Valero Texas Open 2015: Tee times, pairings and a preview for Thursday’s round

The conclusion of the PGA Tour’s annual Florida swing means a move back west for the pre-Masters Texas two step. The Texas Open in San Antonio and the Houston Open have settled into this spot on the schedule in recent years, and many players use them as an ideal week of prep for Augusta National. There are four tournaments total in Texas, and that appeal of Masters prep has generally delivered some of the better fields to these two.

Most of the top names at the Valero Texas Open are Americans. The internationals make the trip to Florida for the WGC event at Doral, and may play another tournament in the Sunshine state while they’re in the USA. But it thins out a bit when the Tour jumps over to Texas.

As with most regular non-WGC PGA Tour events, there are three-to-five groups that have most of the big names clustered together. Phil Mickelson, who had not played at this event since 1992, is back for the second straight year. This time, however, he’ll try to actually finish in San Antonio. Last year, he withdrew because of a pulled muscle, something he handled with extra caution given the proximity to the season’s first major.

Mickelson will be out with fellow Masters winner Zach Johnson and defending FedExCup champ Billy Horschel. Those are three pretty major American names. While Tiger languishes out on the range at Medalist, Phil has a bit of work to do himself. Coming off the worst year of his career in 2014, Mickelson has had a spotty first few months this season. He missed back-to-back cuts on the West Coast swing, and shot no better than 71 at the difficult but no-cut WGC at Doral. There were some positive signs at the Honda Classic, but that’s been about it for Phil.

Throughout his career, Mickelson has always lit it up in the fist quarter of the season. He typically gets a win, often on the West Coast swing, before the Masters. He’s not really come close this year after a 2014 winless season. Granted, he’s nowhere near the mess that Tiger is right now. But it would be nice for him to show in Texas before rolling into Augusta. The Mickelson-Horschel-Johnson group goes off No. 1 at 2 p.m. ET.

Playing one group in front of Mickelson is the favorite this week, native Texan and 21-year-old Jordan Spieth. He’s currently 7/1, slightly ahead of Dustin Johnson. Both Spieth and DJ won the last event they played and both have been on a tear really since the start of the year.

Spieth’s title at the Valspar Championship was his second career PGA Tour win, but it was his third worldwide victory since the start of December. The thinking is that Spieth was already cruising, but closing out a victory, especially in a playoff against Patrick Reed, should only propel him to an even greater season. Given his recent record and what’s expected of him both in his home state and at the season’s first major, it’s not a surprise he’s the favorite this week It’s going to be really fun to watch him this next month. He’s out with a couple other 2015 winners, James Hahn and Jimmy Walker, at 1:50 p.m.

Golf Channel will have their usual first round coverage on Thursday, coming on the air at 3 p.m. ET for three hours of coverage. The Florida swing gets expanded coverage, but the three-hour window is more the season-long norm for these regular Tour events. And Thursday will be the better day for the afternoon broadcast, with both Spieth and Mickelson on the later side of the draw.

Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk, and Matt Kuchar are some of the bigger names in the morning draw on Thursday and should be done well before the TV cameras go live. They will be featured in Friday’s second round broadcast.

Here’s the complete tee sheet for the opening round at TPC San Antonio: