The final tournament before The Masters, the Valero Texas Open, takes place at TPC San Antonio.
Because of its proximity to the first Major of the year, many PGA Tour players who have already qualified for the Augusta National tournament have opted to concentrate on their preparations rather than participate this week.
Nevertheless, there are still a handful of participants who will be hoping to claim the Green Jacket. Among them is the highest-ranked player in the field, World No.17 Tyrell Hatton. The Englishman had a stunning back nine in the final round of the Players Championship earlier this month, which earned him over $2.5m, and he will be confident of producing another strong display this week.
A relatively recent Masters winner is also in the field – Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama, who won the Major just two years ago. The World No.21 has won twice on the PGA Tour since then, but not for over a year since claiming the Sony Open in Hawaii title in January 2022. He will be looking to put that right and give himself the perfect preparation for the main event next week.
Other players with relatively high world rankings include World No.32 Sepp Straka, the man two places beneath him, Chris Kirk, and World No.36 Ryan Fox. Kirk, in particular, will be confident of a strong performance given his recent victory in the Honda Classic where he edged out rookie Eric Cole in a playoff, who also appears.
Last year, JJ Spaun claimed the title for his maiden PGA Tour victory. While he hasn’t added to that in the ensuing 12 months, he will be drawing on that experience from a year ago as he looks for back-to-back wins in the tournament this week.
There are several other former winners in the field, including 2019 winner Corey Conners, who plays next week, and the man who won the year before him, Andrew Landry, who doesn’t. Elsewhere, 2013 winner Martin Laird, 2015 victor Jimmy Walker, 2016 champion Charley Hoffman and 2017 winner Kevin Chappell also appear.
One player who had targeted a Masters appearance this year is Rickie Fowler. The American is enjoying a resurgence in form in 2023. However, his performance in last week’s WGC-Match Play, where he failed to progress from his group despite beating World No.3 Jon Rahm in his opening match, meant he didn’t reach the top 50, which would have earned him a place in next week’s field.
There is still one last chance for Fowler, and others, to bag a spot – win this week. While the stakes are high for those with…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly RSS Feed…