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Only one tournament separates players from the first major championship of the season. The 2024 Texas Open will serve as the appetizer for the main dish that is the Masters once again this year, and the tournament welcomes a litany of stars hoping to find some form before making the trip to Augusta National.
In an up-and-down season that has seen everything from longshots winning to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler going back-to-back, players such as Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa have been left searching for answers. McIlroy tees it up in San Antonio for the second time in the last three years as looks for the elusive Masters victory.
Making good on his word of committing to a busier schedule, McIlroy’s appearance in the Texas Open will mark his eighth tournament of the season. McIlroy is without a top 10 on the PGA Tour so far this year as he battles inconsistencies with his long game.
He is not alone. Jordan Spieth is fresh off missing back-to-back cuts at the Valspar Championship and the Players Championship. The winner of this event in 2021, Spieth hopes to rediscover some magic in his home state before the Masters, where he always seems to contend no matter his play leading into it.
While Spieth has always been a bit of a volatile player, the ever-reliable Morikawa has not been clicking. The two-time major champion has been without his greatest weapon — his iron play — in the early stages of the year, and the results (or lack thereof) have been indicative of this.
These three are joined in the field by a number of other major contenders including Genesis Invitational winner Hideki Matsuyama, Max Homa, former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Champion Golfer of the Year Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Åberg and reigning champion Corey Conners.
2024 Texas Open schedule
Dates: Apr. 4-7 | Location: TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course) — San Antonio, Texas
Par: 72 | Yardage: 7,438 | Purse: $9,200,000
2024 Texas Open field, odds
- Rory McIlroy (9-1): McIlroy has experienced a disappointing start to the year, but he may be beginning to find his footing. Connecting on four straight top 25s, the 34-year-old’s game has been riddled by the big number. Already in 2024, McIlroy has hit 13 balls in the water and carded more double bogeys than he had in all of 2023. The big left miss continues to pop up at the most inopportune time, and the iron play is not in a place where he is comfortable. He has stated he has two swings going (one for his driver and one for his irons), and that will need to change if he plans to contend this week. More importantly, though, it bodes well for next week in Augusta.
- Ludvig Åberg (12-1)
- Hideki Matsuyama (18-1): The man from Japan has looked like his normal self over the past two months. Racing to the finish line en route to victory at Riviera, Matsuyama continues his good play at TPC Sawgrass where he notched another top-10 finish. He ranks fifth in the world in strokes gained tee to green and first around the green since the beginning of the calendar year.
- Jordan Spieth (18-1): It has been a bad couple months for Spieth after a really nice January. He contended at The Sentry and the WM Phoenix Open the first week of February but has since fallen off a cliff. A DQ from the Genesis Invitational has been followed by a T30 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a pair of missed cuts. The iron play has been sloppy, but as we have seen throughout his career, that change quickly.
- Max Homa (22-1)
- Collin Morikawa (22-1): What type of player is Morikawa without his elite-level iron play? Well, we have received the answer in the early parts of 2024. Outside of the Sentry, Morikawa has struggled relative to his normal levels with his scoring clubs and has gained four strokes on approach in only one tournament (the Genesis Invitational). Without his superpower in his corner, the two-time major champion has been a non-factor as he ranks 52nd on the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach.
- Corey Conners (22-1)
- Matt Fitzpatrick (25-1): It had been a bit of a quiet start to the season for Fitzpatrick before bursting onto the Players Championship leaderboard. Resulting in a top-five finish, Fitzpatrick’s play at TPC Sawgrass reminded golf fans what he is capable of with a cooperative driver or two. The Englishman appears to have found the form with the big stick, and that could be the tipping point in things to come as he has poked his head on leaderboards around this time of year the past few seasons.
- Tommy Fleetwood (30-1)
- Alex Noren (30-1)
2024 Texas Open expert picks
Who will win the Valero Texas Open, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard and best bets, all from the model that’s nailed 10 golf majors and is up nearly $9,500 since June 2020.
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