Tour News
DraftKings Fantasy Preview: Valero Texas Open

The field isn’t top notch at the Valero Texas Open, but names like Jordan Spieth, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson and Phil Mickelson will be gracing the field.
DraftKings is once again offering a buy-low, earn-high format this week. At just $3, or FREE with first deposit, you can enter a contest with a $45,000 prize pool that gives away $3,000 to first place and guarantees money to the top 3,525 scores.
You can join the DraftKings competition here.
If you’re unfamiliar with the competition rules, you can look back at my Arnold Palmer preview for that information.
With a less-heralded event on the docket, this might be one of your best chances to cash in on your golf expertise at DraftKings.
My aid in that endeavor is below.
The Course
At the Valero Texas Open, the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course layout has been the host since 2010, which only gives us five years of data.
That isn’t a large sample, but two main characteristics for a successful showing at the course have been assumed: accurate driving and a great short game.
But we don’t deal in assumptions here, and some have questioned the accuracy over length advantage in driving at TPC San Antonio anyway.
To find the answer within the 5-year sample, I recovered every player who finished in the top-10 at the Valero since the course change in 2010. This set of 46 different golfers would give us an idea what kind of player contends (and potentially wins) on Sunday at the Oaks Course.
There is some judgement involved, but on the distance vs. accuracy question, I found 19 from this group to be in the top third on the PGA Tour in driving distance, with 14 clocking in on the same regard for accuracy. Power has been proven to be more potent than accuracy in driving on the PGA Tour in general, so this result speaks to a pretty even split, with power advantaged a little.
Overall, general driving ability showed to be highly important in contending at the Oaks layout, as I considered 19 from this set to be top third on the Tour in overall driving (distance + accuracy + precision). The short game matched driving’s 19 players placed in the top third.
Putting actually had 17 top-third golfers, which marks it as a far more vital area than has been previously noted at TPC San Antonio.
Approach play only registered 10 top-third golfers, which marks it as the least effective facet of the game for contending at TPC San Antonio.
As for minutiae, it’s better for a player’s driving flaw to be missing a lot of fairways rather than missing a few of them by a lot. The rough at TPC San Antonio is nothing too scary, but the big misses bring the haunting trees and natural vegetation into play.
Six-man Roster
- Jim Furyk: $11,000
- Matt Kuchar: $10,300
- Jason Dufner: $8,400
- Scott Piercy: $6,500
- Pat Perez: $6,500
- Seung-Yul Noh: $6,300
Two types emerge at TPC San Antonio. There’s the player with excellent driving and short game. And there’s the all-around player, with the layout advantaging driving, short game and putting heavily.
Furyk is a mix of the two, as the 44-year-old is one of the best drivers and short game players on the planet, and is generally above average in every facet. His last two finishes at the Valero are 6th and 3rd, and he’s been on form the past month, if under the radar.
Kuchar and Perez are the all-around player mold. Kuchar has stalled with zero top-20s in his last three starts, but he rarely goes long without contending, and his T4 at the Valero in 2014 is an example of how he thrives at this time of year.
As for Perez, he’s not great at anything, but he’s above average in every facet, and his three consecutive top-25s at the Oak Course speak to his strong track record here.
Dufner has put together a thoroughly mediocre campaign in 2015 for a player of his caliber, with just one top-10 and three top-25s in seven starts. And he has no previous experience here. But this course is near perfect for him.
The 38-year-old is short off the tee, but incredibly accurate and unbelievably precise (top-15 in Distance from Edge of Fairway the last 5 years). And he’s secretly an elite short game player. This is an excellent track to get him back on point.
Piercy and Noh are my wildcards. The former is a long-hitter who is prone to big misses, and his best work is on courses where he can go low, which definitely doesn’t describe the Oaks Course. But his performance on and around the greens is nearly unmatched when he’s hot, and I’m taking a stab at that happening this week.
The latter is a bomber whose most positive feature at this point is his approach game. But his next big performance could come at any moment.
You can join the DraftKings competition here
Sleeper Team
- Seung-yul Noh: $6,300
- Martin Flores: $6,300
- Boo Weekley: $6,100
- Ken Duke: $5,800
- Chris Stroud: $5,800
- Derek Ernst: $5,100
A really poor bottom to this field, so my sleepers are the set just above the lowest group.
Flores has done remarkably well in this event with three consecutive top-25s, and possesses a great short game. Weekley’s driving is consistently top notch and, even with three missed cuts in his last four starts, a newly masterful short game gives the 41-year-old too tantalizing a combo for this course to overlook him.
Stroud is in the midst of a miserable season where he has made less than half his cuts and seen his putting plummet. I expect his normally excellent flatstick to return this week and combine with his near-elite short game and above-average driving.
I picked Duke on a whim, and Ernst is a product of course and recent play. He showed signs of life with a T17 at Valspar following seven missed cuts in eight events, and while no course will ever truly fit Ernst’s “great driving, but terrible at everything else” game, TPC San Antonio is the closest he’ll get with driving and short game (his second best feature) at a premium.
Bonus
Alternate Six-Man Roster
- Jordan Spieth: $14,000
- Harris English: $9,200
- Charles Howell III: $8,000
- Kevin Chappell: $6,600
- Boo Weekley: $6,100
- Derek Ernst: $5,100
I trust Spieth this week with his all-around game (admittedly best around and on the greens, though), but he’s just too expensive to be my true No. 1.
English has the dangerous trio of recent form and course fit, especially with his improved short game. Chappell may not have the first thing — four missed cuts in last five starts — but has the latter two at high levels.
Howell’s game is trending in the right direction toward Augusta and he is still hungry for that Masters invite.
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.
Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.
Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.
General Albums
- 2025 Wyndham Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2025 Wyndham Championship – Tuesday #2
- 2025 Wyndham Championship – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Scotty Kennon – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Austin Duncan – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Will Chandler – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Kevin Roy – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Ben Griffin – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Peter Malnati – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Ryan Gerard – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Adam Schenk – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Kurt Kitayama – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Camilo Villegas – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Matti Schmid – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
Pullout Albums
- Denny McCarthy’s custom Cameron putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Swag Golf putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Karl Vilips TM MG5 wedges – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- New Bettinardi putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Matt Fitzpatrick’s custom Bettinardi putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Cameron putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2025 3M Open

GolfWRX is live from the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities!
Back from our overseas journey, we have plenty for you to digest from Minnesota, including WITBs and in-hand looks at some pretty impressive putters.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2025 3M Open – Tuesday #1
- 2025 3M Open – Tuesday #2
- 2025 3M Open – Tuesday #3
- 2025 3M Open – Tuesday #4
WITB Albums
- Luke List – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Isaiah Salinda – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Kaito Onishi – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Rickie Fowler – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Seamus Power – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Chris Kirk – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Vince Whaley – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Andrew Putnam – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- David Lipsky – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Thomas Campbell – Minnesota PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2025 3M Open
- Max Herendeen – WITB – 2025 3M Open
Pullout Albums
- Rickie’s custom Joe Powell persimmon driver – 2025 3M Open
- Custom Cameron T-9.5 – 2025 3M Open
- Tom Kim’s custom prototype Cameron putter – 2025 3M Open
- New Cameron prototype putters – 2025 3M Open
- Zac Blair’s latest Scotty acquisition – 2025 3M Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2025 Open Championship

GolfWRX was live this week across the pond for The Open Championship! Check out links to all our galleries from Royal Portrush below.
General Albums
- 2025 The Open Championship – Sunday #1
- 2025 The Open Championship – Monday #1
- 2025 The Open Championship – Monday #2
- 2025 Open Championship – Monday #3
- 2025 The Open Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2025 The Open Championship – Tuesday #2
- 2025 The Open Championship – Wednesday #1
Pullout Albums
- Cobra’s 153rd Open Championship staff bag – 2025 The Open Championship
- Srixon’s Open Championship staff bag – 2025 The Open Championship
- Scotty Cameron 2025 Open Championship putter covers – 2025 The Open Championship
- TaylorMade’s 153rd Open Championship staff bag – 2025 The Open Championship
- Shane Lowry – testing a couple of Cameron putters – 2025 The Open Championship
- New Scotty Cameron Phantom Black putters(and new cover & grip) – 2025 The Open Championship
- FootJoy x Harris Tweed limited-edition shoes – 2025 The Open Championship
- Nike “Open Championship” collection shoes, bags and hoodies – 2025 The Open Championship