Texas Open: Top 10 power rankings at TPC San Antonio

The Texas Open takes over as the final prep tournament in advance of next week’s Masters.

For 10 of the past 11 years, the Houston Open held the distinction of being the week before the Masters. That event has struggled to find a title sponsor since longtime partner Shell stepped aside, and one of the Tour’s oldest stops has since been relegated to the fall. Another event in the Lone Star State steps in with the Valero Texas Open.

This event has been held in May since 2009, so this April date isn’t a huge change.

The site is TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course. It’s a Greg Norman design measuring to 7,435 yards for a par 72. Texas isn’t known for its elevation changes, but there were a lot of hills last week at Austin CC and this track features some more slopes. The Bermuda greens are fairly undulating which act as a defense for a course without terribly gnarly rough. The fairways aren’t that big, though, and strokes gained off the tee has been a vital stat in relevant years.

It looks like temperatures will be in the 80s and wind is usually a factor. I like solid ball strikers who can putt to get it done here.

Big hitters can play well here, but it’s not a prerequisite for success.

Defending champion Andrew Landry set the tournament course record of 271 (-17) to win by two over Trey Mullinax and Sean O’Hair, but expect the winning tally to be closer to low single digits.

This is a traditional 156-player field with a 36-hole cut to top 70 and ties.

Some top players always like to play the week before a major, which helps this week’s field strength. As a whole, though, it’s pretty weak with a lone top-10 player coming to the Lone Star State.

Can you blame players for wanting to get to Augusta a little early? Me neither.

But we’re golf nuts here, and we need our appetite whetted one more time before it’s time to hand out a green jacket.

Here are 10 players who could be lacing up the championship boots.