The 2025 Valero Texas Open, set to take place at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course, promises to be an exciting and highly competitive event, attracting some of the world’s best golfers.
This prestigious PGA Tour stop is scheduled to unfold from 27th – 30th March, and it will be the last significant event on the PGA Tour before the Masters, giving players one last opportunity to sharpen their game before heading to Augusta National.
Located just north of downtown San Antonio, the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course is known for its challenging design, which will test every aspect of a player’s game. The course was designed by legendary golfer Greg Norman, in collaboration with architect Pete Dye, and is recognized for its dramatic elevation changes, strategic bunkering, and the numerous water hazards that can punish wayward shots. As a par 72 stretching over 7,400 yards, it will require precision off the tee, strong iron play, and a steady putting performance to succeed.
Last week’s predictions marked the first time in four weeks that both picks have finished outside the top 12 places – rather emphatically too, as neither Aaron Rai nor J.J. Spaun made the cut at the Houston Open. Let’s look at bouncing back this week at the Valero.
Keegan Bradley – 25/1
Our first pick this week in Texas is USA Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley. The tour veteran has played in 360 events in total, making 77% of cuts and has seven wins to his name: he’s no stranger to lifting trophies.
For the majority of this season, Bradley has performed well on tour, firing himself into the top 20 five times. This included finishing T5 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T6 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
While he’ll be keeping a keen eye on other Americans ahead of the Ryder Cup, Bradley himself is performing to a high standard and is certainly setting the example ahead of Bethpage last this year. A high finish in Texas may also see him exceed the $50million mark in PGA Tour earnings.
Bradley is also the youngest Ryder Cup captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. Interestingly, 1963 was also the last year to feature a playing USA Ryder Cup captain. If there was ever a year that a team captain was deemed good enough to play, it’s this one.
Bud Cauley – 45/1
Our second pick to perform at the Valero Texas Open this week is Bud Cauley. In case you didn’t know, Cauley was a solid, though winless performer on the tour until June 2018, when he was the passenger in a horrendous car accident in Dublin, Ohio, on the Friday of the Memorial Tournament. He suffered six broken ribs, a broken leg and collapsed lung.
Fast forward to present day, Cauley burst back onto the scene a couple of weeks ago at The Players Championship, where he finished T6, three shots off the winner, Rory McIlroy. He went two better the following week at the Valspar Championship, finishing in the top five for only the second time since 2020.
Cauley’s evidently feeling back to his best, like early 2018, and we think he could contend in his third successive tour event. While he has yet to win an event on the PGA Tour, gaining an invitation to The Masters the week before Augusta would certainly go a long way for the 35-year-old.
