Mcilroy, Spieth among the stars on hand
More than 150 of the world’s best golfers will tee off Thursday during the first round of the 2024 Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course. The Greg Norman-designed course will feature four former Masters champions, 15 Texans and 11 of the past 13 Texas Open winners competing for their share of the $9.2 million purse, with the winner taking home $1.66 million.
Here are five players to keep an eye on as San Antonio prepares to host its 102nd Texas Open.
Note: OWRG refers to a player’s Official World Golf Ranking.
Corey Conners
OWGR No. 47, 2 PGA Tour wins
The Oaks Course has been good to Conners over the years. He claimed his first PGA Tour title here in 2019 — after having to qualify for the event just a few days prior — and claimed a second Texas Open championship last year with a one-stroke win.
Now, the 32-year-old will try to join Arnold Palmer and Justin Leonard as this long-running event’s only three-time winners.
“It’s definitely a place I feel comfortable, a place I’m happy walking around,” Conners said Tuesday. “Definitely lots of good vibes and lots of good memories that I can draw from out there. Really like the golf course, it’s in great shape again this year. I’m excited to give it a good run again.”
Rory Mcilroy
OWGR No. 2, 4x major winner, 24 PGA Tour wins
Mcilroy committing to play in the Texas Open for the third time injected even more intrigue into this event ahead of next week’s Masters Tournament. The three-time PGA Tour player of the year finished as runnerup in 2013 and missed the cut in 2022, a letdown he’ll look to amend before returning to Augusta next week.
Mcilory, 34, enters the tournament in a relative rut having finished between 19th and 66th in five PGA events this year.
But the Irishman remains arguably the most talented player in the field as the only active under-35 pro with at least 20 PGA titles, and he did win the European Tour’s Hero Dubai Classic in January.
Jordan Spieth
OWGR No. 19, 3x major winner, 13 PGA Tour wins
The Dallas native and former Texas Longhorn won this event by two strokes in 2021, which was his first victory in nearly four years. Spieth, 30, has won just one tournament since, a playoff victory in the 2022 RBC Heritage, and has missed two straight cuts coming into the Texas Open.
Though Spieth has struggled to recapture the magic from his early years on tour, the Texan remains capable of bending just about any course to his will. He did just that at the Oaks Course three years ago, and another triumph in San Antonio would provide some needed momentum heading into the Masters.
Ludvig Aberg
OWGR No. 9, 1 PGA Tour win
The rising Swedish star closed his amateur career at Texas Tech by winning the Ben Hogan Award (best college golfer) in 2022 and 2023. And competing against pros hasn’t rattled Aberg one bit.
Aberg, 24, has already recorded one win apiece on the PGA Tour (2023 RSM Classic) and European Tour (2023 Omega European Masters) and last month finished eighth in The Player’s Championship to rise to ninth in the world rankings. He’s 7-for-7 on cuts this season with one runner-up, three top 10s and five top 25s.
Asked whether playing in Texas this week might provide an extra boost, the former Red Raider said, “Oh, absolutely.”
“I was just in Lubbock these last couple days and came down from Lubbock to here,” Aberg added during Tuesday’s media availability. “It’s nice being back in Texas. We’re going to have a lot of family coming down, or not family but friends and close friends and people from Tech.”
Jimmy Walker
OWGR No. 336, 1x major winner, 6 PGA Tour wins
The 45-year-old New Braunfels Canyon alum will likely be the sentimental favorite this weekend. Walker, who now resides in Boerne, won the Texas Open in 2015 about a year before capturing the 2016 PGA Championship, which was both his lone major title and last tour victory.
Though Walker considered retirement in 2022, he used a one-time career earning exemption to compete in 2022-23 and is still trying to recapture some of his past glory. The former Baylor Bear enters the Texas Open having missed five straight cuts and hasn’t posted a top-25 finish since finishing tied for 14th in the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship last May.
Former champions
This year’s field features nine former Texas Open champions: Conners (2023, 2019), JJ Spaun (2022), Spieth (2021), Andrew Landry (2018), Kevin Chappell (2017), Walker (2015), Martin Laird (2013), Adam Scott (2010), Zach Johnson (2008-09)