$1.2 million over the next six years to
The First Tee of San Antonio, which
is based at Brackenridge Park,
where the Texas Open was played 21
times from 1922 through 1959.
Why don’t more top players
support the Texas Open and what
can be done to fix the problem? The
two reasons most often cited are the
tournament date and the difficulty of
the course. Coming at the midway
point between the Masters and the
Players, the Valero becomes the
odd-man-out when big names are
looking for a week to rest. (Indeed,
last week a total of just 10 players
among the top 50 competed in
various tours around the world.)
“It’s a tough run of events,” said Matt
Kuchar, at No. 15 the highest-ranked
player in this year’s field. “It’s such a
juggling act for schedules when you get
to the top guys. The top guys can pick
and choose the events [the play].”
In what could be seen as a quid pro
quo for Valero’s contract extension,
the tournament will get the spot the
week before the Masters in 2013. It
should help the strength of field, but
it is not a permanent solution.
2011, highest among the 22 par-72
courses on tour.
The 7,435-yard Oaks was also the
only tour course in the top five in both
lowest accuracy percentage off the
tee and fewest number of greens hit
in regulation. PGATour.com also says
the Valero venue had the highest
stroke average for par- 5 holes of any
tour course at 4.94. Yes, it is difficult.
“I think the course is probably one
of the hardest we have on tour,”
Kuchar reiterated. “If you’re not
driving the ball well, you’re really in
trouble. The greens are so demanding
as well, undulating with big falloffs so
that a shot that’s just off can end up in
a place that is a really bad place. [But]
I would hope guys who are the best in
the world don’t say, ‘That course may
be too difficult for me.’ ”
There is talk of softening the
Greg Norman-Sergio Garcia design,
maybe taking some of the fire out of
the green contours. Nos. 1, 4, 10 and
12 will be re-done for certain. That
might help improve the quality of the
field. But perhaps nothing short of a
tour policy requiring each player to
compete at every event on some
cycle, such as every four or five
years, will change things.
Although TPC San Antonio is a
long way from Brackenridge—the
onsite JW Marriott hotel might be
bigger than San Antonio was in
1922—the tournament is connected to
another time and place by the thread
of history. PGA Tour players need to
protect that thread by strengthening
their support of this tournament,
because to forget your past is to
jeopardize your future. History has
long proven that to be true. n
