The Valero Texas 23

Opening Day, The Final Four and golf! What a weekend for sports fans. This week the PGA moves to San Antonio Texas for the Valero Texas Open. The Greg Norman styled course is the last chance for golfers to sharpen their game before the 2023 Masters. TheMoJoKing is ready to guide you thru the event. Talking about the course and giving you some deep sleepers that no one else will discuss. It's fun, it's fast, it's Hidden Gems Golf.

Brought to you by the might 19 Media Group.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Hitting Jem's Golf, wherewe dig a little bit deeper to find
secret treasure for your betting and DFSpleasure. Yeah Baby, Hello all.

(00:22):
I am the Mojo King and thisis episode number fifty eight of Hitting Gems
Golf, brought to you by theMighty nineteen Media Group. This week we'll
be discussing the Valero Texas Open beingplayed in San Antonio, Texas. Now
that we are in the second seasonof Hitting Jem's Golf, it is pretty
interesting to go back and hear whatI said the year before and how I
said it. Two things really struckme about last year's valves Bar podcast,

(00:46):
which included recaps of both the WGCmatch play and the Corrals poot to Canada
Championship. The first thing was howslow I talked compared to this year.
I had a little bit of aJalen Rose thing going on, and I
just want to thank you for puttingup with me last year. I'm definitely
quicker with the words. Now,maybe you think I talk a little bit

(01:07):
too fast. If so, Isuggest you're speeding up your ears, because
there ain't no slowing us down.Now we're on the fast track to get
some money stacks, so let's getthose money phones ready, ring Ring.
I'll get into the other point thatslapped me right in the face as far
as listening to last year's podcast ina bit. But the one thing I
will say right now and remember theseexact words time. It's just a circle.

(01:34):
Hello everybody, this is the GimmickInfringement Podcast. I am Brad Winchester
with me as always is by tagteam partner Tyler McDowell Blanken. You are
listening to Hidden Gems golf that Weare also members of the nineteen Media Group
family. Brad and I are thehost of Gimmick Infringement. Each week we
discussed the latest in aw and thewrestling world, life, pop culture,
and much much more. Be sureto follow nineteen Media Group on social media

(01:57):
for the latest content, or tothe website for links to all of Frank
kings Collington Wrestling is right around thecorner and there is no better pot to
get your wrestling knowledge from than GimmickInfringement. They are the best in the
business. Well, at least Bradis the best in the business. Tyler,
he's all right, speaking of allright, my people, last week

(02:20):
was not the best I think itwas a Greek tragedy. Honestly, First
the good news, and it wasvery good. The guys I listed as
being my top choices as far asthe corrals did amazingly well. I mentioned
Bryce Garnette, he tied for eighthand was the first round leader. I
mentioned Ben Martin and he was thesecond round leader and also finished tied for

(02:44):
eighth. I really liked Akshay Batia. He came in twenty fourth, while
another favorite of mine, Wyndham Clark, settled for sixth after flirting with the
lead. Actually I think he wasthe leader for a couple of holes in
the final round, but ultimately thecorrals who The Canada Championship was won by
Matt Wallace. Matt Wallace was thirtyfive to one. Matt Wallace was also

(03:07):
the third of my trio of golferswho I said were my top choices.
I hope you beat them. Idid not. As great were the hidden
gem selections. Andrew Novak finished fortysix, Scott Harrington finished forty sixth,
Hank libyota sixty fourth, and WestBryant missed the cut on the number.

(03:30):
Those failures brutalized my fantasy lineups Istill did solidly, but I would have
been a beast if any of themimproved slightly. But what really absolutely killed
my wallet was that there were twotournaments last week, the other being the
World Golf Classic match play events.It is my one that I go crazy

(03:53):
on in fantasy, and unfortunately,it is the event that I got absolutely
smoked on. I'll give you oneguess where I put most of my money.
Now back to what I said earlier, Remember when I said there was
a second thing that struck me aboutlast year's podcast, Well here's a clip
from that podcast. Let's talk aboutlast week. I must admit last week

(04:15):
drained me. Two golf podcasts ina week is a little bit too much
for me, and it also drainedmy wallet sum But that was my own
doing. Let me explain. Ifyou listen to the pods last week,
I appreciate you, and you alsowill know that they had very different results
and I also predicted just what happened. Maybe I need to take more of

(04:36):
my own advice. Matchplay was anall around disaster pretty much from the start.
But as I said during the podcast, this thing is really a crapshoot
and crap it was. Unfortunately Iput most of my money there, so
my winnings in Corrals were just recoupingsome of those losses. Corrals continues to

(04:57):
be one of my better tournaments tofind hidden gems. Hopefully I'll just put
my money there next year, Probablynot. I have million dollar dreams,
baby Baby. For any who shadowedthose picks, congratulations to you. Can
I borrow a dollar? Time istruly just a circle? And can I
again borrow a dollar? This isthe ninety Media Group presentation. This week

(05:21):
we're going over to Vlaro Texas Open, being played at the Oaks Course on
TPC San Antonio in San Antonio,Texas. The Valario is in an interesting
spot, both location wise and schedulewise. San Antonio is less than an
hour and a half drive from Austin, Texas, where the match play jest
happened, so you think it wouldbe a no brainer for those players to

(05:44):
ride on over to this event,but the schedule complicates that idea more than
a little bit. The Masters isnext week. Actually complicates is probably a
poor choice of words. It makesthings pretty simple for the top players in
the world. The Laro is ano go. It's time to prep for
the major. This leaves the fieldlacking much star power. No star power

(06:08):
may upset for some fans, butthere's one person who definitely enjoys it.
That is me. The TPC SanAntonio Course is a par seventy two seven
thousand, four hundred and thirty eightyards. It was built by Greg Norman
in two thousand and ten with bunkersupdated in twenty twenty one. Have to

(06:28):
watch those bunkers. It is worldwall bermuda grass, with the greens getting
some whower overseating and the fairways andrough being overseated with perennial rye. The
g SCAA notes that warm temperatures haveactivated the bermuda grass earlier than usual.
How much that changes the course andin particular the greens, you can't be
sure, or at least I can't. I'm not a grass professional. I

(06:50):
will say that the greens are aboutaverage speed and are much slower than next
week's Masters, but like the Masters, you have to hit a specific fixed
spot on the greens. The fairwaysare also interesting here. They are relatively
thin, but the rough is prettyforgiving, so golfers have room to drive
the ball, but missing wide canbe devastating due to trees, rocks,

(07:14):
and bushes. The course features long, difficult par fives with some short but
not easy par fours. There won'tbe many eagles at this week's event.
It's pars and it's some birdies andtry not to mess up hitting big numbers.
Wind is also a huge factor atthis event. When the wind blows,
no scores go low. And Ialmost forgot there are a lot of

(07:38):
elevation changes here at this course.It's highest point and its lowest point are
about ten stories. Different. Pastwinning scores here have varied greatly. JJ
spawn one at thirteen under two strokesahead of Matt Coucher and Matt Jones last
year. In twenty twenty one,Jordan's speed one but at eighteen under two
ahead of Charlie Hoffman, and we'reahead of Matt Wallace. In twenty twenty

(08:01):
Corey Connors conquered the Valero at twentyunder. It was again Charlie Hoffman coming
in second place at eighteen under andRyan Moore coming in at seventeen under.
The cut lines during these events wereone under and two under. That's the
last two twenty nineteen. I don'treally want to consider because it still had

(08:22):
the cut at seventy players and therewas a huge May cut did not finish
that year. As far as compcourses and tournaments, the correlation to last
week's WGC event seems pretty overwhelming.If you do well at the matchplay,
you can do well here. Iguess that's not surprising considering the match plays
strong field. Also, I'd saymost of the Florida swings seems to be

(08:45):
noteworthy, especially events like the Playersand the Honda. I also see a
lot of crossover as far as theRBC Heritage leaderboard as well. Enough of
that, let's get to some longshot, shall we, and now your
featured presentation. All right. OneI notice here is that a ton of
guys who have seemed hit the agewall play pretty well here. Historically,
we're going to have to decide ifthe Ryan Moore's and the Luke Donalds of

(09:09):
the world get any play from us. But before we deep dive, let's
talk up top. And I thinkI like the man who would get a
ton of love this week, misterRicky Fowler. I'm sure many will say
that the narrative of the Master's motivationis an attractive betting feature. About Ricky.
I don't really subscribe to that,but the thing that I really like

(09:31):
is that Ricky's playing very well andplayed very well last week at match play.
Those are two huge checks for me. Also among the favorites I like
are Matt Kucher and Corey Connors.They both have great track records at this
event and they played very well atmatch play. Tom Steetrie, Cam Davis
and Brandon Rule all sort of fitfor me at longer odds, But the

(09:52):
main man I would be playing inone and Dunns is Tyrrell Hatton. He
and Adecki Matt Siama are easily thetwo best golfers in San Antonio this week,
but only Hatton it comes in playingwell. I also think he is
of course fit now. His lowodds and his lack of any history here
make me hesitant to actually bet onhim. Not to mention, I am

(10:15):
the hidden Gems guy, so whatdo I look like betting on the favor
But I gotta say I see whereVegas is coming from. Enough of the
obvious. Let's dig deeper, shallwe? First? Up? Not too
deep, but mid ranges. BrendanTodd. He is thirty seven years old
and the seventy fifth ranked player inthe world. His game lug looks like
a heart rate machine, bouncing upand down dramatically. It seems like he

(10:37):
loves to top ten and also tomisscuts. Three top tens and five misscuts
so far this season. It's alittle hit and miss, but when you
look at the style of his play, it makes a lot more sense anywhere
that he can get overmatched. Offthe tea, he is a garner,
but when you put him in tighterspaces where finesse comes into play, that's
where he shines. I probably shouldhave mentioned this in the course preview,

(11:01):
but I treat this event very muchlike a PAR seventy instead of a PAR
seventy two, just because there areno ego possibilities or low ego possibilities.
TPC san Antonio gives room for aplayer to bomb it off the t but
leaderboards show that the advantage for longhitters is muted whenever length doesn't matter Todd
is in play. Maybe I shouldhave worded that better. Moving along,

(11:22):
put it out Quist now up isone hundred and fiftieth ranked player in the
world. Thirty four year old Ericcall I had no idea the dude was
thirty four until I just looked itup. His profile is of a much
younger man because he has shown steadyimprovement over the last three years. I
think we're going to look at himas a late bloomer here. He is

(11:46):
the PGA version of Rory Hobbs,the Natural the baseball movie. Y'all with
me anyway, He, like Todd, has been mixing in great results with
miss cuts his last six events misscut, fifteenth, second misscut, twenty
seventh misscut. What has stay consistentis his well above average approach game that

(12:07):
should be huge here. He's neverplayed this event before, which is a
big knock against him, but Ithink he is a natural selection for this
event. My final hidden gem ofthe week will be the three hundred and
sixty ninth ranked player in the world, twenty seven year old Andrew Novak.
Much like Eric Cole, but ata more reasonable age. Novac seems to

(12:30):
be putting it all together now.He hasn't been as successful overall as either
of my first two selections, butthat's also how you get bigger odds into
play right. More importantly, hisbest results a twenty ninth at the Honda
a twentieth at Pebble Beach and attwelfth at the Sony are all windy strategic
type courses there the wind blows thisweek the more I like mister Novak.

(12:54):
All right, that's all I got. Wait wait, wait, wait a
minute, No, it's not hada couple of notes for you. Further
down the board, Lanto Griffin isreturning from injury. Let's see how he
does this week. Michael Kim hasbeen playing very solid of late. Good
for him, it's been a while. Ryan Moore is in play this week.

(13:15):
I don't care what he's been doing. He likes this course. And
lastly, old man Jason Duffner hasmade five straight cuts. Can he make
you six? Anyway? Love y'allappreciate y'all. Keep digging, Keep digging,

(13:52):
Okay, so digg keep digging amillion times, keep digging in and
then you'll find treasure in the snow. You know it's recording your audio,
not here, not you're dancing,I know, keep digging. Oh my

(14:28):
goodness, you kind of let abe there. Wait, so what did
I say? Your ball my rollsa roll away away? No, I'm
not sure. Maybe I was justclosing my mind. He said, bro,
Bro, maybe I was thinking abouthere a bro. No, I

(14:54):
thought you messed up because you justsaid ball, my ball, away,
away bowl, away bowl, mybro bro Broil, boil, boil,
Hey your balls are cooking, oilrichards say on that app