TOUR Insider: Valero Texas Open  PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent This week's Valero Texas Open has the schedule all to itself for the first time since 2003 after being conducted opposite the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. This is well deserved. There aren't many events with a longer lineage than this stop in San Antonio, which was first contested in 1922 when Bob MacDonald defeated Cyril Walker by a stroke.  Eric Axley wins the Valero Texas Open in 2006. (Feldman/WireImage)
Returning again to The Resort Course at LaCantera, the Valero Texas Open is a haven for low scoring. Tommy Armour III set the PGA TOUR 72-hole scoring record with a 26-under 254. Mike Souchak posted 257 at Brackenridge Park Golf Course in 1955, which was the standard for decades. Little known is that was Souchak's first PGA TOUR victory. There are now 15 men who have earned their first TOUR title in San Antonio, including last year's champion, Eric Axley. Ten times in the last 25 years, the winning score has been at least 262. LaCantera, 6,881 yards, was knocked down to par-70 five years ago, and Axley's 265 tally has been the highest winning score since - and the layout designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish should not be considered an automatic pushover. With breezy conditions on the weekend, The Resort Course at LaCantera played to a stroke average of 70.433 (.433 over par), the hardest it's played in relation to par since 1996. It was ranked the 20th most difficult last year on the TOUR. There is rain and little wind in the forecast, which translates to a soft, defenseless course. If someone gets hot with the putter, he could possibly challenge Bart Bryant's course record of 60, which he set in 2004. Worth knowing: John Daly is scheduled to make his third straight start of the Fall Series, thanks to another sponsor exemption, at the Valero Texas Open, where he hasn't had much luck in his six starts dating back to 1991. The two-time major champion has finished no better than 55th, and he has exited early three different ways with a withdrawal in 1995, a missed cut in '97, and, in his last appearance in 2003, a disqualification. Eric Axley, who shot back-to-back 63s in the middle two rounds, became the first player since Ron Streck in 1978 to claim the Valero Texas Open in his first appearance. Twenty-nine players in the 132-man field are making their debut in the event.  J. J. Henry in action (Messerschmidt/WireImage) J.J. Henry, who missed last year's Valero Texas Open to play in the Ryder Cup, finished tied for fifth in his previous two efforts, and he also tied for second in the 2001 edition. When he set the 72-hole scoring record of 254 in '03, Tommy Armour III didn't shoot higher than 65. Since then, in his last 10 rounds, he has shot as low as 65 only once. Stephen Ames is the highest ranked player in the field at No. 42 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Rookie Brandt Snedeker is the highest ranked player from the FedExCup season, having finished 20th. Steve Flesch is the only two-time winner from this year playing. He was 12th last year at LaCantera and joint seventh in '03. Mark Brooks is scheduled to make his 24th start in the Valero Texas Open, the most in the field. Another player to watch is local product Cameron Beckman, who has two top-15 showings, while two-time Texas Open champ Justin Leonard is always a candidate for a high finish, as he has been in the top-10 in five of nine tries. TOUR Insider's power ranking for the Valero Texas Open: 1. Anthony Kim, 2. Steve Flesch, 3. Justin Leonard, 4. J.J. Henry, 5. Rich Beem. |
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