News

Time For Texas – The Valero Texas Open

Published

16 years ago

May 11, 2010

After scintillating Sundays at Quail Hollow and Sawgrass it will be a tough go for the Valero Texas Open. The opening event of the Texas swing has big boots to fill if they want to keep the streak alive of compelling 2010 PGA Tour events.

Even with a new venue, TPC San Antonio AT&T Oaks Course designed by Greg Norman with the help of Sergio Garcia, it will be hard for hardcore golf fans to get fired up for this one. Take the field alone – gone are the Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwoods and in their place are the likes of Rich Barcelo, Matt Bettencourt, and Michael Connell. Thankfully 2010 two-time PGA Tour winner Ernie Els has decided to show up (his first-ever appearance) along with the Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson (2-time defending champion) and Justin Leonard. David Duval, John Daly, and Lee Janzen will also be around as they attempt to resurrect their careers.

The best news for all in the field is that the La Cantera Golf Club has been left behind in favor of the new layout affiliated with the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. La Cantera, at less than 7000 yards and playing to a par of 70, could not withstand the pressure of PGA Tour players. Take the example of 2009 winner Zach Johnson’s 3^rd round score of 60 or Tommy Armour III’s tournament record of 254 (2003) as testament to that. This is a tournament that dates back to 1922 and it deserves better than that.

In its place the PGA Tour has shuffled in 7522 yards of burly golf. Strong and lengthy par four and three holes are trademarks of the Oaks Course and the pros should have their hands full as they get to know the terrain. "The topographic subtleties of the rolling Texas Hill Country terrain, framed by magnificent stands of mature live oaks, create a pristine natural setting that is as playable as it is beautiful," says Greg Norman of The Oaks.

Of course, that is the man wearing his marketing hat. The player in Norman will probably be more interested this week to see the entire field push themselves to traverse his handiwork in a successful manner. His co-designer (more of a player consultant) Sergio Garcia, is in the field and we’ll soon see if his extra insight proves to his advantage.

If this event was still back at La Cantera then placing a bet that Zach Johnson would pick up his third consecutive win might be a safe gamble but with the new venue it could come down to other factors in picking a winner. Leonard is after his 4^th Texas Open win but the extra length of the course might keep him away from the hardware. Els is obviously the strongest player in the field but his missed cut at THE PLAYERS could work against him.

Poolies should take a hard look at Ben Crane who has a win this year and was in the mix for a time at Sawgrass. J.B Holmes could be a contender as well with length and quality play of late.

But if I had one player to call as a possible winner I would have to take Bo Van Pelt. He has been spending a lot of time on the leaderboards of late and he just might be the guy to grab the near $1.1 million prize the winner will receive this week.

Golf Channel has the early coverage and CBS picks up the weekend.

–

The report provided to GolfWRX.com by Flagstick Golf Magazine (www.flagstick.com)

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 OccuNet Classic

Published

5 hours ago

Jun 9, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

With the PGA Tour across the border in Canada this week, GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore stayed stateside and headed to the OccuNet Classic presented by Amarillo National Bank in Amarillo, Texas.

It’s always interesting to see what the guys are playing on the KFT, and this week certainly hasn’t disappointed so far, with some incredible wedge stamping on display.

Check out links to all our albums below.

General Albums

2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT) – Monday #1

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Luke Potter’s custom Cameron putter – 2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT)

News

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Scotty Cameron GOLO 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition

Published

5 hours ago

Jun 9, 2026

Will Schube

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @HuskerFlyer is sharing a Scotty Cameron GOLO with a BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition shaft. While the putter is certainly enviable, the Augusta-inspired shaft is equally noteworthy.

From the listing:

Scotty Cameron Golo 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition Scotty Headcover 34″ $375

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.

News

J.T. Poston delivers career-changing victory after major gear changes

Published

1 day ago

Jun 8, 2026

Alistair Cameron

J.T. Poston required extra holes Sunday to earn a handshake from Jack Nicklaus himself and walk away with the biggest victory of his career.

Poston outlasted Ryan Gerard on the second playoff hole at the Memorial Tournament, and the victory at Jack’s place was aided by two significant gear switches ahead of the tournament in Ohio.

Firstly, Poston swapped from the Titleist Pro V1x to the new Pro V1x Left Dash in his last start at the Charles Schwab Challenge. It’s the ball that made headlines just a month ago, when Jordan Spieth also transitioned into the low-spinning variant at the Cadillac Championship.

Poston’s ball change was spurred by a discussion with Titleist Tour reps about testing some options that could be a little better for him in the wind, after the now four-time PGA Tour winner had gained slightly more speed of late and was feeling like his irons and full wedge shots were overspinning.

Poston spent time testing both the current-generation Pro V1 and the new Left Dash at home the week after the PGA Championship, and at Colonial Country Club, he spent more time dialing things in on the range with J.J. Van Wezenbeeck before deciding to tee up the Left Dash that week. At the time, Poston was 85th in SG: Approach (+0.024); he gained +1.402 at Colonial.

“So we felt like today was going to be a good test of that and it obviously performed really well,” Poston said after a second-round 65 at Muirfield Village which propelled him into the lead. “We had a couple shots that I felt like didn’t quite hit ’em perfect and it hung in there pretty well. So I feel like just having that confidence in that too is big, where I just — we’re trying to hit the smart shot and hit the right shot and just trying to execute and go from there.”

On his way to victory, Poston delivered a dominant performance from tee-to-green and was +8.081 in approach and tied for fourth in greens in regulation.

Poston’s Memorial victory was also the first on Tour for the new torched line of TaylorMade’s 2026 Spider putters. Poston also added the L-Neck Tour X at the Charles Schwab Challenge the week prior, something prompted because “it seems to be working for a lot of the other guys.”

A usually reliable putter, Poston had dropped to as low as 89th on Tour in strokes gained, and when he saw his good friend Denny McCarthy using the Spider, he thought about the change. With the new flatstick in hand, Poston gained close to seven shots on the field at the Memorial and ranked third in SG: Putting for the week.

Poston was the first to agree, though, that neither switch was more important than the other.

“The ball got me there, the putter helped me get it in the hole,” Poston said.

See Poston’s full winning WITB here.