Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Texas Children’s Houston Open (Stephan Jaeger)
THIS WEEK: Valero Texas Open, San Antonio, April 4-7
Course: TPC San Antonio, Oaks Course (Par 72, 7,438 yards)
Purse: $9.2M (Winner: $1.656M)
Defending Champion: Corey Conners
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3:30 p.m. (GC), 3:30-6 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @ValeroTXOpen
NOTES: Thirty players in the field are qualified for the Masters, including four of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (No. 2 Rory McIlroy, No. 8 Brian Harman, No. 9 Ludvig Aberg, No. 10 Max Homa). … The winner this week will be the final qualifier if not already eligible (80.8 percent of the field). It has happened twice in the past four Valero Texas Opens. … The is the final event that counts towards the Aon Swing 5 for the next signature event at the RBC Heritage. Brice Garnett (not in the field) and Erik Barnes currently top the list, and fewer than 10 FedEx Cup points separate Nos. 5-7. … Charley Hoffman will make his 500th career start on the PGA Tour. He has seven top-10s at the event and leads all players with $4.649 million in career earnings at the tournament. … Four of the past six event winners also earned their first tour titles. … Tommy Armour III holds the tournament scoring record of 254 set in 2003.
BEST BETS: McIlroy (+1000 at BetMGM) has not recorded a top-10 through his first five starts on tour in 2024, his longest such stretch to begin a season since his first year as a member in 2010. He finished runner-up at TPC San Antonio in 2013, but missed the cut two years ago. … Aberg (+1200) is well rested after a solo eighth at the Players and enters the week a career-best ninth in the world rankings. … Hideki Matsuyama (+1800) won at the Genesis in February and finished T15 in San Antonio last year. … Jordan Spieth (+2000) won the event in 2021 but has missed his past two cuts entering this week. … Conners (+2200) is a two-time event winner (2019, 2023) and is seeking to become the first player since World War II to win his first three tour events at the same tournament.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Masters Tournament, Augusta, Ga., April 11-14
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Ford Championship presented by KCC (Nelly Korda)
THIS WEEK: T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, Las Vegas, April 3-7
Course: Shadow Creek Golf Course, Las Vegas (Par 72, 6,804 yards)
Purse: $2 million (Winner: $300,000)
Defending Champion: Pajaree Anannarukarn
Race to the CME Globe leader: Korda
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV/Streaming: Wednesday, 6-9 p.m. ET (Golf Channel/Peacock); Thursday, 6-7 p.m. (Peacock), 7-9 p.m. (GC/Peacock); Friday, 5-7 p.m. (Peacock), 7-8 p.m. (GC/Peacock); Saturday-Sunday, 6-9 p.m. (GC/Peacock)
X: @LPGAMatchPlay
FORMAT: Wednesday and Thursday will comprise stroke play with a cut to the top 65 players and ties after 36 holes. The field will be cut to the top eight following stroke play on Friday. Saturday morning will begin the single-elimination match-play bracket, with the semifinals taking place Saturday afternoon and the championship match contested on Sunday.
NOTES: Korda will be seeking her fourth consecutive victory on tour. … From 2021-23, the event was comprised of 64 players divided into groups of four. Following three days of round-robin play, competition moved to a 16-player single-elimination bracket. … Shadow Creek played host to the first version of “The Match” between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in 2018. It also hosted the CJ Cup in 2020.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The Chevron Championship, The Woodlands, Texas, April 18-21
PGA Tour Champions
LAST TOURNAMENT: The Galleri Classic (Retief Goosen)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steven Alker
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Invited Celebrity Classic, Irving, Texas, April 19-21
LIV Golf League
LAST TOURNAMENT: Hong Kong (Individual: Abraham Ancer; Team: Crushers GC)
THIS WEEK: Miami, April 5-7
Course: Trump National Doral (Par 72, 7,701 Yards)
Purse: Individual: $20M (Winner: $4M); Team: $5M (Winner: $3M)
Defending Champion: Individual, None; Team, Crushers GC
2024 Leaders: Players, Joaquin Niemann; Team, Crushers GC
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV/Streaming: Friday-Saturday, 1:15 p.m. ET (The CW app, Caffeine, LIV Golf Plus); Sunday, 1:05 p.m. (The CW, LIV Golf Plus)
X: @LIVGolf_League
NOTES: This is the fifth of 14 events on the 2024 schedule. … The 54-player shotgun start features 13 teams of four players along with two wild cards. Each team’s top 3 scores count for the first two rounds, with all four scores counting for the final round. … Trump National Doral played host to the first two LIV Golf Team Championship events. … Jon Rahm is the only player to finish within the top-10 in each of the first four tournaments this year. He will be competing at Trump National Doral for the first time. Rahm is also one of 13 LIV players who will compete at the Masters next week.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Adelaide, Australia, April 26-28
–Field Level Media