Golf
Valero Texas Open preview: Riley and Todd fancied in Texas
We might be just one week away from the first Major of the year, but there’s still plenty to play for at this week’s Valero Texas Open. Plenty of the field will be wanting to tailor their games ahead of heading to Augusta, while there’s one place available in the Masters for the winner.
JJ Spaun did it last year and Corey Conners achieved the feat in 2019 and given the fact that just eight players in the field this week are already playing at Augusta, there’s a pretty big carrot dangling for the majority.
Riley looks ready to win for the first time
The front of the market looks opposable, with plenty having questions to answer and so it could be worth siding with Davis Riley at 22/1.
The American returns to TPC San Antonio having finished in a tie for 63rd last year, however it’s certainly a course he has fonder memories of having won here on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. He has continued to play well in Texas with several good showings – perhaps unsurprising given he was born in Mississippi and educated in Alabama. He played well at the Valspar Championship and was third at the halfway mark, and while he faded to finish in a tie for 19th, it was evidence that his game is trending in the right direction.
He more than held his own in the WGC Match Play last week, where he went 1-1-1 and took every game to the 18th hole, including in his opening match against Scottie Scheffler. He drove the ball nicely there and that followed better performances with the driver at the Honda and Arnold Palmer Invitational, all of which bodes well for a course where a solid game off the tee is crucial.
Granted, he didn’t play very well here 12 months ago, but let’s not forget he was coming off a play-off defeat and he was likely still feeling the effects of that disappointing loss. A year later, the omens are good that his game is coming to the boil nicely and this week looks a prime opportunity to get his first PGA Tour win as well as gaining a spot at Augusta.
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Todd can plod into contention again
Brendon Todd is not the easiest player to predict as his recent results show. Since finishing in a tie for second at Pebble Beach, he’s missed back-to-back cuts and never really featured at the Arnold Palmer Invitational or The PLAYERS. However, as his result at Pebble showed, he’s a player that recent form doesn’t necessarily apply to and if he encounters a course that he likes or has form at, he can be very dangerous.
Pebble Beach is the obvious one, but he has also gone very well at Colonial with three top-10s – many of which have come when he’s in no sort of form – and his past performances at this week’s course, TPC San Antonio, follows a similar story.
He’s played this event five times, making the cut four times and has secured two top-10s, in 2014 and 2022, to boot. His form prior to his tie for eighth last year was very similar to this year having missed two cuts and not really being involved in the other tournaments he’d played before that. But for whatever reason, and as Todd’s career has shown, he is well capable of completely transforming his game to give himself a chance of winning.
As mentioned, he’s not the most trustworthy, but that can be said for several others ahead of him in the market, and he looks worth chancing at 40/1.
