Greg Norman is known for his obsession with heavily bunkering the golf courses he designs. In 2024, TPC San Antonio ranked 6th in around the green difficulty from the sand. These are some of the most demanding bunkers players will see out on the PGA Tour.

Over the last 50 rounds, here are the top 10 players who have the best sand save percentage:

Ah, the vaunted ‘No. 1 in my model’ spot. A blessing and a curse! Yet I am going to continue to trust my handicap on this one, as my Houston handicap, which was a heavily back to basics, course fit approach, provided one of my strongest positional cards and pools of the season.

I love Si Woo Kim at this golf course, and his results back this up. The former Players Champion has recorded four top-25 finishes in seven appearances at TPC San Antonio, including a fourth-place finish in 2019.

While coming off a disappointing missed cut at Memorial Park, Kim still gained strokes in both ball-striking categories, and his combination of elite overall approach play, par five scoring, and bunker play should pay dividends once again at the Greg Norman design.

Spieth has had his fair share of success at the Valero Texas Open. Spieth leads the field in strokes gained at TPC San Antonio for good reason, as he won this event in 2021 and has posted three top 10 finishes.

After recovering from wrist surgery he received in the fall, Spieth has shown some flashed this season. He finished T4 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the Cognizant Classic. Last week at the Valspar Championship, Spieth averaged 1.90 strokes per round on approach, which was his best number since the 2023 WM Phoenix Open.

I don’t expect to use Spieth at a signature event so I believe this is the best spot to deploy him. Other options I considered were Akshay Bhatia, who won this event last year, or captain Keegan Bradley.

Sorry that I am writing about Jordan Spieth again in this newsletter, but it’s almost the Masters so hopefully you can let it slide.

As a die hard Spieth fan, it has been recently frustrating to watch him play at the Masters. He has made a handful of boneheaded decisions during his recent first rounds that has held him back of truly contending again.

Last year, I took a deep dive into his round 1 performances:

I tweeted this out right before Spieth teed off in 2024. If you add his round 1 score of a 74 he recorded last year, his round 1 average from 2017-2024 goes up to 72.3.

Here is a breakdown of his round 1 scores from 2017-2024, with how many bogeys or worse scores he carded:

There’s a stat that always makes circles around the golf community that says something along the lines of that you need to be at most three strokes back of the lead after round 1 to have a chance to win the green jacket.

Jordan Spieth certainly hasn’t done enough over the last 8 years in the first round to put himself in positions to make a run at his quest for his second green jacket. He is always a popular storyline going into the Masters for good reason. Even with his round 1 struggles, he still leads active players in average scoring at Augusta National.

It will be interesting to see how Spieth plays this week. If he wins or at least has a great outing, his outright odds of around 35-1 will drift lower. It would be great for golf if Spieth can put himself in the mix next weekend. You know I will be rooting for it!

In our discord community and on our weekly shows, we have talked a lot about the Rory McIIroy and Scottie Scheffler storyline going into the Masters. There is not much debate that Rory and Scottie are the best two players heading into Augusta.

Rory has won twice so far in 2025, taking home the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship. Even though Scottie hasn’t won yet this season, as he is continuing to recover from a hand injury, he looked like his usual self last week at the Houston Open.

It feels like there is a sentiment in the golf community that either Rory or Scottie is going to win the 2025 Masters. This was a popular debate for March Madness, but with Florida/Duke or the field. We shall see how that plays out, since both teams are in the final four this weekend.

I haven’t seen this prop bet on the legal sportsbooks, but I am interested to see what odds Rory/Scottie would be against the field?

I asked Andy what he would make these odds. He said:

• Rory/Scottie +250

• The Field -300

My question for you is, are you taking the field or Rory/Scottie? My answer is the field. If you read one of my pieces last week, I agree with BK that we are due for a longer shot winner. The Masters has been very chalky over the last couple of years. I would love to see a first time winner wear his first green jacket next Sunday or Jordan Spieth (ok I will seriously stop now).

If you’re not subscribed to ISN, you might be missing out on the best on-course reporting anywhere in the industry. The legend of ‘UTStick’ – a subscriber and Discord user whose legend has grown with every course report – has risen to new heights as he provides invaluable information about courses and golfers’ practice rounds over the past several weeks.

UTStick – real name Steve Anderson – has given the ISN community a plethora of info as we make our lineups and place our bets over the course of each week. Not familiar with his game? Here’s just a few excerpts from his past reports.

PLAYERS Championship

• Xander Schauffele struggled mightily with his 5-15’ putts, but his driving was absurdly accurate. His swagger was back while on the range, grilling guys around him. (Xander: Finished 72nd)

• Aaron Rai is getting the ball into the middle of the fairway. Every. Single. Time. Mid-range approach looks stronger than API, so if he can make putts, he’s very much in play. (Rai: 14th)

• Scottie Scheffler was a little erratic off the tee today, but his approach shots are markedly improved from Bay Hill. Still not to “Scottie” level, so he will need to start rolling his putts better. (Scheffler: A disappointing 20th)

Valspar Championship

• Justin Thomas was spending a long time shaping his 3-wood and long irons on the range. If he sticks with those instead of the driver, he could be in a great position heading into the weekend. (Thomas finished runner-up)

• Lucas Glover feels like he’s very close. A good majority of the day was spent on shot-shaping and keeping the ball low off the tee, on approach, and around the green. (Glover finished 8th)

• Sam Burns just can’t stay out of the rough. Missed 2 of 3 fairways and walked away with 3 bogeys. He was visibly upset with where he was ending up after blowing through greens. (Burns missed the cut)

Houston Open

• Scottie Scheffler (12,700) spent a good amount of time today rolling putts from various distances, as well as chipping from off the green. His approach game feels completely dialed in. I expect there to be steam here tonight. (Scheffler rebounded to finish in second.)

• Min Woo Lee (9600) is thankful as hell these fairways are this wide. Absolutely smoking it off the tee, and his 200+ APP game was on. Putting looked fantastic. He looks close. (Min Woo was the tournament’s champion.)

• Jacob Bridgeman (8400) needs another look tomorrow. He was missing fairways, and his approach was still subpar. (Bridgeman, one of last week’s most popular plays, missed the cut)

Want a sneak peek of UTStick’s course reporting this week? Here’s a couple free tidbits from his reporting at the Valero Texas Open to entice you to come join the action.

• Ryan Fox (7500, PM/AM) was very consistent today. Kept his head down with birdie-par-par during the windiest portion of the day. Was grinding around the green and practiced chipping/sand saves quite a bit on every hole he was on.

• Tom Hoge (7400, PM/AM) doesn’t seem to have cooled off at all on APP from The PLAYERS, sticking it within 15-20 feet with his 3 and 4 irons from the same distance. Needs to practice a bit more ARG in case he gets into trouble, but very solid day all around.

Subscribe today to get the full breadth of UTStick’s incredible course reports!

It was a huge week for the boys club with multiple members of the ISN team and subscribers hitting Min Woo Lee at the Houston Open.

Check out our recap video below: