only recorded one top-10 finish this season at Pebble Beach but seems likely to break out of his slump soon. Despite struggles with the putter, he comes in ranked first in strokes gained approach stats, 4th in approach proximity, and having gained a whopping 13.5 strokes on approach in his last two starts combined.
I’ve avoided speculating on Kim thus far but with him coming in off a week of rest and now back on a solid accuracy-driven course, it really does feel ignorant to keep staying off him. Iron play really matters, so if Kim sees even a little positive regression with his putting, I think a top-30 finish should be achieved semi-easily. Either way, I like buying the dip this week.
Maverick McNealy Better Than 34.5 Finishing Position
McNealy bounced back from a couple of terrible weeks to post a top-32 finish in Houston, in a start where he gained over 2.0 strokes OTT and on Approach. The improved ball-striking is a welcome sign from McNealy who has proven himself to be a better back when outside the state of Florida. On top of winning in the Carolinas, he’s also finished 2nd in California this season and now comes to Texas on a course where there is less water and a decent amount of room off the tee (in spots anyway).
Much like Kim, this high number in the finishing position category for McNealy seems unwarranted. He’s been very solid outside of a couple of poor weeks and with his ball-striking back on track, there seems like little reason he can’t put together another good start before the Masters. While he’s never finished inside the top-20 at TPC San Antonio, he has played here twice before and is playing some of the best golf of his life at the moment. Like Kim, I have no problem buying the dip on this talented young player this week either.
Denny McCarthy Worse Than 25.5 Finishing Position
It’s hard to say what to expect out of McCarthy this week. Last year, he had a magical Sunday run at the Valero that ended in heartbreak and him losing in a playoff to Akshay Bhatia. This year, he comes in playing well having finished top 20 in each of his last two starts. He’s also gaining nicely on approach. Still, with his Masters berth all sewn up, you have to feel like his focus this season may be on next week.
I can see a lot of outcomes for McCarthy this week but ultimately his 25.5 finishing position seems too low compared to players like McNealy and Kim, who are proven winners. Maybe he gets some redemption for last season and has a stellar week but I do think a lackluster return is just as possible with him already into the Masters.
This is more of a numbers play than anything as McCarthy has proven course history but fading a top-25 finish or better seems worthwhile given the numbers we are getting on comparable players.
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