Valero Texas Open LIVE: Tee times, field, leaderboard and how to follow – Fleetwood and Aberg among stars preparing for Masters

The countdown to The Masters is on and the penultimate PGA Tour event before the big one happens this week.

Some of the world’s best will tee it up at the Valero Texas Open looking to build some form or achieve a spot in the major.

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Last year, Akshay Bhatia won in Texas to secure a place in The Masters and stars will be out to emulate him.

Others are aiming for a tournament win as they finalise their preparations before heading to Augusta next week.

Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick will be involved while Ludvig Aberg is the highest-ranked player in the field.

Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland are among the big names who need victory to book their place at Augusta next week.

Valero Texas Open: Date and how to follow

The Valero Texas Open begins on Thursday, April 3 and it will run through four rounds of play until Sunday, April 6.

It is being held at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course in Texas.

Play for the opening two rounds will start at 1:20pm UK time.

talkSPORT 2 will have live coverage of the action in San Antonio.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. 

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

The entire event will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and more details on how to watch the action can be found here.

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Valero Texas Open: Field and tee times

There will be a field of 147 players starting the Valero Texas Open.

Former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and world No.5 Aberg are heading up the players involved.

Fleetwood, Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose are among the Englishmen competing and getting set for next week.

Previous winners Corey Conners and Charley Hoffman are also teeing it up for the biggest cut of the $9.5million prize pot.

The full field, tee times and groupings for the Texas Open can be found here.

The latest leaderboard can be found here once play is underway.

Valero Texas Open: What has been said?

Bhatia squandered a six-shot lead on the final round of the Valero Texas Open last year, but he held on to win.

After beating Denny McCarthy in a tense play-off, he said: “Man, what a crazy, crazy day.

“This is awesome. It’s hard to win out there as it showed today. My mom’s birthday was April 1 and her wish was to go to the Masters.”

He added: “I felt so uncomfortable all day. I got off to a great start and kind of just tried to stick as much as I could to my game plan.

“But when you see someone charging at you and you’re playing with him, it’s really hard because you feel like you’re just slipping away.

“It was just incredible to be able to be in this position.”