RotoBaller PGA: One And Done Staff Picks - Valero Texas Open

April 3, 2019

The PGA RotoBaller staff digs into their One and Done selections for the Valero Texas Open. Here are some under the radar plays and picks for this week's event.

Here at RotoBaller, we are always searching for ways to give our readers the best fantasy sports content possible. With that goal in mind, we are very proud to announce the addition of a weekly PGA “One and Done” column. In this feature, our golf staff of Joe Nicely, Spencer Aguiar and Gianni Magliocco will provide their weekly golf picks every Wednesday. The purpose of this article is to present you with alternative options to consider and hopefully make your selection a much easier process weekly. With that plan in mind, let's get started!

Thanks for joining us here at RotoBaller! The WGC-Match Play was a marathon. For myself, Francesco Molinari performed excellently, clinching a third-place finish and an impressive payout. Although considering how he played all week, I can't help but feel a little disappointed he didn't go and win it all. Spencer's wildcard pick of Haotong Li paid off, with the Chinese player getting out of his group before falling to eventual champion Kevin Kisner. While Joe can feel a little unlucky that his selection of Poulter failed to advance, but since he was one of the best performers of the losers in the group stages, he still earned a decent payout.

This week we head to Houston for the Valero Texas Open, the final event before the year's first major.

For an in-depth breakdown of the top DraftKings and Fanduel plays, check out Joe Nicely's weekly Horse For The Course that highlights the best fits for the week's course.

And you can also find out who the smart money is on by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report every week.

Editor's Note: Our friends at Fantasy National have built some incredible DFS Golf lineup tools including a Lineup Optimizer, Stat Engine, Ownership Projections and Course Breakdowns. They are by far the best daily fantasy Golf tools in the industry. Seriously. You can read all about them here and see screenshots. 

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2019 Valero Texas Open - TPC San Antonio

7,435 Yards - Par 72 - Greens Bermuda

Greg Norman in conjunction with Sergio Garcia designed TPC San Antonio Oaks Course, and it usually offers up a decent test for the players. The course measures a beastly 7,435 yards, and one of the main factors that make this course so difficult is the wind. If the wind blows, like it usually does, then expect players to need to grind. If the wind stays away, we should see much lower scores than usual. This week's field, it is worth noting, lacks some depth, which is unsurprising since it's the week before the Masters, but there are still some big names lurking.

One and Done Selections

Joe Nicely - Tony Finau

Alternate - 

The less said about the WGC Match Play the better. I went with Ian Poulter in an event that I feel is a complete dart throw and it didn’t work out. Meh. I feel much better about selecting Tony Finau for this week’s Valero Texas Open. Finau is a rising star that had a breakout season in 2018, but has been relatively under-the-radar so far this year. I spent almost every week last season thinking he was going to grab a breakthrough win, but he was never able to close out a tournament. Maybe Finau will seal the deal when he’s being slightly overlooked?

TPC San Antonio sets up great for him - a T3 here in 2017 reinforces that thought - and his greatest weapon, the driver, should serve him well on this long layout. Finau’s biggest struggle this season has been his play around the green, but his ball striking has been sharp. He’s fourth in the Valero field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and eighth in SG: Ball Striking over his last 24 rounds. Despite being just out of sight this season, Finau is still a noticeable cut above the majority of players in this weakish Valero field. - Joe Nicely

Yearly Earnings - $1,219,668

Yearly Cuts Made - 10/12

Spencer Aguiar - Rickie Fowler

Alternate - Luke List

Tony Finau is going to be the golfer that most 'One and Done' participants gravitate towards this weekend in San Antonio, but I think we have a unique spot to grab Rickie Fowler with limited ownership. Yes, I know that Fowler will be making his first career stop at TPC San Antonio, and the perception is that playing the week before the Masters is more of a negative than a positive for a player of Fowler's skill level, but neither of those two situations is enough to keep me off the American this weekend.

I believe the more significant concern of the two areas would be that this will be his first appearance at the venue. That isn't necessarily ideal for a volatile player like Fowler, but his game sets up perfectly for the difficult test that will be placed in front of him this weekend. The 30-year-old is one of the best wind players in the world, ranking 10th on tour since 2014 in strokes gained in the wind - which also puts him first in the field. Fowler has also dominated courses that have overseeded greens, grading out third on the PGA Tour since 2014 with 2.707 strokes gained per round - once again placing him first compared to his competitors.

As far as playing the week before a major is concerned, Fowler has been doing this for years. In the previous two years, the eighth-ranked golfer in the world has posted six top-17 results in his eight attempts before grand slam events, including five top-10 finishes. The narrative that this is going to be an issue seems slightly ludicrous to me, and if the majority of the industry is going to jump off of Fowler, I am more than willing to take my shot on the American at a reduced ownership percentage. - Spencer Aguiar

Yearly Earnings - $2,366,771

Yearly Cuts Made - 11/12

Gianni Magliocco - Tony Finau

Alternate - Abraham Ancer

One of the top players in this week's field is Tony Finau, and the American is arguably the best player in the field who will be sufficiently motivated to win this week. That's not to say Rickie Fowler won't be going all out for the win, but Fowler will surely be thinking about next week, whereas Finau could really do with a victory of any kind.

The American's form has not been noteworthy recently, but as stated previously, this is a weak field and one which Finau will expect to boss. Finau finished T3 here in 2017 and has been putting on a show with his putting recently, ranking second with the flat-stick in this week's field for strokes gained putting. A return to his usual elite ball striking at a course where he feels comfortable may be enough to get Finau over the line this week, and I'm taking him to do just that. - Gianni Magliocco

Yearly Earnings - $5,400,388

Yearly Cuts Made - 10/12

Running Totals

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