The Draw: 2026 Aramco Championship, Valero Texas Open, The Masters

On this episode of The Draw, hosts Nathan and Brian recap Lauren Coughlin’s wire-to-wire LPGA win at Shadow Creek at the joint LPGA/Ladies European Tour event, the Aramco Championship.

They also discuss the weather-delayed Valero Texas Open, where J.J. Spaun earned a surprising third career PGA Tour win (his second at Valero) despite modest results earlier this season.

The conversation shifts to the excitement this week around The Masters, the wide-open field and their picks for the week.

The Draw is a Fairway to Green podcast. See all episodes at www.fairwaytogreen.com.

Transcript

Coughlin Dominates at Shadow Creek

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the draw of Fairy to Green podcast. And this past week we had two, well, one exciting tournament at the Valero Texas Open. And in the women's side, the LPGA was a runaway win for who? Lauren Coughlin. She won by five strokes and led wire-to-wire at Shadow Creek. So not the easiest golf course. Again, I've never played it, but from what I've heard and seen on TV and from pros saying it's not easy. But she absolutely dominated the field from Thursday to Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Yeah, uh Lauren Collin, she finished as the runner-up last year in the T-Mobile match play at Shadow Creek. Um, so good experience in the course, played there before, and Shadow Creek is not uh really it's not unfamiliar with the LPGA tour. And this week it was a joint ladies European tour event and the LPGA tour event. So that was very nice to see. But yeah, uh once again, storyline for this week was Nellie Corda. She finished was the runner-up for the third week in a row, which is crazy. Um, she had a she had a chance to finish to play well on Sunday. If she played she was she started the round, I think two shots back from Coughlin, and then you know, she didn't very she didn't play very well. She was very frank in her press conference after now. I didn't play very well, but Lauren Coughlin played amazing, and she takes she uh she wins. So, you know, great week over there, and that they're off both tours are off next week. So we'll see them uh the European tours going to South Africa, and then the ladies, uh the LPGA tours playing somewhere else. I forget where.

Chaos at the Valero Texas Open

SPEAKER_01 1:35

I think it's in California. I think I saw um I can't think of what it's off the top of my head, but yeah, I mean Coughlin was again good from Thursday on. She led the field in Birdies, led the field in Greens and Regulations hit. And if you combine those two things, you're gonna come out on top. And winning by five is just it's it's hard to win an event where there it's not like there weren't good players in this event. Like, like we said, Nellie Corda's very bad. All the all the top 20 players were in the field. Yamashida finished fourth at one under, like six strokes behind her. Like it's a really good field, so yeah, really impressive. Hasn't won in two years. I know she won the Grant Thornton this past year down in Florida. I think it was with that Andrew Novak, but that's not a uh sanctioned event. That's uh just kind of more of an exhibition thing. But again, good for her. Um, because while that was happening, or kind of once that started, the player, the PJ tour was finally ending after major, major weather delays over the weekend where most guys had to play almost one and a half rounds on Sunday. And and out of nowhere, JJ Spawn picks up his third career win, second win here at the Valero Texas Open. I know you have a soft spot for for JJ, so yeah, it it it shocked me. He was out of nowhere. I thought McIntyre again, Oberg up there again, kind of a I don't want to say another collapse by Oberg, but it's starting to get a little worrisome here with how he's playing in these final rounds with leads. But JJ Spawn was been, I'm gonna say it, and just to be frank, he's been bad this year. Like I think his highest finish was T40th, I think I saw somewhere. It's not like he's played very well, and all of a sudden he goes out and wins. Now, he's won in this course again before, so he has some good mojo to it. But this has got to be more one of the more shocking wins this year so far.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yeah, um, I'm a huge JJ Spawn fan. JJ Spawn fans stand up. JJ Spawn has won an event this year, and at the beginning of the season, it was, as you mentioned, it was a little, it was very disappointing from JJ Spawn, not JJ Spawn from last year. Ryder cup, major winner, um, multi multiple time winner on the PGA tour. So very disappointing for at the start of the season for JJ Spawn. But I remember I wasn't really following the tournament too closely. There was a lot of there was plenty of weather delays. I know that cold, rainy. Um, and you know, as you know, for the US Open last year, what was it? Kind of cold and rainy. So I was like, okay, and I checked the leaderboard and JJ Spawn. There was like a five-way tie, and JJ Spawn was right in that tie. And I was like, all right, you know, this is JJ Spawn's like this. I feel like this is his tournament because I saw the other players in the field, and you know, he was I in my opinion, he was a better player than the other guys tied at the top of the leaderboard, and he does uh he does pull through. So let's go, JJ Spawn fans. We're hoping for some more magic this week at the Masters. Unfortunately, not sure, not too confident about that. But we got a JJ Spawn winner on tour first time this season for the first time this season.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah, so I I misspoke earlier. His best finish was T24 at the player, so still not that great of a finish. So to come out here and win. Um, but yeah, let I want to talk about McIntyre and Oberg here for a sec. McIntyre was a 36 to 54 hole leader. He didn't get the win again, he didn't play bad, it just he made didn't make enough birdies at a course where you kind of need to go low, and JJ did. And from I was reading the PJ Tour press release through 13 events this year, the player who has the 54-hole lead has only won four times. Again, we talked about it on the Florida swing that all of those 54-hole leaders lost all four of those events. I don't know if it's again, it it can be in a different way every time. Like, right, Daniel Berger didn't play bad at the Arnold Palmer, Batia just played really well down the stretch in one. Cameron Young and Maddie Fitz, like Fitzpatrick. I don't want to say yes, he made a bogey on the last hole. I don't want to say he lost a tournament because Cam Young applied all the pressure there. Oberg lost the tournament. Oberg would probably be the one that you said would say yes, he collapsed and hit two terrible waterball shots. I mean, it's I don't know if it's I don't really know what the answer is. This I mean, all I can say is this is why I hit so hard to win on the PG tour. So then when you see someone like Rory or Scotty or heck, even Ben Griffin last year, who won three times, like major props to anyone there. And then Ludwig is yeah, he probably was gonna be my master's pick before this week, and now after that, I I'm I'm worried. Like, I how does he handle yes? He has a PJ tourwin, he has a DP World tour win as well, and he's been on Ryder Cup teams, but these last two times he's been in contention with the lead, he's kind of faltered late, and that's concerning.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, um, Ludwig Oberg, uh, you know, we know we as we know him, he's an exceptional player, hits the ball straight as an arrow. Not really, he's not really like thrown off his game much on the golf course. And these last few months or yeah, recently with his performances on Sunday, it is a little bit concerning. Uh personally, I'm not concerned with Ludwig Oberg's play. Um, he's played in college, he's outside we know how good Ludwig Oberg is. So this could just be like a you know minor minor bump in the road for him. So I'm I'm not gonna pick like if he isn't contentional on Sunday in the Masters, will I be, you know, you know, thinking about his last two, you know, Sundays where he was in contention? Absolutely, and it will impact, I'm sure he will also be thinking about that. But in the long in the in the in the long run, and for Ludwig Ober's career, I think he'll be just fine. He's he's fairly young and he'll figure it out.

Masters Week: Hype and Traditions

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Yeah, I I think this is all good scar tissue, right? I think if he learns to play with the lead and maybe it finally helps him here and whether it's the masters this week or down at the RBC Heritage in two weeks or whenever it is, I mean, it's only gonna help him in the long run. So I I do agree with you. I don't think like I'm I'm worried, but it's also like you know, you're supposed to maybe win at least one of these tournaments when you have the lead, like right. The joke is he's a literal golf robot because, like you said, yeah, nothing flap, like he's just unflappable. Like, even when he hit the two water bottle water balls at the players a couple weeks ago, it's not like he reacted, he was like, All right, just kept going. It's not like he's throwing clubs or yelling at his caddy or yelling at himself. Like, he looks like nothing bothers him, which is a great thing, especially as a golfer, and when you would lose these leads. But yeah, I just I personally like I just want to see him win because I don't want to say he's overrated because I don't think he is, but like you're starting to get to the point where like, right? It's kind of with Cameron Young where you know he only has one win. Now he has two wins, and one of them's the players. It's like, all right, like you're supposed to be in this upper echelon of players, and like the results aren't there yet. Like, when is that gonna come? And maybe when it comes, it's like it really comes and he wins two or three times, and you're like, maybe that's how it works for him. I don't know. Uh, he's still gonna perform well at the Masters this year. He has two top 10 finishes in his two starts there, so it's not like he's going to a place where he struggles that he performs really well here. So again, he'll probably be atop of the leaderboard. And this week, the Masters, it's the granddaddy of them all, it's the Super Bowl, it's whatever you want to call it. It's it's the best week in golf. Outside of maybe the Ryder Cup is second to the Masters, and I don't even know. The gap between those two events is is wide. And boy, just watching live from the Masters. I don't know if you saw the the video that I think it was Golf Digest put out of Roy McElroy going over every shot he had in the final round last year. It is a 55-minute masterpiece. I am telling you, if you have an hour of your time, listeners, if you have an hour of your time, go watch it because it is first off for him to remember each shot and then give details and different stories of things, it's a unique perspective. Definitely take your time to watch it before the coverage starts this week. Um, yeah, it's I'm I'm pumped here in New York. It the weather's cold, so seeing the warm weather down in Augusta and that green grass and all the Azaleas and Magnolia Lane is just it means spring is coming. That means golf season for us as golfers is also coming.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yeah, I'm so excited. I'm wearing my green today for this podcast because it's Masters Week. So I am so excited. I keep seeing videos from the range, from you know, Magnolia Lane, all these players posting things, promotions for the Masters, and I'm like, I am just itching for the tournament to start. And it's it's been this way for actually the past two weeks, but now I can like I'm really like it's Masters Week, it is here, and uh I am still ready. And the par three contest, I think is that's on Wednesday, correct? Yep, yep. Yes, that's tomorrow. So we'll I'll probably be tuning into that, watching that, and then you know, Thursday through Sunday, I will be sitting on the couch watching probably every single shot.

Rory vs. Wide-open Field

SPEAKER_01 11:08

So I mean you can watch every shot. The Masters app is fantastic, the Masters website is fantastic, so gotta go re-download that onto my phone, star some players so I know. And I we talk about the big names here. Obviously, Roy McElroy, he's defending, he's coming off the career grand slam, hasn't played in about a month now with kind of the back spasms that popped up in Florida. Hasn't been very good, unlike last year, where he won two times before the Masters. So it'll be interesting to see how he plays. I know the dinner, the Masters dinner, the champion dinner is tonight. We're recording this Tuesday. I know that's tonight, so I'm sure we'll hear the things come out of that Wednesday morning and stuff to hear some cool stories. But I'm not I don't really know what to expect from Rory now that he kind of got the monkey off his back of winning the green jacket and just right, the back injury not really being in form of late. Like, I don't want to say I expect him to miss the cut, but like if he finished like T20, I'd be like, Yeah, that makes sense for where he is right now.

Masters Winner Picks

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah, I uh for the first time in what feels like a few years, the Masters is wide open for anyone to win. Out of you know, Scotty isn't informed, the Scotty Sheffield that we're used to seeing the last four years. And then you've got John Rom. There's question marks about him. I think he's possibly the one of the favorites. He is one of the favorites this week for sure. Rory with a back injury, Morikawa, who uh who won at uh Bahill, I believe. Was that is that or no, he didn't win at Bay Hill. He won. He won't he won, yeah, he won a pebble, it was a big tournament, and you know, he was playing well. Everyone's like Morakawa, but I saw his back was bothering him. So there are so many players that it could be, you know, Cam Young. I was thinking of. I unfortunately I love Cam Young, but I just don't think this week, and I'm gonna roll right into my picks here, actually. Um, I know at the beginning of the season we gave our picks, and I think I gave Bryson or Scott, I think I said Scotty, because you know it's Scotty Shuffle at the Masters, and I'm not gonna roll with Scotty this week. Obviously, if he wins, I'm gonna say I was I predicted a few months ago, but as of right now, I'm gonna pick I'm gonna pick Matthew Fitzpatrick to win. Um Matthew Fitzpatrick might not be my favorite golfer on tour, but he's very good. He is very, very good at golf. He was runner-up at the players, and he won the week after that. So he was top two uh two consecutive weeks, and he has a major win at the US Open at the country club in Boston there, and he's a very good uh iron player for sure. You know, solid off the tee, chipping with his cross-handed chipping, which you always have to be good around the greens at Augusta. I'm sure he's I'm sure he's fine. And um, so I think Matthew Patrick has all the tools it takes to win at Augusta National. And as with as I mentioned before, it's a wide open field. I think he think he gets it done.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Yeah, I I think you bring a great point of it's wide open, right? The last couple years, it's like last year it's like, well, Rory and Scotty are the players right now, they've won a ton, and a couple years ago, it was like Rom is unbeatable right now, and Scheffler's won twice. Like, and this year, again, I looked at the PJ Tour power rankings they release every week of each tournament, and I think Rory's like six, and Scotty's twelfth. Like, I mean, numbers where they're not right. You you're thinking one, two, three, if that, like for those two players, and yeah, and it's tough. I've been I like wrote down a list of like six names who I think I can win. And Matt Fitzpatrick was I almost picked like he was my second choice to win. And I put down Xander Shoffley, who always plays well here. He's played well to begin the year, he hasn't won in a while. I mean, he won in the fall over in Japan. Like, if he won, I'd be like, Yeah, that makes sense. And again, if Scotty Arrori won again, I wouldn't be shocked either. But again, they're just not in form. And then you have Bryson who's played well, he's won on live, I think a couple times this year, at least once for sure. You have John Rom who has not finished lower than fifth over on live in their three or four starts this year. Like, there are so many players that you could pick and you could see putting on that green jacket. And I'm gonna go with one that you mentioned, and I'm going with Cam Young. I I looked at it and I was like, man, who's playing well? And I just like Cam Young. So again, we mentioned his players' win. He played really well at the Ryder Cup, so he has experience, he's played well in majors, and it's just he hits the ball a long way and he putts really well. And those are two really big advantages to play this golf course. Like, if you can set yourself up with iron shots or low iron or wet shots or low irons into these greens, you just have an advantage. And then if you get close, you have to make them, and he's been doing that. Like, again, he has two other top 10 finishes at two signature events outside of his players' championship win. So the biggest events he's playing his best in. He's played well here at the Masters, he has two top 10 finishes, he has one in 23 and one in 24. The one pause I had was he missed the cut last year. That's where I was like, oh, I saw that. I'm like, oh, I don't like that. But he's played so well since the missed cut last year that it's hard to run away from him. And again, he's he's played really well. He's up in the I think top five or top six in the world ranking. Some of like the last six major winners have all been inside the top five of the official golf world golf rankings. So the best players are winning these events, and right now he's he's playing really well. And again, like you said, like Colin Moore Kyle played well, but he hasn't played in a couple weeks because of his back injury. And I again I love your Matty Fitz pick. I'm I'm a big Matt Fitzpatrick fan. If he can putt a little better than he did even in his win at the Vales bar, like again, I think he could contend and and win the green jacket, like you think he could.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Yeah, I actually really like the Cam Young pick, although I don't think he has enough to win. That's why personally I did not choose him. However, with the trends, I know uh something that hasn't really been mentioned is player people, golfers that who win the players, you know, they've been winning major uh championships very recently. You see Rory McElroy last year, he won the players, won a green jacket, you know. JJ Spawn uh did actually he didn't win, but he was second place and he uh he won the US Open, and then Scotty Scheffler, he won the players twice, and you know, then he won the Masters. So there is seemingly a correlation to playing well at the players and then going into Augusta National and winning or winning another major. So a Cam Young pick, not I would not really necessarily be surprised with Cam Young, but um I think another name to watch this week that kind of has been somehow under the radar is Patrick Reed. I know I know he's not the most not a popular guy, but Patrick Reed, he has obviously he has won the Masters before, and he has played exceptionally well uh on the DP World Tour. Two wins, multiple top five finishes. He has been probably the best one of the best players on the DP World Tour, if not the best player. And I don't expect anything differently going into the Masters where he has won before.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Yeah, he contended here last year. He had a high finish here last year, and again, that was one where I'm like looking at him like, yeah, like that's a possibility too. Like he's he's been playing really well, and like you said, it's there's so many different types of players that could win here this week. Like, right, Matt Fitzpatrick isn't the longest hitter, but he could win. Rory McElroy, big hitter, he can win. Cam Young, big hitter, he can win. Reed, exceptional short game, excellent putter, he could win. Like it's just I yeah, it's it's very fascinating because I honestly any of these players and none of these players that we say could win. It could be come someone completely different. It could be Justin Thomas, George Spieth, it could be Cameron Smith. Like, I I don't know who, but that's what yeah. I mean, again, he's played well here in the past, so he hasn't played well since we're really going to live, but that's a story for another day. But yeah, it's it's an exciting week because you don't really know there's not one big favorite like there has been in the past, and I think that makes it that much more enjoyable as a fan watching the Thursday and Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Uh, do you I can keep going naming golfers uh that are underrated, you know, all day. One last mention. I think uh another forward champion is Hideki. You know, we sleep on Hideki all the time. This is no different. I'll make this one very quick. Um, but he won at the Masters. I think he won earlier this season. He's he's a very good player. We don't give enough credit, and he's also a name to watch this week because um he won here before and he's very good. So that's very straightforward.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Again, like you were saying, like he should have won the WM or waste management, but his driver completely went berserk that last round. But his short game and putting, like, again, if you're gonna like again, that's and he's played well here, and again, he he's won here, and that has to mean something coming down the stretch, knowing the that you've won it, the nerves.

Augusta National Holes & Weather Outlook

SPEAKER_00 20:39

I mean, take some of the pressure off for sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

All of the I mean, there's so many good holes at Augusta. I mean, we can go through them all, but one of my favorites is the 15th hole, that par five where you get the water in the front, and if you hit it way too long, then you're chipping back onto the green and they can roll off. I mean, 16 the par three, and then you go to aim and corner. Like, I'm so excited for all of the 18 is such a great hole defense. Yeah, the drive. Like, I I still do not know how they hit that fairway on 18. Like, I look at that T-box and I'm just like, there's you could give me a hundred balls on this T-box, and I maybe hit five on that fairway. Like, I like and then you have Rory last year on the 18th hole, and then in the playoff hole, drive it 340 down the middle and give himself wedge and chances to win the tournament. Like, again, just sick stuff from him last year. And what makes this course so well? I I'm think the weather's good. I've looked at it, it doesn't look like there's any rain or bad cold weather coming in. So I think we should pray to the golf gods and hope that stays. Because I don't want to repeat of last week and then trying to cram everything in into Sunday. That's no fun. But yeah, it's just it's have you ever been?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

No, I have never been. Um one of my friends is going this year and very lucky, but unfortunately, I am I am not going this year.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

I've never been, and I was just my uh fiance's dad is gone. He went years and years ago, and we were talking about because he was he read me something that he saw on like Twitter, something that like some guy bought tickets and then for some reason Augusta denied his tickets because they thought he was selling them and he was like, No, no, no, on Twitter, yeah. That would be my absolute nightmare. Like to finally win the lottery and then them tell me, Oh no, we're taking your tickets away. Like, no, I I don't even know what I would do. I'd just cry for ever and ever and ever. Like, this is the one, like, yeah, if I can somehow figure out a way, I mean, I'd do the lottery. I've tried it the lottery every which way. I've tried only practice rounds, I've tried only tournament rounds, I've tried two tickets, I've tried four. It's impossible. It really is. Like, I don't know how they decide it, but it's not fair, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Yeah, so many stories like that. I I actually have never entered the lottery, neither have my parents. They're not really huge into golf. Maybe I gotta start doing that. Maybe I can convince my dad, but um no lottery for me. I just I but I would like to go one day, as as would everyone, but that's just you know, you know, hopefully one day.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Yeah, it's it's the the one dream of every golfer is to either go to the masters or play. I mean, the play of that course would be I don't even know what you would set the over under. I mean, I would shoot a million, like it would be not fun, but it would be cool, but not not fun for for me. But yeah, again, we don't have to worry about it. That is the players' worry this week, and again, Brian's going with Matt Fitzpatrick, I'm going with Cameron Young. Will either of these two players win? Probably not, because we picked them, and that's the way it goes. I've not been good on these picks. I picked Keith Mitchell last week, and he missed the cut. So, not the greatest uh form for my prediction. I did almost hit on a couple, uh, but hopefully this week is the turnaround. Again, Matt Fitzpatrick for Brian, Cam Young for me. Enjoy the Masters. Again, check us out, faradegreen.com. Give us a like and uh subscribe on our YouTube channel. Go read again. I have some we have some master stuff coming up on the website, so go check that out and then follow us on uh YouTube and Instagram, and we'll see you next week to debrief this 90th edition of the Masters.