Key Fantasy Stats for Valero Texas

Valero Texas Open

April 21st – 24th, 2016

TPC San Antonio (AT&T Canyons)

San Antonio, Texas

Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,522

Purse: $6.2 million

with $1,116,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:
Jimmy Walker

by Sal Johnson

Founder, Chief Data Officer, GOLFstats

E-mail me at:
sal@golfstats.com

This is based on the most important stats for TPC San Antonio, based on data from last years Valero Texas Open, and using data from all the players in the field with stats from 2016. What we do is take their rank for each stat and then add up the four catagories.
The scoring average of the field at TPC San Antonio in 2015 was 74.52, so with par being 72 that means the average score was two and a half shots over par, making TPC San Antonio the 2nd hardest course to score on in 2015. In the history of the PGA Tour it’s one of the highest scoring averages for a non-major so it’s important to note that all the players will be tested this week. Was last year a fluke? Possibly, but in 2014 the course was 8th hardest, in 2012 it was the 4th hardest and in 2011 it was the 7th hardest so no two ways around it, TPC San Antonio will be hard. One of the reasons it was hard last year was winds, they blow in the 10 to 25 mph range during tournament play. This year the players will have another problem and that is not only the weather during the week in which rain and thunderstorms will hamper players with the exception of Friday, but the course has been saturated with heavy rains over the last week, in the neighborhood of six inches. So the course will play long and the rough, which is always hard will be even harder. If winds do pop up look for another week of the average score being in the 74 mark.

So TPC San Antonio has been and will be one of the toughest courses the tour will see this year. Hitting it hard and far is important, last year it ranked 15th hardest in driving distance, but it’s very important to place drives in the fairway. Last year the course was 2nd in greens in regulation, which shows that not only are the greens hard to hit, a lot to do with not getting drives in the fairway, but the greens are very demanding to hit. Not only is it 2nd in greens hit, but it was the hardest course in proximity to the hole In the last four years all the winners have been in the top-15 in greens in regulation, last year’s winner Jimmy Walker and 2012 champion Ben Curtis led that stat. So our first key stat is strokes gained Tee-to-Green because you have to do well in this stat to win. Last year the course ranked T-12th in that stat, winner Jimmy Walker was 3rd in this stat.

Just like we have seen the last couple of weeks on tour, if you miss fairways you have to scramble well, last year TPC San Antonio ranked 11th in scrambling on tour. While Jimmy Walker may of only ranked 27th in this stat, it’s also important to not that he hit 51 of 72 greens so he was really good in that.

Another important item in doing well is putting, last year the course ranked 8th in making putts from ten feet and in with 86.35 average. Again in looking at our profile Walker ranked T-7th in this stat making 63 of 69 putts from ten feet and in.

Last is birdie avearge and it’s hard to image but the players only averaged making 2.67 birdies per round. That is not many, it was the lowest on Tour and another reason Jimmy Walker won as he made a total of 22 birdies for the week, with was a 5.50 average, again the best of anyone in the field.
*Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green: Stat is great barometer on how players games are from tee to green, taking a combination of driving distance, driving accuracy, greens hit and proximity to the hole.

*Scrambling: So which course is tough to get it up and down on holes players miss the greens. Since all of the area’s around the greens are mowed short and are left with really hard shots to get it close, scrambling is important. You are not going to be perfect so you have to make sure you can make pars from some tough places

*Putting inside 10 feet: Very easy, counts every putt from ten feet in to see who makes the most.

*Birdie Average: Average number of birdies made over the course of a round

Players from this year’s field with stats from 2016:

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.