Find Me a 100 Winner: Hopes high for Hickock

The pre-event favourite, Jordan Spieth, won last year's edition of the Valero Texas Open but it's been a good event for outsiders since the tournament moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010.

Adam Scott was quite well fancied on the first occasion we played the Greg Norman-designed Oaks Course but the next four winners all went off at a triple-figure price and so too did the 2018 and 2019 winners, Andrew Landry and Corey Conners.

As highlighted in the preview, Texans have a great record in the event (11 of the last 24 editions have been one by a Texan), form at three events in particular tends to correlate nicely - the Sony Open, the Puerto Rico Open and the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba - and the majority of the winners have a really good week with the putter.

The first of my four picks, Kramer Hickok, doesn't tick the correlating courses box emphatically but he's a Texan in sneakily decent form and he's putting well.

Hopes high for Hickock

In two previous visits, Kramer Hickok is yet to make the weekend in the Valero Texas Open but that doesn't unduly put me off as he's only just started to feel comfortable playing in his home state, having finished 14th in the Charles Schwab Challenge last May and fourth in the Houston Open in November in his last two Texan starts. He missed his first four cuts in Texas and eight of his first 11 so that's quite a turnaround.

Hickok's current form figures, reading 42-33-13, are improving and they're also a little misleading. He sat third after the opening round of the Players before finishing 42nd and he started brightly at the Valspar Championship whereas his 13th in the Corales Puntacana last week came after a slow start saw him sitting 60th after round one.

Having lost a marathon playoff to Harris English at the Travelers Championship last June and having contended all the way at the Houston Open in November, Hickok has shown he's capable of winning on the PGA Tour and why not now, with a significant birthday just weeks away?

Hickock turns 30 in two weeks' time and the Valero Texas Open Trophy would make for a nice gift to himself.

Hickock ranked 22nd for Putting Average in the Dominican Republic last week and he ranked number one for Strokes Gained Putting at the Valspar.

2 pts Kramer Hickok @ 180.0179/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.01/1

Streaky Lee to contend again in home state

With form in all three of the correlating events mentioned, as well as top-seven finish here in 2019, Korean-born, Texas-based, New Zealander Danny Lee was impossible to ignore.

The erratic 31-year-old hasn't fulfilled his incredible potential and he's yet to add to his tally of one PGA Tour win (the 2015 Greenbrier Classic) but he's a winner in the state of Texas on the Korn Ferry Tour and he's been showing signs of life of late.

Lee arguably should have won the Bermuda Championship (second) before finishing seventh in the aforementioned World Wide Championship a week later back in November. He sat fifth, just one off the lead, last time out after the opening round of the Valspar Championship, where he eventually finished 48th after losing his way in round two.

A streaky player, Lee can often get very hot with the putter and if that happens again this week, he could easily contend again at a venue that suits him well.

Back 1 u Danny Lee @ 300.0299/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.01/1

Can Martin claim immediate redemption?

We saw two examples of redemption last week. Scottie Scheffler won the WGC Dell Matchplay one year after losing the final and Ewen Ferguson swooped late to claim the Qatar Masters less than a month after throwing away the Kenya Open - an event he led by four with a round to go. Can Ben Martin do something similar this week in Texas?

I'm not for one second going to suggest it's going to be easy for Martin to lift himself after his emotional defeat in the Corales on Sunday but at odds in excess of 500.0499/1 I'm happy to pay my money and take my chance.

Martin led after rounds one, two and three in the Dominican Republic before getting caught late on by Chard Ramey, who birdied four holes in-a-row on the back-nine.

Martin then missed a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force a playoff and he was emotional to say the least afterwards.

It's going to take a monumental effort for Martin to pick himself up and contend again here but he has a top-10 at the course in the TPC San Antonio Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. He putted really nicely last week with only the winner and Kevin Chappell ranking higher than him for Putting Average.

Back 1 u Ben Martin @ 520.0519/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.01/1

Underrated Trainer far too big again

Yet again I've managed to get 1000.0999/1 on the 2019 Puerto Rico Open winner, Martin Trainer, even though he finished seventh in the Corales last week.

Trainer has played here twice previously, finishing 66th and 44th, and the last time he played in Texas, he led the Houston Open at halfway before finishing fifth.

Often a very good putter (ranked ninth week), he's most certainly being overlooked again and the 500/1 available with eight places available with the Sportsbook is just too big.

Back 0.5 u Martin Trainer @ 1000.0999/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.01/1
Back 0.5 u each-way Martin Trainer @ 500/1 (Sportsbook)

I'm sticking with just the four for the column but I've also backed the 2017 winner, Kevin Chappell, who topped the putting stats last week in the Corales.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter