Special Places - TPC San Antonio

After Charl Schwartzel celebrated the 50th anniversary of Gary Player’s first Green Jacket by winning the 75th playing of the Masters, the world of golf gets back to business as usual with the PGA Tour returning to Texas for the second event in two weeks, this time at TPC San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open.

The TPC Network was set up with two guiding principles, providing natural and intimate settings for spectators to view the action, and also giving the fans the chance to play on the same fairways they see on television every week. TPC San Antonio opened for play in January 2010 and has two layouts, Pete Dye’s AT&T Canyons Course and Greg Norman’s AT&T Oaks Course which is hosting the Valero Texas Open for the second time. All-time great Norman was assisted by player consultant Sergio Garcia and has fashioned an environmentalist’s dream, a gem that is sensitive to the natural surroundings and incorporates the distinct and diverse nuances of indigenous flora and fauna.

TPC San Antonio lies at the base of the Texas Hill Country, and The Oaks is the newest course on the PGA Tour schedule. Located in a naturally beautiful setting, the layout meanders across rolling hilly terrain framed by stands of mature oaks, with undulating fairways, untamed rough and rugged sand traps. This traditional design offers a mix of both wide expansive fairways and narrow tree-lined corridors from tee to green. A unique feature of the course is that all the downhill holes play into the prevailing Texas wind, while the uphill holes play downwind. The signature hole on the 6850m par 72 layout is the 168m par 3 16th - a demanding test with a yawning bunker in the middle of the green. The driveable 310m par 4 17th and the reachable par 5 18th combine to make a classic risk and reward finish.

Defending champion Adam Scott, coming off an agonising runner-up finish at the Masters, will be hoping the weather is a little kinder this time after last year’s second round was washed out by 80mm of rain.