SAN ANTONIO — For the fifth straight year, Jimmy Walker, the unofficial Valero Texas Open ambassador, hosted 30-40 players and Titleist-FootJoy staff at his home for a barbecue Tuesday night. Walker cooked a 20-pound brisket, four big Tomahawk steaks as well as some strips, while wife, Erin, made the sides. “I mean it was all gone,” Walker said. Among those who partook in the feast was Rickie Fowler, who piled his plate high with brisket and steak. “Jimmy’s a good cook,” Fowler said. “He knows what he’s doing. He can hold his own on the grill.” Fowler, 30, is hoping to hold his own at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course, where he’s making his PGA TOUR debut. “It’s my 10th year on TOUR and it’s not often it’s your first time being somewhere else,” Fowler said. Walker said Fowler had visited him at his home prior to the WGC Dell Matchplay a few years ago to hang out and practice, but he didn’t need to make any sales pitch to attract Fowler to add his home game to his schedule. “It was pretty much a no-brainer when they got this date (pre-Masters rather than post-Masters) that he would be here,” Walker said. “It’s good. I think I saw a lot of little kids running around in orange yesterday, and that’s huge. There’s a new part of the country that gets to see Rickie play in person and that’s great.” Fowler is here for one obvious reason. Count him among the players firmly in the camp of preferring to play the week before a major championship. Fowler had played in the Shell Houston Open in each of the previous five years when it was the final stop before the Masters. “It just makes me feel more comfortable and more confident,” Fowler explained. “It’s a great week to check some boxes or figure out what boxes need to be checked early next week.” With a victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and two other top-4 finishes, Fowler is looking to build on his momentum and would like nothing more than another multiple-win season like he had in 2015. The momentum from a T-2 at the Honda Classic was temporarily slowed at THE PLAYERS, his fourth tournament in a four-week stretch, when Fowler got sick on the eve of the tournament. “If I had to play Thursday morning, I don’t think I would have made my tee time,” said Fowler, refreshed from a two-week break. “I was happy just making it to the weekend.” That won’t be the case at TPC San Antonio, where Fowler expects to gain a lot from the competitive reps. Â “If you play well, get in content and win, it’s just a bonus,” he said.
Click here to read the full article…
