After spending last week in Houston, the PGA TOUR travels across the Lone Star State to San Antonio for this week’s Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio. The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio is usually a tough test for golfers looking to get ramped up and ready to roll at Augusta National next week for the Masters, the first major championship of the season. If you’re looking to build your bankroll with some cash game victories this week, check out my top three picks for cash games this week– Corey Conners ($10,100), Bud Cauley ($8,300), and Rickie Fowler ($7,700).
Earlier on Wednesday, I broke down my top three pivot plays for tournament lineups in a companion piece to this post. The picks in both posts have upside and characteristics that I like for this week’s event. The pivot plays for tournaments are more aggressive, while these three plays are safer options. These picks will also likely have much higher ownerships, but still made solid plays where that is less of a factor. Think of cash game picks as playing a par 5 as it was designed — looking for a solid birdie; while the tournament plays are more aggressive picks that try to go for the green in two. There is potentially more reward with pivot plays, but also more risk.
So what exactly are “cash games”? Typically, those are contests on DraftKings that pay out to about the top half of entries. Typically, they are in the 50/50s & Double Ups or Head-to-Head sections of the DraftKings lobby. In this style of contest, it’s important to minimize risk and raise the floor of your entry rather than focusing too much on the ceiling. Typically, cash lineups will be more balanced in their spending. In cash games, finding low-ownership plays doesn’t matter as much since you’re just trying to finish in the top half of contests rather than finish at the very top of a GPP.
With those ground rules set up, let’s dive deeper into my top three cash game plays for this week at the Valero Texas Open.
Corey Conners ($10,100)
Conners is an approach-shot specialist and TPC San Antonio is known as a course that rewards players who excel on approach. It isn’t surprising with that setup that Conners has had plenty of success on this track. He has made the cut in each of his six career appearances at this venue with two victories.
In 2019, Conners claimed his first career PGA TOUR win at this event as a Monday qualifier, becoming the first player who qualified on Monday to win on the PGA TOUR since 2010. He also won on this track in 2023 and finished T25 last year playing as the defending champ once again.
Conners comes back to San Antonio playing well with top-10 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, THE PLAYERS Championship, and the Valspar Championship in his last three appearances. Over the last 12 rounds, he leads the entire field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and in Strokes Gained: Ballstriking.
With his form and course history, Conners is a great play this week. He’ll be very popular in almost all formats, but he’s such a safe option that he makes too much sense to pass up for fantasy golf cash game plays.
Bud Cauley ($8,300)
Cauley’s comeback has been remarkable after his serious car accident and complicated, extended recovery. He has a similar recent form to Conners and should be able to continue his success this week. He finished in the top 10 next to Conners in both THE PLAYERS and the Valspar Championship, giving him four top-30 finishes in his six events this season.
The 35-year-old ranks second in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over his last 24 rounds and fourth in Total Strokes Gained over that span. He also ranks in the top eight in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Ballstriking over that span.
That kind of success with his irons should serve him well this week at TPC San Antonio. In the past, Cauley has four made cuts in six appearances at this track including two top-20s. Last year, he made the cut and finished T39.
Look at Cauley as basically Conners-lite this week. He’s a much more affordable way to get a high floor and a high ceiling based on his recent ball striking numbers. He is a great way to save some salary in your fantasy golf cash game plays while still getting plenty of win equity and recent form.
Rickie Fowler ($7,700)
Fowler has been an interesting option for fantasy golf this season since he has been pretty consistent but hasn’t very often managed to climb near the top of the leaderboard. His recent consistency, though, makes him work as one of this week’s fantasy golf cash game plays.
Dating back to October 2024, Rickie has made the cut in nine of his 10 events with the lone exception being a withdrawal from the WM Phoenix Open due to illness. He finished T39 the next week at The Genesis Invitational and posted a T18 in his next appearance at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches
That strong showing at PGA National was one of four top-25 finishes over that successful stretch. Last week, he finished T52 last week in Houston after four solid rounds under 70.
He has been trying to qualify for the Masters but would need to win this week to play next week at Augusta. That seems like a long shot, to be sure, but he has shown boom-or-bust potential in his previous appearances at TPC San Antonio, with three top-20 finishes and two missed cuts in five starts, highlighted by a T10 in 2023.
Even if he doesn’t have the shotmaking to contend like Conners and Cauley, his recent form is strong enough to make him a good option under $8,000 as one of this week’s fantasy golf cash game plays.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR Single Entry $25 Double Up
