Power Rankings: 2019 Valero Texas Open
Golf Channel's game has a new look in 2019.
This year in addition to picking a tournament winner we’re also shifting the focus to head-to-head matchups, with both the Golf Pick ‘Em game and an additional Sunday-only contest that focuses on the final round. Both contests can be found online or in the NBC Sports Predictor app, which fantasy players can download to make their selections each week.
Players can compete for weekly cash prizes, with the best scores during the season qualifying for the season-ending FJ $100,000 Championship, where cash and prizes will be awarded to top finishers.
The contest continues this week with the Valero Texas Open, where the winner will earn the final Masters invite if not otherwise exempt. Here’s a look at some of the top players you should consider when making picks, as Andrew Landry returns to San Antonio to defend his title:
1. Matt Kuchar: No rest for the weary, as Kuchar faces a quick turnaround after playing seven matches in five days in Austin. But the game is clearly strong, with his runner-up showing a nice complement to his two early-season wins, and he is making his eighth straight Valero start. That run includes four straight top-25s from 2012-15 and a T-4 finish in 2014.
2. Rickie Fowler: Fowler was one of only two qualified players to skip last week's match play event, so he should have plenty of gas in the tank as he heads to San Antonio as the highest-ranked player in the field. While he's making his TPC San Antonio debut, his early-season record includes a win in Phoenix, a runner-up in Palm Beach Gardens and a hot putter that has him seventh in strokes gained putting on the season.
3. Tony Finau: Finau hasn't quite dazzled this year like he did in 2018, but the results have nonetheless been solid: three straight top-25 finishes before his early exit from the match-play bracket at the hands of eventual champ Kevin Kisner. Finau tied for third at this event back in 2017, including a 65 in the second round, and his advantage off the tee should shine on this week's sprawling layout.
4. Billy Horschel: Horschel is one of 17 players in the field who are already exempt for the Masters, but few among that group can match his record in San Antonio. His T-11 result last year was just the latest brush with contention at this event, as Horschel also finished T-3 in 2013, third in 2015 and T-4 in 2016.He tied for 26th at TPC Sawgrass in his most recent stroke-play start.
5. Sungjae Im: It's not if, but when this Korean sensation enters the winner's circle on the PGA Tour. Im turned 21 over the weekend, and while he faded on the final day in Punta Cana, the rookie has still cracked the top 10 in three of his last four starts, with six top-20s already this year after snagging three Web.com Tour wins in 2018.
6. Lucas Glover: Glover had to go back to Web.com Tour Finals last year to keep his card, but he's now in the midst of a resurgent season. The former U.S. Open champ has nine top-20 finishes in 11 starts this year, including a T-13 finish two weeks ago in Tampa and highlighted by a T-4 result at Honda. His normally reliable ball-striking has been even stronger than usual, and if the putts continue to drop with some frequency he should factor this week.
7. Jordan Spieth: Good luck figuring out where Spieth should land on this list. Only three people in the field are ranked ahead of him, and it's a course where he finished 10th in 2014 and second in 2015 in his most recent appearance. But the former world No. 1 is still trying to put the pieces of his game together, and while he showed some signs of turning the corner last week in Austin there's still some work left to do before the Masters.
8. Jim Furyk: Furyk's hot streak continued last week in the match-play bracket, where he would have made it to the knockout stage had he avoided a suddenly resurgent Henrik Stenson. Furyk's 2-1 group record left him just outside the top 50 in the world rankings and short of a Masters bid, but riding four straight top-20s and with a pair of recent top-10s in this event he's among the more likely candidates to follow Ian Poulter's lead from last year by earning a Masters berth with a win in the very last opportunity.
9. Charley Hoffman: No one circles the Valero on the calendar quite like Hoffman, who after years of near-misses in San Antonio finally got a pair of champion's boots back in 2016. He hasn't contended in the two years since, and he's down to 88th in the latest world rankings. But a top-20 finish in his most recent start in Tampa showed that the game is still there, and anyone with 10 top-25s in 13 starts at this course merits serious consideration given the field strength.
10. Jason Kokrak: Kokrak narrowly missed out on a breakthrough win two weeks ago in Tampa, and he hasn't missed a cut since The Open in July. He managed three top-10 finishes during the four Florida Swing events, and as a regular Valero participant he has made five of seven cuts while cracking the top 15 on this course in both 2013 and 2015.
